# Think Tank > Austrian Economics / Economic Theory >  Why Did Ron Paul Say Gold Could Go To Infinity?

## Ronin Truth

> *Why Did Ron Paul Say Gold Could Go To Infinity?*
> 
> By Keith Weiner
> 
> Forbes.com
> 
> August 4, 2014
> 
> This week, former Congressman Ron Paul said gold could go to infinity. Many people will be tempted to buy gold based on his prediction. Its certainly exciting to think about the upside, the profit potential. Who doesnt want to buy whatevers going up? However, in the case of gold, there is a serious error in this thinking.
> ...


http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/08/n...o-to-infinity/

Copyright © 2014 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are provided.

----------


## Vanguard101

They are right. The price of gold is virtually worthless when converted to dollars

----------


## rp08orbust

I didn't read the rest of the article, but I think their point is Ron's point: As the value of the dollar approaches zero, the price of gold (and everything) goes to infinity, without the value of gold increasing at all necessarily.

----------


## Ronin Truth

> They are right. The price of gold is virtually worthless when converted to dollars


 More like the opposite. The price of dollars is worthless when converted to gold. Gold has seniority, as a medium of exchange, by about at least 7,000 years or so.

----------


## donnay

Because he is really Buzz Lightyear.  "To infinity and beyond!"

----------


## Cleaner44

Why Did Ron Paul Say Gold Could Go To Infinity?

Probably because the value of the dollar could go to 0.

I can see a future where someone could offer me infinite stacks of worthless paper for gold and I would still say no.

----------


## Ronin Truth

> *Hyperinflation* of the *Weimar Republic* in 1923 Germany 
> www.usagold.com/germannightmare.html ‎ 
> 
> 
> *This report of Germany's  hyperinflation originally published in 1970 by Scientific 
> Market Analysis, could play an important part in your preparation process.*


//

----------


## idiom

Something Karl Denninger mentions a lot, if you bet on the end of the world and win, how do you collect your winnings?

In the event of Dollar hyper-inflation the price of everything will head to infinity. In the event of Dollar hyper-inflation America also becomes a very dodgy place to live for a while.

Its a warning not to destroy the dollar, not investment advice.

----------


## axiomata

Infinities are fun. 

RP's point obviously was not that gold would go to infinity compared to other commodities but that dollars could go to zero relative to gold.

But infinity is a big number. At some point paper dollars would still have value as a heat source.

----------


## fr33

If gold goes to infinity, your cities are probably rioting.

----------


## otherone

> But infinity is a big number. At some point paper dollars would still have value as a heat source.


...or a more valuable commodity...

----------


## A Son of Liberty

> Should you rush out to sell the gold, to take profits?


I understand the context, but the phrase "take profits" should be a bellweather to anyone looking for financial advice.  "Taking profits" assumes converting gold into "money".  It indicates a complete misapprehension of how money works.  One does not take profits by selling precious metals, it is exchanging money for pieces of paper.  A person can choose to spend their money on any number of things - some valuable and some worthless.

----------


## Brian4Liberty

> Infinities are fun. 
> 
> RP's point obviously was not that gold would go to infinity compared to other commodities but that dollars could go to zero relative to gold.
> 
> But infinity is a big number. At some point paper dollars would still have value as a heat source.


Good point. Physical money in the form of paper and metal will always have some value. The value of dollars in the form of journal entries or account balances can go to zero though.

----------


## Ronin Truth

Shaky math

With a FRN value @ 0

With a gold price @ X

X / 0 = undefined, I suppose you could call it infinity. Stick to medicine, Ron. 


Every*THING* we know is finite. Infinity only works in mathematics. (Could it be that is math is really metaphysical?)

----------


## heavenlyboy34

> Shaky math
> 
> With a FRN value @ 0
> 
> With a gold price @ X
> 
> X / 0 = undefined, I suppose you could call it infinity. Stick to medicine, Ron. 
> 
> 
> Every*THING* we know is finite. Infinity only works in mathematics. (Could it be that is math is really metaphysical?)


