Re: Why does gold have value?

<veg_all@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1135708841.268410.125440@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I dont understand why gold is the base for all money? It has no
> practical use in society other than something that women desire. Does
> this mean that a woman's desire is more valuable than steel for
> example? Why wasn't steel, wood or food chosen as the base for all
> money?
>

Gold is non perishable and not easily counterfeited. It can be
cut up into smaller pieces and used as coins easily. But all
of that speaks only to why we would use gold as opposed to
something else. Rare jewels and works of art will also serve as
stores of value and that is the question you have asked:

"Why does gold have value"?

It is seen as a sign of opulence and it thus conveys
the notion that the owner/possessor can command the
labor and allegiance of others. It is this property that
imparts "value" to gold or jewels. These are the
things that the people with the swords will take
in lieu of taking your chickens or your very life.
So those who do not seek power must still seek
gold.

--
"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers
of society but the people themselves; and
if we think them not enlightened enough to
exercise their control with a wholesome
discretion, the remedy is not to take it from
them, but to inform their discretion by
education." - Thomas Jefferson
http://GreaterVoice.org


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