I just want to share with you something that happened to me recently.
I went to one of the banks we work with to withdraw some cash (it’s easier to keep track of money and I don’t like cheques and credit cards) and asked to talk to the bank manager “about investments”.
I was immediately recieved and I told him very plainly: “I want to buy gold, what you have available right now?”. The answer would have delighted Rothbard: he stared to me right in the eyes and said with the most incredulous voice “Gold? You want to buy… gold?”. I must give a brief explanation here: until not so long ago banks around here used to have small quantities of gold, generally coins, available for sale to customers so it was not an impossible answer. Evidently this is not the norm anymore.
I went to explain that, given the present horrific economic climate, I want to insure against inflation and have more gold ready at hand. He was a bit confused but understood my point (namely that I wanted to buy gold, not why I wanted to buy gold) and told me very plainly that they haven’t got any gold available right now, nor any ownership certificate or gold based fund, but he’ll ask his superiors about it first thing Monday morning. Things surely changed in these few years.
I exited the bank laughing so loud passing people probably thought I was an idiot. But was I really an idiot when I turned down the offer for more dubious funds?