Gold Is Money: It’s Elemental!

Jon Economy

Gold is money. That’s one of the main reasons you want to own gold.
Gold possesses all of the characteristics of money Aristotle listed 2,000 years ago. The philosopher said sound money must be durable, portable, divisible, and have intrinsic value. You can check off all four of these characteristics for gold. You can also add a fifth characteristic to Aristotle’s list. Sound money cannot be easily manipulated by central bankers – i.e. created out of thin air. That’s why the yellow metal has held its value over time while fiat currencies have fallen in value.
But a chemistry professor at University College London said there is an even more elemental reason gold is money.
Gold is boring. Chemically speaking that is.
In a 2013 BBC article, Andrea Sella argued that its chemical makeup makes gold the perfect element to function as money. It is stable. It doesn’t react with other elements. It doesn’t break down over time.
In fact, gold was chemically destined to be money.

This post was published at Schiffgold on AUGUST 18, 2017.