Looking at the past 8 years only is a very narrow view. The...

Looking at the past 8 years only is a very narrow view. The relevance the past 8 years will have on long term gold value is what's important. Plenty of printing and inflation, massive bull market and no mainstream attention on precious metals. You know when the wall street journal is advising to invest in gold you're probably too late for max gains.

So you're right, last 8 years gold has underperformed which in combination with macro economics bodes well for gold in the near future and imo a good time to invest is now.

I'm not talking about exchanging gold at airports for local currency, that's not what the government's want , they want your money in the system. And true about testing requirements for unmarked/questionable gold. Minted bullion from reputable mints doesn't require testing and is traded over the counter without question.

I must say, your arguments are not very strong or convincing and you seem to be grasping at straws looking at isolated points in time to make a case for a very large market with thousands of years of history. You're points are like a reporter telling a story after editing the full content to tell whatever story they want ( basically out of context). I would be very interested if you could make a point that goes beyond the last 8 years for reference and provide a wholistic view of why precious metals are worthless in society.