Jim Cramer and gold

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
They do it partially because of tradition and partially because they think other people are stupid (and rightly so).

That doesn't make any sense. Central banks don't gamble. They like a sure thing and they have the inside information to know it is a sure thing. They would not buy gold if they thought it was overvalued.

Originally posted by Metal Brain
Your assertion is based on the assumption that gold is overvalued. Either that or you think that the fiat currency is backed by gold, which the US dollar is not.

If the currency goes bust the value of gold does NOT go bust with it. You are wrong.

Not quite. In the US, the currency is federal reserve notes in dollars. What's gold trading at? $2000 and ounce? I don't follow this stuff, because I don't own gold. If hyperinflation happens, a strong possibility, and it could be international what might gold be worth? A million $ and ounce? A billion?

Doesn't really matter does it, if the dollar doesn't buy anything any more how many dollars are traded for an ounce of gold is not important to anyone. Neither is its relationship to yen, pound, euro, or any other currencies that have hyper inflated.

Much of the so called Value of gold today is simply the inflation (loss of purchasing power) of other currencies.

Only if there is a safe haven, or someone still willing to trade commodities for gold, will it be "worth" anything. Chances are that if the fiat currencies are worthless in purchasing power, gold may not be quite so useless, but it would revert to its commodity value rather than its relationship to the fiat currencies of the world.

Now as a situation might rebound to normalcy, then gold might be a store of value for those who have it, but how it gets you through the crisis is another story.

Originally posted by Metal Brain
That doesn't make any sense. Central banks don't gamble. They like a sure thing and they have the inside information to know it is a sure thing. They would not buy gold if they thought it was overvalued.

What are their options? Gold is almost certainly better than most of the fiat currencies, but it is pegged to them. Central bankers are caught in a web of their own making.

Originally posted by normbenign
Not quite. In the US, the currency is federal reserve notes in dollars. What's gold trading at? $2000 and ounce? I don't follow this stuff, because I don't own gold. If hyperinflation happens, a strong possibility, and it could be international what might gold be worth? A million $ and ounce? A billion?

Doesn't really matter does it, if the dollar doe ...[text shortened]... of value for those who have it, but how it gets you through the crisis is another story.

There will always be some currency that people will accept and at least some people with that currency will likely be willing to buy gold with it, even if the US dollar were to go belly up.

It is unlikely that the US dollar will go belly up anytime soon, even with hyper inflation. It will just take a lot more dollars to buy gold, that is all.