The Jordan Harbinger Show - 1038: Gold | Skeptical Sunday

Episode Date: August 25, 2024

Is gold really worth its weight? Michael Regilio digs into the precious metal's glittering past and fool-baiting present on this Skeptical Sunday! Welcome to Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of The Jordan Harbinger Show where Jordan and a guest break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. This time around, we’re joined by skeptic, comedian, and podcaster Michael Regilio! On This Week's Skeptical Sunday: Gold has been valued throughout human history, playing a significant role in economics, trade, and even exploration. It has been used as currency and the basis for monetary systems like the gold standard. The gold standard, which linked the value of currency to gold, was widely adopted but eventually abandoned. The United States officially ended its use of the gold standard in 1971 under President Nixon. There are many scams and misleading practices in the gold market, particularly involving the sale of gold coins. These often target older, more conservative individuals by playing on fears of government overreach and economic instability. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) ratings may not always be reliable indicators of a company's trustworthiness, as some businesses can effectively buy high ratings through membership. While it's important to be cautious about gold-related investments, you can still make informed decisions about diversifying your portfolio. Educate yourself on the current gold market, focus on reputable dealers if considering gold purchases, and consult with trusted financial advisors to determine if and how gold might fit into your overall investment strategy. Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at [e-mail] and let him know! Connect with Michael Regilio at Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and make sure to check out the Michael Regilio Plagues Well With Others podcast here or wherever you enjoy listening to fine podcasts! Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1038 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Skeptical Sunday. I'm your host, Jordan Harbinger. Today I'm here with Skeptical Sunday co-host Michael Regelio. On the Jordan Harbinger show, we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's most fascinating people and turn their wisdom into practical advice that you can use to impact your own life and those around you. Our mission is to help you become a better informed, more critical thinker. During the week, we have long-form conversations with a variety of amazing folks, from spies to CEOs, athletes, authors, thinkers, and performers. On Sundays, though, we do Skeptical Sunday, where a rotating guest co-host and I break down a topic you may have never thought about and debunk common misconceptions. Topics such as why the Olympics are kind of a sham, why tipping makes no sense, acupuncture, astrology, hypnosis, internet porn, and more. And if you're new to the show or you're looking for a handy way to tell your friends about it, I suggest our episode starter packs, these are collections of our favorite episodes on persuasion, negotiation, psychology, disinformation, cyber warfare, crime and cults, and more.

That'll help new listeners get a taste of everything we do here on the show. just visit jordanharbinger.com slash start or search for us in your Spotify app to get started. All right, so we've all seen and heard commercials selling gold. They're different from other advertisements. Gold doesn't process your food. It doesn't water your lawn. It doesn't lower your cholesterol. Gold is just gold.

So how did a metal that we find at the bottom of rivers and embedded deep in the earth become the original basis for money? How did number 79 on the periodic table of elements become the literal gold standard? Is it really better than government-issued currency? Should everybody have a little gold stashed away in case of emergency? Well, today, comedian Michael Regulio is here to shine a light on and maybe take a little shine off of gold. And, okay, I promise I'm only doing this once on this episode. I love gold.

Nice. And as my Italian uncle would say, hey, you, we're talking about gold over here. Okay. Yeah, at first, I get it, right? because A.U is the abbreviation for gold in the periodic table, but I don't think that anybody who talks like that knows that A.U is the abbreviation for gold on the periodic table or possibly even knows what the periodic table actually is. Yeah. In fact, I would say my Italian uncle probably thinks the periodic table is a liberal conspiracy or something. So you got me on that one.

Yeah. Look, let me ask you something, George. What was your first awareness of gold? Well, we didn't have much gold in the house growing up, so I'm guessing it's going to be watching the Olympics and seeing people win gold medals and kind of wondering what those things were. Yeah, me too. In fact, ever since I watched the Olympics for the first time, I really wanted a gold medal, but they never made watching the Olympics an Olympic sport. So... Yeah, that must have been an oversight. I'm sure. And having watched the Olympics, I know the athletes don't want to win the gold medal to trade it or sell it.

They want to hang on to it, like forever. Unlike those garbage bronze medals that get immediately recycled, no doubt. Bronze, come on. Why bother? Look, we humans have like this innate attraction to gold. We want to hold onto it. In fact, people have hoarded gold for centuries. Now, before we get angry emails, I do have a few friends who've won bronze medals.

They're amazing people. They're amazing athletes. I could never compete with them. Calm down. But anyway, is that for real? people just hide gold away? I mean, it sounds very pirity to do that. Yeah, yeah, they do. In fact, this has been a problem for the gold market ever since the beginning of the gold market, getting the gold out from under the mattress and into the marketplace. Way back in the Middle Ages,

it was called the bullion famine. People hoarded so much gold that it was hugely problematic for the economy. Horting gold affected their economy? And not just theirs. In fact, to address the problem of gold hoarding in modern times, President Roosevelt issued executive order 6102. Ooh, sounds serious. I'm not sure I've heard of that one, or any executive order for that matter. Well, it's serious, all right. On April 5, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt enacted an order forbidding the hoarding of gold. Americans were required to turn in their gold to the U.S. government for the market price. Roosevelt wanted to remove constraints from the Federal Reserve and print more money. And since the dollar was backed by gold, he needed to increase the amount

of gold held by the government. So even though these limitations on gold were lifted in 1974, this executive order still reverberates today, as we'll see when we get into those commercials for gold you just mentioned. So in 1933, America's dealing with the Great Depression. So I think, Yeah, it makes sense the government would want to print more money to try to get out of that. Yeah, exactly. And all that gold stuffed under the mattresses wasn't doing the economy any good. That gold needed to get out there and do its thing. Okay, but besides being valuable, what does gold actually do? I mean, the whole opening was like, it doesn't water your lawn, it doesn't lower your cholesterol. It just kind of sits there, right?

