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Using facts to lie.

by Paul 11. January 2011 08:16

 

Gold is only a metal, but we see it as much more. The gold medal. Good as gold. The gold standard. For thousands of years, it was the reliable currency of commerce, although it had little practical value until recently. Now it's handy for a few things like dental fillings and electronic connections, but by far the main reason we can get emotional about gold is that it's pretty and doesn't rust.

In fact, many of us get emotional enough to pay a ridiculous price for a commemorative coin that's "clad in 14 milligrams of 99.9999% pure gold," the value of which may soar to $3,000 an ounce in the near future, we're told. It's a first-class swindle, in my opinion, but everything those TV commercials and magazine ads says is true.

Of course the price of gold may soar. That happens regularly, when the value of money plunges. When money becomes more valuable, the price of gold also plunges. Perhaps the rich are wise to put some of their wealth in gold, but I doubt that many people get rich by speculating in gold.

But it really doesn't matter as far as these pretty coins are concerned, because that 14 mg of pure gold in which they're "clad" is insignificant. The hyperbole about the price of gold soaring is what catches your attention, not the fact that 14 mg is a tiny amount, equal to about one fifth of a baby aspirin. At this time gold is selling for about $44.24 per gram, so 14/1000 of that would be around 62 cents. Only a small fraction of the price of these coins. If, by some miracle, they become valuable collectors' items in your great-great-grandchildren's lifetimes, it won't be for the gold. I suspect that 14. mg tissue-thin coating on each coin will never be worth what it would cost to strip it off.

So the company that advertises these isn't lying, but in a larger sense, what it's doing isn't really honest either. That's really in vogue these days. Misusing what is literally true to deceive you.

Oh, by the way, politicians are the gold ribbon experts at doing so.

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Life in America | Morality Defined | What's a good politician

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