Vaporware=US$! Econ.101.

Yes, gold DOES have an intrinsic and a historic value which transcends time and cultures. The technical value LH enumerated and although "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" there is a vast consensus that gold is a beautiful thing.

And silver has similar qualities. This has been discussed in other threads but the "commodity" of heavy metals was not my real point.

McCain pronounced that the basic economy in the US was sound---then the bottom fell out of the market the world around. I believe that he was 100% correct in his pronouncement. America still has a motivated and able work force and we have resources and ingenuity to create products for which there is (or will be) a demand. We can perform services that are needed and desired by great numbers of people. You don't have to reflect long to see this is true,

So, where did the let down come from? Seems to me it is a combination of greed and corruption and complicity from the highest ranks: corporate management and Washington, particularly Congress. What has our Chief Executive done? What is he doing? Are there investigations? Is wide scale prosecutions in the offing? To this Mr. Bush says "Huh?" and "What? Me worry?" Alfred E. Neuman couldn't have said it better.

Cal Coolidge nailed it when he pithily said "The business of America is business." Our "commodity" are the positive attributes that LH, I and others have already pointed to. The thing that fluctuates so wildly is the Dollar. If anything the Dollar should be the most stable element in play: IT IS THE MEDIATOR OF ECONOMIC TRANSACTIONS. If the "faith" is lost on the "fiat" medium then it really says something about the ones who make the pronouncement "Let it be cash." GW has the lowest rating of any President in recent memory and he is only eclipsed by Congress's lower rating.

The money SHOULD be good though because look who we are voting for, two millionaires, two Senators. More of the same from both side. To me "both" sides look like "one" side on the "inside" with "We, the People" on the "outside". America was a good idea. Maybe history will show where it was betrayed.