"Mathematics is the language with which God wrote the universe." ~Gallileo

----------


## Brian4Liberty

> Shaky math
> 
> With a FRN value @ 0
> 
> With a gold price @ X
> 
> X / 0 = undefined, I suppose you could call it infinity. Stick to medicine, Ron. 
> 
> 
> Every*THING* we know is finite. Infinity only works in mathematics. (Could it be that is math is really metaphysical?)


As the value of the dollar approaches zero, the value of gold in dollars approaches infinity.

----------


## TheCount

> As the value of the dollar approaches zero, the value of gold in dollars approaches infinity.


  Cost yes, value no.

----------


## heavenlyboy34

> Cost yes, value no.


Both.  The market value of something is what it fetches (costs) end consumers in the market.  As Brian pointed out, as inflation reaches infinity, the price of gold in dollars goes up accordingly.  This is how markets work (assuming they aren't rigged).

----------


## Ronin Truth

> "Mathematics is the language with which God wrote the universe." ~Gallileo




  He appears to have a very strong preference for integers.

----------


## heavenlyboy34

> He appears to have a very strong preference for integers.


IDK, man...pi and the Golden Ratio are everywhere...

----------


## Ronin Truth

> IDK, man...pi and the Golden Ratio are everywhere...


http://www.amazon.com/God-Created-Th.../dp/B008164Q5A

*"God created the integers, all the rest is the work of man." -- Leopold Kronecker*

----------


## axiomata

http://m.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=l...ches+0&x=0&y=0

----------


## heavenlyboy34

> http://www.amazon.com/God-Created-Th.../dp/B008164Q5A
> 
> *"God created the integers, all the rest is the work of man." -- Leopold Kronecker*


Looks like a neat book.   The reviewers are upset that this edition doesn't have an index, though.  I would want a later edition if I ever get this.

----------


## Dr.3D

Division by zero should be defined as infinity.

Just take one of the old mechanical calculators that does division by subtracting the denominator from the numerator and counting how many times it can do that before the numerator becomes less than zero.   If you start it up and it keeps subtracting zero from the numerator, it will keep going until you either unplug it, turn it off or the machine wears out.

----------


## Ronin Truth

So FRNs worth .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000  0000000001 will buy a whole lot more gold than FRNs worth 0? 
Hmmm? I think I slipped a cog somewhere. So approaching 0 is infinitely preferable to 0? No, that's not it. Dang!

Who was it that advocated killing all of the mathematicians?

----------


## Brian4Liberty

> He appears to have a very strong preference for integers.

----------


## Ronin Truth

> Division by zero should be defined as infinity.
> 
> Just take one of the old mechanical calculators that does division by subtracting the denominator from the numerator and counting how many times it can do that before the numerator becomes less than zero. If you start it up and it keeps subtracting zero from the numerator, it will keep going until you either unplug it, turn it off or the machine wears out.


As you know, almost all machines get boggled by other dimensions.

----------


## osan

> Division by zero should be defined as infinity.


A tempting notion, but sadly, no.  To wit:




> Infinity is not a real number, and even if it were, it wouldn't be the answer to *dividing* something by *zero*. There is no number that you can multiply by 0 to get a non-*zero* number. There is NO solution, so any non-*zero*number divided by 0 is *undefined*.


This is different from taking the _limit_ of 1/x as x --> infinity, written as 




> 



Even though I quasi-sucked as a math major, I do hold a fair understanding of some of the fundamentals.

----------


## heavenlyboy34

> So FRNs worth .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000  0000000001* will buy a whole lot more gold than FRNs worth 0?* 
> Hmmm? I think I slipped a cog somewhere. So approaching 0 is infinitely preferable to 0? No, that's not it. Dang!
> 
> Who was it that advocated killing all of the mathematicians?


Only as long as price controls are maintained, Soviet style.  The only way everyone can "win" a paper money-printing game is if at least one poor sap is forced to eat a major loss.

----------


## Dr.3D

> A tempting notion, but sadly, no.  To wit:
> 
> 
> 
> This is different from taking the _limit_ of 1/x as x --> infinity, written as 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Even though I quasi-sucked as a math major, I do hold a fair understanding of some of the fundamentals.


Now just explain that to my mechanical calculator while it continuously subtracts zero from the numerator and adds to it's count.   It will keep doing that till I either reset it, pull the plug or the motor burns out.   It thinks it's counting to infinity.

----------

