[its_ethan]

What is it that you're arguing for then? That there be some entity that gets to decide what is and isn't a productive use of all of our excess money? Who gets to decide what's excess? Who gets to decide what is and isn't a productive use of the money?

How is this any different than buying a house? Buying a house that's already been built is pretty damn close to the same thing as buying gold. No new "work" is being done into the economy, you're just exchanging dollars for an asset that will likely appreciate a bit faster than inflation but less than $SPY.

The person you bought it from can do something else with that money, sure, but that's also true of the other person in your transaction to buy gold.

Maybe you'll say a house has more utility than bars of gold, but all of this at the end of the day, seems to come down to your specific views and judgements of what it means for capital to be used productively. So to circle back to the beginning, what is it you're advocating for here? That because you don't see gold as a low risk hedge against inflation as being "productive" it should face more taxes to incentivize it not happening?

[freedomben]

> Buying a house that's already been built is pretty damn close to the same thing as buying gold. No new "work" is being done into the economy, you're just exchanging dollars for an asset that will likely appreciate a bit faster than inflation but less than $SPY.

I mostly agree with you, but I don't think the house comparison is good. Houses require lots of maintenance, and to hold their value (comparable to other houses) they often need remodeling every decade or so. If instead of houses we just said "land" then I think the comparison would hold up more.

[michaelmrose]

You either maintain the house for others use and extract rent or live in it. This is productive.

If you are hoarding an unused house we should heavily tax that to make it unreasonable to do so.

[mapontosevenths]

No, im not arguing that it should be illegal. Im just saying, as Warren Buffet before me did, that its not an investment.

It relies on the greater fool theory to produce excess returns. It is bad for the economy when money idles in non productive speculative assets.

[amanaplanacanal]

The money didn't disappear, it just changed hands.