No matter of our knowledge of the nature of gold or what we think of the value of gold, we know that the shiny metal is a symbol of national wealth.
The books of Terry Pratchett are pure gold for readers that appreciate the Discworld Universe. Marvel at the strange creatures that inhabit this flat world, resting on the back of four enormous elephants that stand on the shell of Great A’Turin, the Gigant Star turtle which swims through space towards an unknown destination.
In many a way gold is an important feature in Pratchett’s books, and the author has a dual, if not multiple, approach to the metal. He acknowledges the belief that gold is something valuable. However, he also makes fun of the useless metal as something irrelevant and unimportant. Discworld
Worst gold sale ever
Anyhow, the book Making Money should be mandatory reading for all economy students and especially the Central Bank Governor of Norway – who’s predecessor sold the gold Norwegian soldiers risked their life for when the Germans invaded in 1940. 33,5 tons of gold were sold for measly 420 dollars an ounce in 2004. At the time of writing gold is sold for 1585 dollars an ounce. This sale is ranked as the world’s 6th most stupid transaction.
What is more fitting than Pratchett on the theme Empty Gold Vaults sums up the state of the oil nation No-way: Ten tons of gold don’t just get up and walk away! He? HAHAHAHA!!! The Norwegian gold ran away. It was exchanged for some virtual non-existing numbers in a server which is long gone.
Even more fitting is the quote on the theme Gold and Central Banks: The reason why everyone thinks gold is important is that banks have some of it in cellars – even if it is proven that this does not matter a damn.
Norway is a poor nation, and when the North Sea oil has helped finish off the world and destroyed the climate, this frozen nation will have no gold in the vaults to weather the woes of the future yet to come.
Banks are Serious Donkeys
The Zen of Pratchett manifests itself in humorous reflections on banks, gold and the superrich elite. Bankers in our world believe that nothing can go wrong with the economic system with the serious donkeys at the head of the federal banks: But the banks of A-M, sir, are very serious indeed. They are serious donkeys, Mr. Lipwig. There have been so many failures.
An impressive observation articulated by one of the main characters sums it up: The banks are stuck in the mud, they live in the past, they are hypnotized by class and wealth, they think gold is important.
Wealthy people have the power of definition. They can define what has value and what is worthless. And since the mighty, for thousands of years, have defined that gold is valuable, it is valuable. Nothing can change this perception of the metal.
Anyhow, the book Making Money should be mandatory reading for all economy students and especially the Central Bank Governor of Norway – who’s predecessor sold the gold Norwegian soldiers risked their life for when the Germans invaded in 1940. 33,5 tons of gold were sold for measly 420 dollars an ounce in 2004. At the time of writing gold is sold for 1585 dollars an ounce. This sale is ranked as the world’s 6th most stupid transaction.
What is more fitting than Pratchett on the theme Empty Gold Vaults sums up the state of the oil nation No-way: Ten tons of gold don’t just get up and walk away! He? HAHAHAHA!!! The Norwegian gold ran away. It was exchanged for some virtual non-existing numbers in a server which is long gone.
Even more fitting is the quote on the theme Gold and Central Banks: The reason why everyone thinks gold is important is that banks have some of it in cellars – even if it is proven that this does not matter a damn.
Norway is a poor nation, and when the North Sea oil has helped finish off the world and destroyed the climate, this frozen nation will have no gold in the vaults to weather the woes of the future yet to come.
Banks are Serious Donkeys
The Zen of Pratchett manifests itself in humorous reflections on banks, gold and the superrich elite. Bankers in our world believe that nothing can go wrong with the economic system with the serious donkeys at the head of the federal banks: But the banks of A-M, sir, are very serious indeed. They are serious donkeys, Mr. Lipwig. There have been so many failures.
An impressive observation articulated by one of the main characters sums it up: The banks are stuck in the mud, they live in the past, they are hypnotized by class and wealth, they think gold is important.
Wealthy people have the power of definition. They can define what has value and what is worthless. And since the mighty, for thousands of years, have defined that gold is valuable, it is valuable. Nothing can change this perception of the metal.
The Lost Gold Standard
Today, no country has a gold standard, or any standards for that matter. The American dollar is, for the time being, a kind of world currency which other currencies are measured against. However, it is only a matter of time before the dollar will collapse under the weight of the American national and personal debts.
Paper money and digital money are not backed by gold anymore. Money is backed by belief. We believe that cash and card are worth something. And as long as we believe that dollars, kroner, pounds and euro are worth something, they are worth something. And as long people believe that paper money is worth something, central banks can print as much money as they like. The American Central Bank, the Fed, calls money printing for Quantitative Easing. By printing money the Fed debases the dollar. And then we are back to Pratchett’s thoughts on money on the Discworld and the bank in the great city of Ankh-Morpork.
Ankh-Morpork has been debasing its currency for some time. Their "gold" coins are only one-third gold. Then it got down to the gold content of seawater. But it was a promise to pay One Dollar Worth of Gold. The actual gold being kept in the vaults for safety. By Making Money (the book), of course, the gold has gone altogether, but no one notices.
The money the central banks all over the world are printing by the truckloads are not vested in gold. The promise that Central banks on request will exchange the paper money for gold, is long gone. This might be just as well, because conspiracy theorists claim that the 8133 tons of gold in Fort Knox are also long gone and that the German gold in American vaults has been spent by the American government.
No country currently backs its currency with gold, but many have in the past, including the U.S. Since 1879, Americans could trade in $ 20,67 for an ounce of gold (31,103 grams). The country abandoned the gold standard in 1933. President Nixon saw the light and severed the link between the dollar and gold in 1971. The U.S. now has a fiat money system, meaning the dollar’s value is linked to belief.
