(01-03-2022, 11:13 AM)TrivialPursuit Wrote:

(01-03-2022, 11:05 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: The first sentence is correct.  

The second sentence is not true.  Money is not based on gold.  

The third sentence is arguable.  There are a lot of things that have value for very good reasons that go way beyond people deeming it so.

...did Aliens decide they have monetary value?

The reality is - money, stocks, all that crap... is made up. Gold is the only true "real" measure of wealth as stipulated since human time began.

Yet still - it has value only because we as human beings deemed it had value.

It takes no money to mine anything, to create anything. It takes humans willing to do it. So it takes humans willing to teach it. So we needed money. So we invented it.

Oh... and I guess its just a coincidence that all the "richest" countries all have the highest gold reserves? The United States is #1 in that category by the way.

I don't know where you get these ideas about gold, but here are the facts.  

Gold is only worth something because people want it.  It has limited industrial use.  It's use is mostly for jewelry or other decoration, or as gold coins.  Gold doesn't do anything.  We mine it, we melt it down, we put it in a vault and we guard it.  Why does it have any value?  It's pretty.  It never tarnishes.  It's fun to handle, because it's heavy and pretty.   But it's not a productive asset.  And money is not backed by gold, as you asserted.  The US abandoned the gold standard in 1971.  We use fiat money.    

A share of stock, on the other hand, has real value because it represents part ownership of a business.  Unlike gold, it's a productive asset.  

Gold is not the "only true measure of wealth as stipulated since human time began."  Far from it.  Before the invention of money, wealth could be measured in many ways.  How many cows you own. how much land you own, how many wives or slaves you had, etc.  

And it's irrelevant that the US has the highest gold reserves in the world.

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