Mostly: Classical

[amarksp]

Another factor I had not thought about before comes from a Trotsky post citing Antal Fekete:
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=21500659

Trotsky makes a valid point:
"as Antal Fekete has frequently pointed out, gold is useful as money ( inter alia ) precisely BECAUSE it has such a large stock-to-flows ratio."

Gold having a large above ground supply makes it a currency, investors can buy gold readily in large quantities simply because a large above ground supply exists. Such a large above ground supply does not exist for base metals or for silver. Should fiat currencies ever go back to a standard backing them up, it would have to be the gold standard. Not that I necessarily believe fiat currencies will ever go back to a gold standard, BUT the fear factor/investor sentiment will price this into POG given enough fear...