Re: Gold in them thar Bills...

["Perry E. Metzger" <pmetzger@lehman.com>]

Peter Wayner says:
> Now, as it stands, I really don't think that gold in a Swiss vault is 
> , without question, better than US paper money. I can pay my US taxes
> in US currency, but I can't eat gold. It's just shiny and neat. It's great
> if you need to make gold chains and rings, but it's not that great for
> anything other than electronics. In my computer, the silicon is worth
> more than the gold. 

As for "I can't eat gold", you can't eat U.S. Dollars, either. If you
need U.S. Dollars, Marks, Pounds, Yen, or anything else, and you have
gold, you can simply sell some gold. If you need food, you can buy it
with currency purchased with the gold, or can purchase it with the
gold directly.

As for "in my book, silicon is worth more than gold", I'll happily
trade you 100 kilos of silicon for 100 kilos of gold any day you like.
Assuming you aren't fibbing, you should take the trade, since the
silicon is worth more to you.

Of course, you'd be a fool. Silicon is plentiful, and costs pennies
the kilo. Gold is not plentiful -- the market value is around $10,000
the kilo.

Perry