Monday, September 5, 2011

WHO Should Own Gold?

Well the cheap & easy answer is everyone, but, I think there are two classes of people among you, dear readers, who MUST own gold.  And of course, I mean the real thing: physical gold in your possession.

1.  After my Tai Chi class tonight I was speaking with Jane (hey, Jane, now you're famous!).  I was giving her my usual spiel about buying gold for the long haul, not for buying and then reselling later on for a profit.  At one point we were joined by another lady classmate, and we talked some more.  Something then occurred to me.  NEITHER one has children.

One of FOFOA's nuggets of wisdom is that he likes the idea of viewing gold and value of gold through time!

He notes that most gold quietly lays still, not doing anything.  Except for maintaining its value, changeable though it may be.  He has noted that (especially in Europe) gold is typically TRANS-GENERATIONAL...  The children receive the gold from their parents, they pass it along to their children.

This tells me that one group that REALLY SHOULD own gold would be parents of children. Gold is one of the greatest gifts (after love for your children) that is possible to give.  Parents have a responsibility of helping to ensure the long-term happiness and security for their descendants.

Young people who are considering marriage and children I include in this group.  If you are a parent, or are a potential parent, you should own gold.  Keep your eye on the prize, the well-being of your progeny.  Think long term.

2.  At zerohedge.com I participated in a recent set of comments about cornering gold.  There are some who believe (and I would agree) that it is unhealthy for a society (or even a world) for a small group to own all the gold.  I do not have the figures at hand now, but of course the central banks own a LOT of the world's gold, something like 40% (?). There is another group of people who own gold in big quantities as well.  FOFOA calls them the "Giants".  In fact, a few months ago FOFOA published there at his blog (www.fofoa.blogspot.com) a snippet of a fascinating online chat he was having with a "Small Giant" he corresponds with.  A "Small Giant" is defined by my Trail Guide as owning a metric tonne of gold (1000 kg = approx. 2200 "normal") lbs.  VERY roughly that works out to $50,000,000 worth of gold (@ $1900 / oz)!  And that's a Small Giant!

I have developed a notion that widespread ownership of gold would be a very good thing.  If gold has a FOFOA-style quantum leap in price, then 97% - 99% of Americans will be left behind...  That is not healthy for our society.

So, the upper-middle class and the regular middle class (who by definition have discretionary income) ought to be buyers of gold to keep gold ownership well spread out!  Even the poor should have gold (whatever they can get, a 1/10th oz Gold Eagle is a bit over $200 now) as security against inflation or societal mismanagement.  And who among us believes Uncle Sugar really cares about the poor?  Please.

So, readers of my blog, please do your part in keeping America strong and healthy!  BUY some physical gold for your own well being and for the future benefit to the USA.  We do not want China (or the BIS) to own it all.

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As my thinking continues to evolve re gold, I will continue my writing on this big and important subject.

2 comments:

  1. Gold ownership has much cultural heritage to it...as does silver; but that's another story. Inda/Indonesia/Latin America (and Florida, for that matter) strongly value the ownership of gold for generations. The last thing that is ever sold is the gold and land of a strong family. 2 big reasons as I see it for a family to have gold. One is to preserve the socio-economic status and more importantly: to have a 'tribulation' fund.
    As this country is so far off the cliff when it comes to income disparities, buying gold isn't going to change much. Perhaps this is due in large measure precisely because owning precious metals has been out-of-favor and wealth has been measured by the size of your credit card limits and how much car & how much house you can afford?
    In the area where I live, a "small giant" is someone who's got their house paid off and has health insurance. Buying gold is pretty low on the maslow's chart (or is it high?) While I can hope that more people will understand that the $$ in their pension/savings/ss and so forth is returning to the intrinsic value of the paper it is printed on...I'm dubious. Only recently have I been 'proven right' that buying gold when it was $250 was a smart idea. And my sons are seeing that the silver that I bought back when it was $4 is now 'worth' how much? Yeah, that's a lot of potatoes there.
    So I definitely agree with your position. Families that want to be strong/stay strong should have been buying gold (and silver) all along. Even now. How's the saying go, after 10, 100, 1000 years and ounce of gold is STILL an ounce of gold.
    Please keep up the words of encouragement.
    Tim

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  2. I agree that widespread ownership of gold would be a very good thing. And the truth is that gold ownership IS widespread, globally. Billions of people own small amounts of gold.

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