# Is there a GQ response to the right wing marketing of gold? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2009, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433 "2009-11-13T12:12:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/61 "2011-08-10T00:51:26Z")
GQ answer: Gold has always been popular during economic turmoil, but it looks at this point that people have figured out the marketing dynamics involved. The talking heads flog scare stories about economic collapse, generating irrational craving for a hedge. Gold brokers realized that this is their advertising sweet spot and pour money into that advertising demographic. The talking heads realize they can essentially mint their own money by pouring out doom and gloom over the airwaves, and they act accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/62 "2011-08-10T02:27:18Z")
> [@code\_grey](#): > > what part of it is a “potshot”? [Moderator Note] Don’t be disingenous, **code\_grey**. Take the political commentary elsewhere. And if you want to dispute a moderator note, take it to ATMB. Don’t discuss it further here. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/63 "2011-08-10T04:58:39Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I also don’t see how it is a political pot shot. Some people think that gold is better than cash because the government can ruin the value of the dollar by hyperinflation, but the government can take the gold by fiat as well, and has, so it’s not like gold has always remained a reliable investment in the past few centuries. Discussion of moderator action, as **Colibri** just pointed out, belongs in ATMB, not here. I will, however, respond to your second sentence. The government can take _anything_ by fiat. It’s called eminent domain. They could pass a law tomorrow forbidding private ownership of guns, rhododendrons, or incandescent light bulbs. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/64 "2011-08-10T07:47:41Z")
No not my incandescent light bulbs! ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/65 "2011-08-10T08:22:04Z")
For the record, with the value of gold going through the roof, ads to buy gold, something I had never seen before have appeared on French TV too, so it’s not solely an American phenomenon (and there’s no “gold nuts” wanting to get back to a gold currency over here). I didn’t pay attention to the category of channels they were broadcasting these adds on, though. However I noticed that they were in fact dubbed (and nothing in the very restricted context could help me define in which country they might have been shot). I had assumed that they were generic EU adds, but when I think of it, I didn’t pay much attention to the kind of bills the happy people who had sold their gold to the company were holding in their hands. I assumed euros, but for all I know, it could be dollars, pounds, or even an unexisting generic “currency”. I’ll try to pay attention next time. ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/66 "2011-08-10T20:15:42Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:63, topic:517433”] I will, however, respond to your second sentence. The government can take _anything_ by fiat. It’s called eminent domain. They could pass a law tomorrow forbidding private ownership of guns, rhododendrons, or incandescent light bulbs. [/QUOTE] that is correct. However, the probability of government measures to prohibit or confiscate various items is not the same for every possible item. For various assets the inherent “political risk” is different, and based on experience of many historical dictatorships out there the risk for gold and foreign currency is relatively high. IMHO this is an important point to realize for people who listen to too much “right wing” gold marketing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/67 "2015-03-24T18:52:00Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Today, the spot price for gold is over $1,700 per ounce. > > Anyone who read this thread in 2009 and decided to buy gold as a result should be happy with this outcome. And anyone who bought it when you bumped this thread [would be very unhappy](http://www.jmbullion.com/charts/gold-price/). Was there a point to that bump, **Bricker**? One that wasn’t proven completely wrong by mine? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/68 "2015-03-25T07:09:36Z")
Coincidentally, when the OP was penned on Nov 13, 2009, the S&P 500 index was fairly close to the price of gold. Then: S&P: 1093.48 Gold: $1107.50 Yesterday, March 23rd: S&P: 2104.42, an increase of 92% Gold: $1181.4, an increase of 6.7%, which hasn’t kept up with inflation. The time pattern can be seen in this chart. Gold dipped below $1500 in April 2013, and hasn’t been seen there since. [http://wm40.inbox.com/thumbs/82\_130b3c\_ba385d29\_oP.png.thumb](http://wm40.inbox.com/thumbs/82_130b3c_ba385d29_oP.png.thumb) The OP discusses something very real. [Dick Morris](http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/magazine/79059/hack-dick-morris-tea-party#) pushed [this 2011 tract](http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Aftershock-book-predicts-economic/2011/07/25/id/404782/?utm_title=%3FAftershock%3F-Book-Predicts-Economic-Disa) which told people to dump stocks and buy gold. Bad advice. Bill O’Reilly shilled for gold retailer [Rosland Capital in 2009](http://mediamatters.org/blog/2009/12/17/politico-fox-corrects-beck-oreilly-gold-ads/158278), though Fox News later demanded he drop that contract. He advised his audience to buy gold because he said the [US dollar was under attack](http://www.nationalmemo.com/dont-go-to-these-5-right-wingers-for-investment-advice/3/). Such hysteria proved unfounded. Ron Paul is an infamous gold bug. One piece of good news though. Goldline, which received glowing endorsements from Glenn Beck and others described upthread, has been investigated by law enforcement. In 2012, they agreed to refund $4.5 million to former customers and change their, “Unfair sales practices”. Details of the settlement: [Goldline agrees to refund up to $4.5 million to former customers](http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/23/business/la-fi-0223-goldline-settlement-20120223) ETA: Prediction: When the Fed funds rate hits 3%, gold will be south of $1500. