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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (36352)	7/2/1999 3:12:00 PM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116762

<<Second case: Another all out oil embargo that severely alters the economic balance and increases prices all around for goods and services. Until this bubble would be burst by another feverish round of massive exploration and production activity, gold would rule since oil is denominated in dollars, thus making the dollar weaker relative to pricing power.>> May I give you a third? New technologies and new uses under existing technology that create a demand far past current demand. That may be the best case for silver. That may be the best case for the mining companies(which you hate).

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (36352)	7/2/1999 3:33:00 PM
From: Jim S	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116762

I'll give you one, or maybe a couple. [Reasons for gold to have more than commodity value.] But they all deal with relapsing into the historical psychology that surrounds the metal. Aha! Gotcha! When the psychological demand for the metal makes it valuable, it has the value many of us would like to ascribe to it during non-crisis times. Ergo, if enough of us want it to have "emergency storage" value, then it does in fact have that value, right? Furthermore, since you agree that it does in fact have a "contingency value" in times of crisis, isn't it reasonable for governments to hold it for just that reason? Sort of like having some candles and a few cans of beans available on this coming New Years's Eve. It is a calming factor that helps inspire confidence in our fiat currencies, irrespective of any day-to-day intrinsic value it may or may not have. When we hollowed out the LA salt domes to store oil, it seemed like a pretty good idea. When we hoard plutonium and tightly control its distribution, it seems like a pretty good idea, too. Back in pre-WWII days, when helium was considered a strategic material, vast areas in the Texas panhandle were considered "vital defense areas," for the same reasons as we hold gold -- we may need it someday. See what a moment of weakness can do to your image? <huge g> jim