Worth its Weight in Gold
To say something was “worth its weight in gold” used to mean that something was ostensibly “priceless” – like a canteen of water in the dessert, or a blindfold at a nudist colony. It was used as hyperbole, to exaggerate value based on circumstance or emotion. But times – and attitudes – have changed. And that phrase no longer means what it used to.
From a PR standpoint, gold has taken a serious beating. Ever since the ’70s – when the U.S. officially cut all ties to gold – the financial elites and talking heads have heaped scorn on the yellow metal, calling it a “worthless asset” and a “barbarous relic.” To them, the phrase “worth your weight in gold” is akin to saying, “You’re a useless pile of junk that, while attractive, has no real value or purpose beyond the occasional decorative distraction.”
That’s right… According to the mainstream, gold is now the monetary equivalent of a Kardashian: vapid, useless and too self-obsessed to realize no one likes it.
But all is not lost. There are still a few intelligent people out there who happen to know the true value of gold. Those who see the yellow metal as history’s go-to asset for monetary stability. Those who realize that, no matter how intent a central bank may be on destroying the value of its own currency, there will always be a market for gold.
And along the way, one intrepid group (the folks a demonocracy.com) came up with a few nifty graphics to demonstrate the sheer magnitude of gold’s worth.
If nothing else, we think these graphics lends some much deserved credence to the old phrase we were just discussing. Enjoy.
[Note: For the sake of simplicity, all gold represented in these graphics assumes a price of $2,000/oz.]
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