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/69 "2015-03-25T15:01:37Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > Advertising works in tiers. The more respected and successful your business the better ads you show. The tiers go like this: > > 1. Porn ads > 2. Scammy ads about PC speed boosters, gold sales, mortages from non-banks > 3. Big company ads, lots of branding, etc > > A lot of these right-wing sites have such, lets say marginalized, content that tier 3 advertisers dont want to be associated with them. Tier 2 doesnt care as much. I would say that the SDBM advertisements are coming in at about (an optimistic) 1.5 on that scale. > [@Chris\_Luongo](#): > > Likewise, the ads will usually match the education level, wealth, and sophistication of the audience as well. > > I would bet that wrestling magazines probably don’t have many ads encouraging their readers to apply to Harvard. > > Really, the ads will tell you a _lot_ about the audience. This makes me wonder about the SDMB. Maybe you are all sophisticated and intelligent connoisseurs of cheerleader oopsies, body paint, and regrettable tattoos. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/70 "2015-03-25T15:48:10Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > This makes me wonder about the SDMB. Maybe you are all sophisticated and intelligent connoisseurs of cheerleader oopsies, body paint, and regrettable tattoos. Thanks to tracking cookies, web ads are usually tailored to the individual’s tastes, rather than that of the site. I see none of these ads. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/71 "2015-03-25T16:12:13Z")
What posters here fail to appreciate is that not all investors have the same objective. Yes, some investors are looking for big returns so they can get off of food stamps and move out of their parents’ basement, but there are also investors out there who are already wealthy and aren’t as concerned with earning outsized returns. They’re more interested in protecting what they’ve accumulated from things like inflation and currency devaluation. For these investors, investing a small portion of their portfolio in gold or other commodities might make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/72 "2015-03-25T16:24:55Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Thanks to tracking cookies, web ads are usually tailored to the individual’s tastes, rather than that of the site. I see none of these ads. Well, I can tell you that those ads aren’t because this is a work computer that is firewalled and restricted out the wazoo. I can’t even go to places like Cracked because WebSense has declared it “tasteless.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/73 "2015-03-25T16:37:07Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > Yes, some investors are looking for big returns so they can get off of food stamps and move out of their parents’ basement The too poor to reside in one’s own domicile and reliant on food stamps but still has money to invest demographic is definitely underserved by today’s investment firms… :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > but there are also investors out there who are already wealthy and aren’t as concerned with earning outsized returns. They’re more interested in protecting what they’ve accumulated from things like inflation and currency devaluation. While this may be true, if you read the OP, you will see that it is being marketed quite differently to right wing media consumers. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/74 "2015-03-25T16:45:48Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > While this may be true, if you read the OP, you will see that it is being marketed quite differently to right wing media consumers. Also, weren’t most of the gold investors during the peak of the gold bubble not especially wealthy but rather middle aged, male, professional types of exactly the demographics at which the advertisements were aimed? Sure, they’d be of above average income but hardly independently wealthy. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/75 "2015-03-25T16:50:04Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > isn’t it also a right wing militia survivalist thing? When civilization collapses your paper fiat money will be worthless but gold will still be good… > > best stockpile it while you can. Canned goods and guns will be far more valuable. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/76 "2015-03-25T17:12:11Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > And anyone who bought it when you bumped this thread [would be very unhappy](http://www.jmbullion.com/charts/gold-price/). > > Was there a point to that bump, **Bricker**? One that wasn’t proven completely wrong by mine? Only that the suggestion in 2009 that people were going to lose money buying gold was incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/77 "2015-03-25T17:42:51Z")
The people who bought collectible gold coins from Goldline, _et al_. (who were essentially the subject of the thread), probably lost quite a bit of money. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/78 "2015-03-25T17:48:45Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > They’re more interested in protecting what they’ve accumulated from things like inflation and currency devaluation. Except that Gold is by no means proof vs inflation. And if the Dollar gets devalued, you better have the previously mentions canned goods and guns. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/79 "2015-03-25T18:14:15Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Except that Gold is by no means proof vs inflation. Huh? Gold has maintained its purchasing power for hundreds of years. That’s why the expected real (inflation-adjusted) return of gold is precisely zero. An ounce of gold could buy a high quality men’s suit in the time of Shakespeare, and so it does today. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433/80 "2015-03-25T18:26:16Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Only that the suggestion in 2009 that people were going to lose money buying gold was incorrect. If we assume that your post is saying gold was a good investment at that point, then you saying so was also incorrect. This would be the case even for those who purchased it when the thread was started as well unless they got out right about then. So congratulations on picking the best point to sell. It’s a shame you didn’t actually say that in your post. Then it might have been worth is weight in… Well, you know. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-gq-response-to-the-right-wing-marketing-of-gold/517433.md?page=5)