> > If we compare gold with land, point by point: > > > > Decay: gold: no land: no > > Limited supply: gold: limited , although still mining an extra 2% per > > annum > > land: obviously limited. Some categories of > > land are > > actually getting scarcer (ex. forests) > > Productive: gold : no land: YES
> Good analysis, but you omitted the following points: > > Portable: gold: yes land: no Portable can be seen as an advantage and as a disadvantage. It is because gold is portable that it has storage costs. Land is not portable, so a thief cannot run away with it. Yes, the land can be confiscated, but that's true about gold too. > Easy to conceal: gold: yes land: no There is no need to conceal the land. Same as above. > Easily divisible: gold: yes land: no With the modern communication techniques: land: yes The gold bars in e-gold's vault are also not chopped into pieces when somebody does a micro payment. With a land back e-currency you can also pay with 1/1000th of a unit/share > Useful in certain industrial applications: gold: yes land: no Most factories are built on a piece of land, so land is also useful in industrial production , but in a different way. > Very high ratio of value to physical size: gold: yes land: no True, but not any problem if it is just to serve as backing for an e-currency. > > Conclusion: land is better than gold > > There is no need for categorical assertions of superiority like this. > That's like saying chain saws are better than surgical scalpels. I mean better with the purpose of backing an electronic currency. Land scores equal on points like not-decaying, divisible,... but beats gold because it is a productive asset. Two people have 10000oz of gold. Person 1 stores it in a vault. Person 2 buys a piece of forest land with it. He can cut trees from the land every 20 years and sell them for gold on the market. If we wait long enough he will have made back his 10000oz of gold, and still own the same piece of land as well. You can talk about property taxes and things like that, but that is government intervention, and will differ from country to country. In a free system the land is a better store of value than gold, hence also a better backing for an e-currency. Danny --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
