What Most People Don't Know About Gold(con't)

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.

These superlatives make gold uniquely well suited as a medium of exchange and a store of value. Arguments that gold's value is "mystical" are silly, it is simply one of the 92 natural elements.

One important last point was not listed by Aristotle, probably only because he lived before the creation of paper and banking.

6. Gold 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.