Doug Casey on the intrinsic properties of gold as a store of value and medium of exchange:
1. It is durable. It won’t evaporate, mildew, rust, crumble, break, or rot. Gold, more than any other solid element, is chemically inert. This is why foodstuffs, oil or artwork can’t be used as money.
2. It is divisible. One ounce of gold—whether bullion, coin, or dust—is worth exactly 1/100th of one hundred ounces. When a diamond is split, its value may be destroyed. You can’t make change for a piece of land.
3. It is (relatively) convenient. Gold allows its owner physically to carry the wealth of a lifetime with him. Real estate stays where it is. An equivalent value of copper, lead, zinc, silver, and most other metals would be too heavy.
4. It is consistent. Only one grade exists for 24-carat gold, so there is no danger of owning 24-carat gold varying in quality. Twenty-four-carat gold (pure gold) is the same in every time and place since gold is a natural element, unlike gems, artwork, land, grain, or other commodities.
5. It has intrinsic value. Gold finds new industrial uses each year. Of all the metals, it is the most malleable (able to be hammered into sheets less than 5-millionths of an inch thick), most ductile (a single ounce can be drawn into a wire 35 miles long), and the least reactive (it can stand indefinite immersion in seawater, does not tarnish in air, and can withstand almost any acid). Next to silver, it’s the most conductive of heat and electricity and the most reflective of light.
6. It is of finite supply and cannot be created by government. Gold can, of course, be debased with impurities or falsified in weight, and governments strapped for revenue have tried those tricks. But a trader can protect himself with a pair of scales or a vial of acid, although a familiar and trustworthy hallmark of a coin saves him that trouble. Unlike currency, gold cannot lose value because of government mismanagement. On the contrary, it tends to gain value because of government mismanagement. The amount of above-ground gold (by weight) has typically increased by about 2%-3% per year historically.
These superlatives, which have not changed over the last several thousand years (unlike paper money), make gold uniquely well suited as a medium of exchange and a store of value. Thus, arguments that gold’s value is “mystical” are ridiculous.
