Financial Times: "gold is a goner" (1997)

In the western world more people are buying gold to wear, as jewellery or watches, because it makes them feel good and they can pretend to themselves that these objects will hold their value. They conveniently ignore the fact that the cost of design, production, profit and taxes usually far outstrips the value of the gold content.

But when it comes to bullion as an investment, and as a measure of national wealth, gold is a goner. The reverse alchemy is almost complete. Eddie George, governor of the Bank of England, like Fort Knox, one of the great citadels of gold, recently told a European parliamentary committee: "Whereas gold used to be seen as a good asset, it is now seen as the bottom of the pile."

~ "The Death of Gold," Financial Times cover, by Kenneth Gooding, December 13, 1997

Western Mining Prospector
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