#5 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2008-10-21 04:18 AM
The country is in the decline, generally speaking. The dollar is worth less than it was,
Come on Alexandrite, give it a rest ... Come on and observe the reality. The dollar is becoming stronger and stronger, worth more than it was in terms of purchasing power and as an exchange currency.
The dollar buys more real property here in the U.S.
The dollar buys more shares of stock here in the U.S.
The dollar buys more oil. What's it down to - some $70 a barrel, nearly half the price that it cost recently, so the purchasing power of the dollar in terms of oil has nearly doubled.
And what about on the foreign exchange market. I think that you'll find that the dollar is increasing in value.
Also, when there is political unrest, or economic chaos, the dollar is the reserve currency that people seek. There are anecdotal reports from Russia that people are trying to convert their rubles into dollars as a safe haven.
So, enough of this malarkey regarding the dollar losing value. It's on the upswing, gaining value for a variety of reasons. The dollar has greater purchasing power in the U.S. for example for such major purchases as real estate, shares of stock, and oil.
And the dollar is gaining value as a foreign exchange currency. In some countries the dollar is regarded as a better repository for money in bad times than precious metals such as gold, platinum, or silver.
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GOLD MARKET AND PRICE 1800-2008
One of the oldest civilisations known to man, the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, who lived in what is modern-day Iran and Iraq, first used gold as sacred, ornamental, and decorative instruments in the fifth millennium B.C. Around the same period, the early Egyptians the richest gold-producing civilisation of the ancient world began the art of gold refining. Like the Sumerians, the Egyptians used gold primarily for personal adornment, rather than for monetary purposes, although the kings of the fourth to sixth dynasties (c. 2700 - 2270 B.C.) did issue some gold coins. The first large-scale, private issuance of pure gold coins was under King Croesus (560-546 B.C.), the ruler of ancient Lydia, modern-day western Turkey. Stamped with his royal emblem of the facing heads of a lion and a bull, these first known coins eventually became the standard of exchange for worldwide trade and commerce.
Source: The World Gold Council
Gold is traditionally weighed in Troy Ounces (31.1035 grammes). It has a specific gravity of 19.3, meaning that it is 19.3 times heavier than water. So gold weighs 19.3 kilograms per litre. With the density of gold at 19.32 g/cm3, a troy ounce of gold would have a volume of 1.64 cm3. A tonne of gold would therefore have a volume of 51, 760 cm3, which would be equivalent to a cube of side 37.27cm (Approx. 1' 3''). At the end of 2003, Gold Field Mineral Services (GFMS) estimated that above-ground stocks represented a total volume of approximately 150,500 tonnes, of which 61% had been mined since 1950. All the gold ever mined would form a cube measuring only 19m on each side. This cube would, for example, easily fit under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
The proportion of gold in jewellery is measured on the carat (or karat) scale. The word carat comes from the carob seed, which was originally used to balance scales in Oriental bazaars. Pure gold is designated 24 carat, which compares with the "fineness" by which bar gold is defined.
