Gold - a safe investment

The only form of investment, with an intrinsic value, that is free of dependence on confidence in any shape or form, such as faith in the general world economic climate, the fate of a particular economy, or a government or a person, is GOLD. That explains why gold coins have survived all the political struggles and economic crises ever since the days of the King Croesus of Lydia, who ruled in the sixth century before the birth of Christ:

There are many restrictions on currencies. Some can not be imported, some cannot be exported, but gold is welcome everywhere. Gold is not an official currency and its value is independent of man imposed laws. The gold coin in your pocket can not be devalued, by the stroke of a pen, as was recently the value of the Argentine Peso or by gradual devaluation, as is happening to the Japanese Yen, where the crisisbound and panicky Japanese Government is trying to devalue its own currency in order to promote exports.

Owing to the treaty of Maastricht, signed by all the 12 European countries, where the Euro is the official single currency now, one government alone can no longer develop its own program to reflate the national economy and thereby effectively fight unemployment, lest such an action would increase the level of the national debt by more than 3% of the gross national product.

And this is the crux of the matter. It is appreciated, that no currency can have a stable value unless all member governments exercise fiscal discipline. But such discipline can only exist in heaven, where the celestial government is independent of the goodwill of its voters. In the real world, governments must do their utmost to get the unemployed off the official statistics, even if it means cooking the books, like they did in Germany under the present government. But when all else fails they will increase the money supply as well as government debt, whether it conforms to Maastricht or not. The devastating consequences for the Euro of such a policy, can be imagined.

This is just one of the puzzles of the future. It is impossible to predict the development of the global market under the current political circumstances. For that reason it appears to be a wise choice to invest part of one`s wealth in gold, in order to safeguard at least a part of one`s assets as a precaution for all eventualities.