Gold Fingered

A recent financial column with otherwise level-headed thoughts on protecting one’s “nest egg” (if you’re middle class – “grubstake” if you’re lower class) includes this startling statement: “Metals such as gold and silver bullion… aren’t backed by anything…” Well, excuse me sport, but gold doesn’t need backing – it _is_ backing. Yeah, I know, it’s just shiny metal, and what makes it so special? Only that it has served as a standard of value for nearly all nations, societies, and civilizations for thousands of years, that’s all. And silver isn’t far behind. I mean, if he wants people to invest in something that has more “backing” than gold, I’d like to know what it is. Currency is only as good as the economy of the country that issues it – which is why the American dollar is starting to slide in the direction of the Zimbabwe gigabuck. Stocks are only as good as the bottom line of the firm in question… and bonds as well, for that matter. If the entity that issues them goes under, so do you. More speculative investments like art are subject to the vagaries of the market, not to mention of taste and fashion, which are in turn determined by a bunch of gays in silk scarves who live in Manhattan penthouses. And guess what. When times are tough – really tough – what is it that people sew into their clothes as they crawl under the barbed wire? Gold, and gems. When the chips are down, ordinary people know what is worth something and what is not – and anything that is “represented” by a piece of paper doesn’t make the cut.