gold shares manipulated ..., page-6

For a start I think such a naive question could be easily answered by a few simple searches on the internet, also surf the forum a little and you will get up to speed on its importance... however to enlighten you a little I will explain the key factor to Gold’s importance.

The present world monetary system, like its predecessors, is founded on Gold held in treasuries or Central Banks.
Gold is money, and money is Gold plus credit and cash. Man can debase credit, even cash, but not Gold. Without a
Gold standard, the public cannot prevent governments from pursuing destabilising monetary policies through either
fiscal profligacy or attempts to escape Asset and Debt deflation.
World Central Bank holdings of Gold at market price constitute one part of World International Monetary Reserves
(IMRs), the base on which the world's monetary system rests. Also part of IMR Assets of each Central Bank are
their holdings of Foreign Exchange and their Special Drawing Rights held in the International Monetary Fund. Total
IMR Assets are equal to the net sum of the domestic components of the World Central Bank balance sheet, namely
Domestic Currency Liabilities plus other Domestic Liabilities minus Domestic Assets. Measurement of changes in
IMR’s tells us whether the World's Central Bank Monetary Base as defined is expanding, unchanging or contracting.
At the time of Bretton Woods in 1944, Gold constituted ninety per cent of consolidated World Central Bank
International Monetary Reserve assets and the USA owned ninety per cent of Central Bank Gold. Hence the US
Dollar became the key currency in the International Monetary System. World Central Bank holdings of Gold remain
close to 900 million ounces, similar to the level they were at sixty years ago, though the US now holds only 28 percent with an increased proportion held by Euroland and certain governments in Asia, especially Japan.

Help that helps a little kieranmcs... also here is a link to the wikipedia to get you up to speed on the many other uses of gold...however the above is the reason for its interest in the investment world... a little study on how banks came to be may enlighten you as well... originally the monetary system was gold and silver, eventually some one came up with the scam to put peoples gold into a vault so they wouldnt get robbed, as the wealthy held so much gold at home they saw this as a safety, the banks were formed, they gave the gold owners a piece of paper that was evidence of what they held in the bank, hence paper money was born... in general people never went to get there gold back, paper and ink became the trade, what a scam hey?... so where is all that gold these days. fort knox...oh theres another long winded story, type in fort knox and it'll blow ya mind...

any way hope this helps
regards
Drew

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold