[marvin]

This argument gets repeated again and again, but it doesn't have roots in reality. The market value of gold is far, far in excess of what the demand from industrial, scientific, fashion and jewelry use cases dictate. In fact, these uses exist despite the fact the gold is very expensive. (Perhaps with the exception of the latter two, which are popular because of gold's high market value. But they do not themselves cause it).

If gold and other precious metals did not have their historical use as a currency and the trust of markets (and its suitability as a currency, I suppose), they would be worth at least an order of magnitude less than they are today. And it would be mined a lot less of them.

[orblivion]

> The market value of gold is far, far in excess of what the demand from industrial, scientific, fashion and jewelry use cases dictate.

You forgot speculation. The reason it's so much more expensive than 10 years ago is because people expect that at a certain point inflation will finally be realized, and prices will be so high that it will be used for scientific, jewelry, and ornamental uses again, at prices even higher than today.

And even forgetting that, we have the fact that people buying gold to save removes it from the market, reducing supply at lower prices, leaving only higher bidders in the market. And you can still get gold tipped RCA cords, despite what you say. So as long as there are any consumption buyers just below the current price, the price is justified.

[TylerE]

[citation needed]

[marvin]

If we're going to play the "memes for intellectuals" game, I could just as easily make a similar claim on your comment. This is a content-free comment.

The easiest support for my argument would be looking at the list metals with a similar rarity to gold, and noting that gold is more expensive than all but platinum, despite having an annual production which is >15 times higher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth%...

Now, please provide a citation for your claim "gold's market value is mostly caused by demand from art and manufacturing processes". I claim that this wrong because 34% of all the world's gold is kept in vaults, and an additional 52% is stored in jewelry (of which a significant amount should be considered an investment by its owners due to the high market value).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_reserve#World_gold_holding...

[TylerE]

The fact that you are putting words in my mouth ("gold's market value is mostly caused by demand from art and manufacturing processes") is an indication that you are not debating in good faith. Good day. I shall waste no further time or effort on you.

[marvin]

This was a prety clear implication of your initial comment.