Current Gold Price

[Ludwig]

Another possibility is a widespread descent into anarchy or a major war, with the monetary problems only being addressed after that war is finished. In this case gold will stand alone as the international reserve currency. But to be honest I don't actually believe this is going to happen either - I don't know how such a war would be sold to the people, or which countries would be involved.

Almost certain IMO. How will it be sold to the people? How has it been sold to the people more like - as a war against terror and despotism.

If unemployment is running at 80% then getting people to apply to be cannon fodder won't be a problem.

Even if natives can't be persuaded to fight, we'll just do what we're doing already in Iraq and Libya, and use "security contractors".

Another possibility is a "hidden war" conducted by bioweapons and other cutting-edge technologies (not excluding seismic ones). I think this may be the most likely scenario of the lot.

The possibilities for war are endless. The problem isn't how to sell it, it's which of the many tasty but untested (or maybe not so untested?) new options to choose.

[Snail]

Another possibility is a widespread descent into anarchy or a major war, with the monetary problems only being addressed after that war is finished. In this case gold will stand alone as the international reserve currency. But to be honest I don't actually believe this is going to happen either - I don't know how such a war would be sold to the people, or which countries would be involved.

Almost certain IMO. How will it be sold to the people? How has it been sold to the people more like - as a war against terror and despotism.

If unemployment is running at 80% then getting people to apply to be cannon fodder won't be a problem.

Even if natives can't be persuaded to fight, we'll just do what we're doing already in Iraq and Libya, and use "security contractors".

Another possibility is a "hidden war" conducted by bioweapons and other cutting-edge technologies (not excluding seismic ones). I think this may be the most likely scenario of the lot.

The possibilities for war are endless. The problem isn't how to sell it, it's which of the many tasty but untested (or maybe not so untested?) new options to choose.

It's a pity the most realistic method of monetary change is through violence, chaos, or revolution. I've looked at a lot of web sites hyping up the need for a gold standard, but none of them actually give realistic details on how to actually go about it. I was thinking about a 9/11 type event, but economically focused. A massive 'attack' on America's financial system by 'Economic Terrorists', demonstrating how economic change is vital. And use that as an excuse for gold standard implementation, and other changes. Because America was attacked, other countries would be forced to go along, or face reprisals.

The end of the current system will force TPTB to act. Something majorly bad is going to happen .

[UndercoverElephant]

Another possibility is a widespread descent into anarchy or a major war, with the monetary problems only being addressed after that war is finished. In this case gold will stand alone as the international reserve currency. But to be honest I don't actually believe this is going to happen either - I don't know how such a war would be sold to the people, or which countries would be involved.

Almost certain IMO. How will it be sold to the people? How has it been sold to the people more like - as a war against terror and despotism.

If unemployment is running at 80% then getting people to apply to be cannon fodder won't be a problem.

Even if natives can't be persuaded to fight, we'll just do what we're doing already in Iraq and Libya, and use "security contractors".

Another possibility is a "hidden war" conducted by bioweapons and other cutting-edge technologies (not excluding seismic ones). I think this may be the most likely scenario of the lot.

The possibilities for war are endless. The problem isn't how to sell it, it's which of the many tasty but untested (or maybe not so untested?) new options to choose.

It's a pity the most realistic method of monetary change is through violence, chaos, or revolution. I've looked at a lot of web sites hyping up the need for a gold standard, but none of them actually give realistic details on how to actually go about it.

Actually, it could be done rather easily, in theory. The problem is getting people to accept the basic premises of the debate, as established by science and history. If only we could get everybody to agree that continued expansion of the human operation on Planet Earth is unsustainable then working out an equitable, functional monetary system is EASY. Getting everybody to agree that growth is dead/undesirable/unsustainable isn't so easy...

[emordnilap]

Gold? Anyone want to have a go at this?

[UndercoverElephant]

Gold? Anyone want to have a go at this?

I have checked out a few websites explaining how to do this. Looks very complicated to me. Apparently there's a lot more gold in pre-2000's electronics, because they started using it much more economically once the price rises kicked in.

http://www.emirates247.com/markets/gold ... 3-1.414777

“Gold is now officially out of control,”

Just a bit. Topped £1160 earlier, has pulled back a bit now. There's people all over the place predicting a correction, or at least for the bull market to run out of steam for a while, but it does not appear to be happening.

[UndercoverElephant]

Falling fast now...down to $1850/£1120. Is this the much-predicted pullback? If so then it will be very interesting to see how far it pulls back. The important threshold is £1060, which was the bottom of the last dip (Aug 15th). If it goes lower than that then it could fall back below £1000. If it doesn't make it down that far then I think it will turn round and go straight back up again.

