[lendaddy]

I certainly open myself to being educated on this...

The recent fascination with gold got me wondering why. I mean it's practical value as a precious metal (electrical contacts, jewelry, etc..) is but a tiny fraction of it's current value. Our currency is no longer backed by it. So why are people stocking up on it?

Gold was at one time the universal currency simply because everyone accepted it and I imagine a religious connection/validation of value. A guy would take gold as payment simply because he knew the market down the street would accept it from him for his feed or whatever.

But here we are in the 21st century and I just don't see that ever happening again. It's just like a gentleman's agreement, with no practical backing isn't it? How is this different than Tabs spoons or baseball cards? What do you think they would be worth in a massive crash?


What has happened recently to institutional ownership in gold? Is it down? Seems like it would have to be for all these private citizens scooping it up. Have the institutions realized they have a realistically worthless metal accounting for their wealth and are unloading it in favor of practical assets?

Just rambling.