Finance
Not so in Ankh-Morpork. The brain and the shadow leader of The Royal Bank and the Royal Mint Mr. Bent, thinks otherwise. Gold is also the only basis of a sound financial system. There is Value! There is Worth! Without the anchor of gold, all would be chaos. Mr. Bent went on, while the torchlight reflected off the bullion and gilded his face.
The Norwegian gold was sold in London to buyers the Norwegian Central Bank (Norges Bank) will not disclose to the public. No gold! No trust, only rust! The Gold is gone and the Norwegian kroner is sinking faster than the Titanic.
But, in truth, it had not exactly been gold, or even the promise of gold, but more like the fantasy of gold, the fairy dream that the gold is there, at the end of the rainbow, and will continue to be there forever. - Provided, naturally, that you don't go and look. This is known as finance.
The Promise of Gold
The Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork and its Royal Mint have the same problems modern banks all over the world face today. Nobody trusts banks. They solely exist to make poor people poorer through inflation and extremely low interest rates if they are dumb enough to save money. And hurting people with loan shark interest rates if they are stupid enough to borrow money. Face it…. You can’t win, and Mr. Bent, in the book Making Money, sums up the growing concerns of many, many people. The fear of banks and all their knavish tricks and wheeling and dealing: They trust their socks more than they trust banks.
A New Gold Standard?
Not likely! Our world has moved a long way through space since gold was a part of economic systems. In the age of the computer and the binary system gold is an unpractical financial tool. Probably, we have to experience a total world economic collapse before gold and silver once more become important assets in international trade and day to day living.
However, gold is still seen as av carrier of value. Central Banks are buying the coveted metal, especially Russia has been filling her coffers the last ten years. Poland bought gold for 500 million dollars in 2019. An amount of money which coincidentally is matching the amount of money the Norwegian government has transferred as EEA Grants to Poland. The Polish Central bank has seen the gilded light and is exploiting the system within the hardcore philosophy of the gold loving dwarves in Ankh-Morpork: Paper money live and die, Computer systems crash and burn, but gold is still valuable no matter what happens.
Today, no country has a gold standard, or any standards for that matter. The American dollar is, for the time being, a kind of world currency which other currencies are measured against. However, it is only a matter of time before the dollar will collapse under the weight of the American national and personal debts.
Paper money and digital money are not backed by gold anymore. Money is backed by belief. We believe that cash and card are worth something. And as long as we believe that dollars, kroner, pounds and euro are worth something, they are worth something. And as long people believe that paper money is worth something, central banks can print as much money as they like. The American Central Bank, the Fed, calls money printing for Quantitative Easing. By printing money the Fed debases the dollar. And then we are back to Pratchett’s thoughts on money on the Discworld and the bank in the great city of Ankh-Morpork.
Ankh-Morpork has been debasing its currency for some time. Their "gold" coins are only one-third gold. Then it got down to the gold content of seawater. But it was a promise to pay One Dollar Worth of Gold. The actual gold being kept in the vaults for safety. By Making Money (the book), of course, the gold has gone altogether, but no one notices.
The money the central banks all over the world are printing by the truckloads are not vested in gold. The promise that Central banks on request will exchange the paper money for gold, is long gone. This might be just as well, because conspiracy theorists claim that the 8133 tons of gold in Fort Knox are also long gone and that the German gold in American vaults has been spent by the American government.
No country currently backs its currency with gold, but many have in the past, including the U.S. Since 1879, Americans could trade in $ 20,67 for an ounce of gold (31,103 grams). The country abandoned the gold standard in 1933. President Nixon saw the light and severed the link between the dollar and gold in 1971. The U.S. now has a fiat money system, meaning the dollar’s value is linked to belief.
Finance
Not so in Ankh-Morpork. The brain and the shadow leader of The Royal Bank and the Royal Mint Mr. Bent, thinks otherwise. Gold is also the only basis of a sound financial system. There is Value! There is Worth! Without the anchor of gold, all would be chaos. Mr. Bent went on, while the torchlight reflected off the bullion and gilded his face.
The Norwegian gold was sold in London to buyers the Norwegian Central Bank (Norges Bank) will not disclose to the public. No gold! No trust, only rust! The Gold is gone and the Norwegian kroner is sinking faster than the Titanic.
But, in truth, it had not exactly been gold, or even the promise of gold, but more like the fantasy of gold, the fairy dream that the gold is there, at the end of the rainbow, and will continue to be there forever. - Provided, naturally, that you don't go and look. This is known as finance.
The Promise of Gold
The Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork and its Royal Mint have the same problems modern banks all over the world face today. Nobody trusts banks. They solely exist to make poor people poorer through inflation and extremely low interest rates if they are dumb enough to save money. And hurting people with loan shark interest rates if they are stupid enough to borrow money. Face it…. You can’t win, and Mr. Bent, in the book Making Money, sums up the growing concerns of many, many people. The fear of banks and all their knavish tricks and wheeling and dealing: They trust their socks more than they trust banks.
A New Gold Standard?
Not likely! Our world has moved a long way through space since gold was a part of economic systems. In the age of the computer and the binary system gold is an unpractical financial tool. Probably, we have to experience a total world economic collapse before gold and silver once more become important assets in international trade and day to day living.
However, gold is still seen as av carrier of value. Central Banks are buying the coveted metal, especially Russia has been filling her coffers the last ten years. Poland bought gold for 500 million dollars in 2019. An amount of money which coincidentally is matching the amount of money the Norwegian government has transferred as EEA Grants to Poland. The Polish Central bank has seen the gilded light and is exploiting the system within the hardcore philosophy of the gold loving dwarves in Ankh-Morpork: Paper money live and die, Computer systems crash and burn, but gold is still valuable no matter what happens.