This is all healthy for the long-term upward trajectory. A sharp pullback will shake a lot of the short-term speculators out of the market and send a load more gold heading towards long-term bulls who will not be keen to sell it again anytime soon.

[Lord Beria3]

Noq £1107 - looks like the correction is finally coming... at least for the next few days...

[DominicJ]

Its still up on last week, pretty limited pull back really.

Probably not a terrible time to buy, but 7 days ago was better.

[UndercoverElephant]

Noq £1107 - looks like the correction is finally coming... at least for the next few days...

Yeah...wait till Helicopter gets up to speak on Friday.

[UndercoverElephant]

http://www.goldmoney.com/video/rickards ... de=DOLLARC

The above interview has convinced me how this is probably going to end, at least for the Euro and the US dollar. The Eurozone has 10,000 tons of gold. The US has about 8000 (this always assumes it hasn't been stolen/loaned/etc, but let's go with that for now.) In order to stop the rot, all TPTB have to do is to stop printing money and wait for the price of gold to go so high that these hoards of gold will be enough to cover all of the Euros/dollars in existence. At some point, I think this option will seem so attractive as an exit strategy that the politicians will take it. As soon as one of these currencies goes on the gold standard, so will the other, and it will be immediately followed by the Swiss Franc.

At this point one has to point a big, fat finger at a big, fat Scottish windbag who sold half of the UK's gold for rock-bottom prices, because this may just turn out to have been the most disastrous of his many mistakes. The problem is that we have an over-sized banking sector and an under-sized pile of gold. I haven't yet figured out what the consequences will be for the UK in the above hypothetical situation, but it won't be good.

ETA: thinking on my feet here...I think that if it became clear that this is the way things are heading and TPTB announce the end of money-printing, this would naturally send the price of gold to at least the level required to convert to the gold standard. According to the video, if they stop printing today, this value would be about $7000 per ounce, but it is a moving target - the more money gets printed before they head for this exit strategy, the higher the eventual conversion value will have to be. However, it doesn't matter how much money is printed, this exit strategy will always remain an option.

[DominicJ]

In order to stop the rot, all TPTB have to do is to stop printing money and wait for the price of gold to go so high that these hoards of gold will be enough to cover all of the Euros/dollars in existence.

But the only reason gold is going up is because of the monetary expansion, well, mostly.

[JavaScriptDonkey]

It is dangerous to assume that the only commodity of value is gold. There isn't enough gold in the world to support a gold based currency which is why modern currencies aren't made of precious metals. I think we'd get about an ounce each which doesn't bode well for liquidity.

All you get with precious metal coins is hoarding which is disastrous for trade as the money supply dries up.

Perhaps a paper currency might be issued based on the amount of gold held in a central vault but if that were to ever happen then Govt would seize all gold bullion and issue you with paper instead. A country's worth would be calculated in how much yellow metal it held rather than in the strength of its economy. It would also limit trade as credit would have to be tied to today's gold reserves rather than the expected returns from building a new railway/airport/whatever.

Gold is a traditional hedge against inflation because it holds its worth over time: gold can't become as debased as a Drachma. The current bubble is partly fuelled by debasing currencies (fear driven) and partly by tulip fever (greed driven). How much weight you give to each of those is up to you.

Gold has been used as a park for all the money that exited the bond and stock markets. As they recover (if they recover) it'll crash out of gold to chase growth again.

Prices fell again today although I wouldn't read too much into it. Be ready to cash out when you're happy with your position....you can always buy back in with the profits and ride it again.

[murpen]

Interesting to read this 5 years after it was written: Why the Global Financial System is About to Collapse

Also, for short term moves in gold and silver I've found http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/ to be quite good.

[biffvernon]

I think we'd get about an ounce each which doesn't bode well for liquidity.

Maybe even less than an ounce. Just goes to show what an unfair world we live in.

[UndercoverElephant]

It is dangerous to assume that the only commodity of value is gold. There isn't enough gold in the world to support a gold based currency which is why modern currencies aren't made of precious metals.

This is complete and utter rubbish, JSD. It all depends on the value of gold.

I think we'd get about an ounce each which doesn't bode well for liquidity.

Nobody is suggesting actual coins made out of gold, JSD.

Perhaps a paper currency might be issued based on the amount of gold held in a central vault but if that were to ever happen then Govt would seize all gold bullion and issue you with paper instead.

That's OK.

Gold has been used as a park for all the money that exited the bond and stock markets. As they recover (if they recover) it'll crash out of gold to chase growth again.

They aren't going to recover.

Prices fell again today although I wouldn't read too much into it. Be ready to cash out when you're happy with your position....you can always buy back in with the profits and ride it again.

I'll cash out when TPTB have sorted out the long-term monetary problems. This is a temporary dip. I'm still interested to see how low it goes. Everybody is waiting for Friday's helicopter speech.