It's funny you should say that because actually throughout history, that was in fact true. But in the modern age, gold has kind of found some practical uses. Gold, as I'm sure you know, it's in all of our modern electronics. In fact, your smartphone has 0.034 grams of gold in it. Ah, that must be why they're so expensive. Not really because that's about two bucks worth of gold. Yeah, but you know Apple charges us like $78 for that gold. Yeah, and here's the thing, though.

In two years, your iPhone is going to be next to... to worthless when Apple releases the iPhone cube or the iPhone sphere or whatever. Meanwhile, the gold will still be worth two bucks or more. Gold is unique and useful in ways our ancestors who hoarded it could have never known. How sell? Several ways. Because it's not allergic, gold is used in dentistry. We use gold compounds for arthritis and other conditions.

And it is an incredibly efficient conductor of electricity. It's mostly corrosion-proof. Gold is malleable and practically indestructible. That's why NASA and other space agencies use gold for all the spacecraft and satellites they blast off the planet. So we're just blasting gold into space? Yep, you might say it's returning home. That's right.

I've heard Neil deGrasse Tyson talk about how gold is forged in the stars. Right. Gold comes from neutron stars in supernovae. And by the way, I originally wrote supernovas and I was auto-corrected to supernovae. So how erudite and pedantic am I? I say supernovae now. It does sound a little pretentious to say supernovae, but if it's right, it's correct. And it's right.

So here we are. Well, look, you could say it comes from this hearts of stars. But what it actually comes from is the violent deaths of those stars. Because deep in the core of these stars, all the elements that are heavier than hydrogen and helium are made. And when these chemical factories that our stars explode, they shower the universe in gold. Ah, golden showers, literally. You had to go there. But it's true. That's why gold is everywhere. What do you mean everywhere? Isn't it super rare? I mean, rare is a relative term. But let's put it this way, in the earth, like way down in the earth, down in the molten core

where humans can't get at it, there is about 1.6 quadrillion. Wow. Quadrillion. Talk about fun words to say. That's even more fun than supernovae. 1.6 quadrillion tons of it in the Earth's core, so much so that you could cover all the land on earth in 20 inches of gold. That sounds slippery, first of all.

Just imagine all the land on earth looking like Donald Trump's bathroom. There's also about 20 million tons of dissolved gold in the oceans. Look, I don't know about you, but those huge amounts of gold kind of scare me. Why would that scare you? It has to do with an unpleasant experience I had with a Mr. T. doll. Look, I don't want to talk about it. Okay. Yeah, wow. Me neither, actually. Great.

So despite these inaccessible giant amounts, only a small amount is forced up in fissures where it can be mine. But it's not so easy to mine anywhere. Most of the gold in the rivers and other easily accessible places, that's all gone. It's much more complicated to get gold now. Gold mines are the deepest mines in the world. The deepest is in South Africa and it's 2.5 miles below the earth. Wow, 2.5 miles. That's a big old hole. No other substance in human history drives people to such extremes. I mean, man dug out literally miles for a bunch of gold. That is wild to think about. Yeah, I know. Look, if I told you there was an original Star Wars figure 2.5 miles below your feet, you'd be like, and there it shall remain. But when it's gold,

people are like, get a freaking pickaxe and let's go. I guess there's nothing else like it. And when you get down into the mine, by the way, it's not just there for the taking. It takes 140,000 kilos of rock and or just to produce one kilo of gold. I see. So that's what makes it rare, which makes it valuable. Yes, and all the gold ever mined, by the way, would only fill three Olympic swimming pools. I'm not great at converting measurements into Olympic swimming pools. I mean, we're Americans. We don't use the metric system unless it's guns or drugs. But maybe since you're the Olympic expert, you can tell us how much that is.

Yeah, it is about 244,000 metric tons of gold that have been mined, ever. Ever, in human history? Yeah, in all the history of the world ever. And get this. Almost all the gold ever produced is still around. Wow, I guess it, I mean, that makes it sound indestructible after all. Yeah, unlike that, Mr. T. Doll. Now, maybe I do want to hear that story.

Not a chance. In fact, I'm taking that story to the grave. Interestingly, though, that's where many people used to take gold. To the grave. The ancient Egyptians for assistance thought gold. came from the sun and was the flesh of gods. Flesh of gods being one very badass heavy metal band name. Yes. The irony, of course, being that gold is not considered a heavy metal.

In ancient Egypt, to own a lot of gold, showed how powerful and close to the gods you were. Not much has changed. People always flash in their bling. Right. And the Egyptian's presumption about the immortality of gold, they were kind of right. gold is kind of godly. The bling dug up today with the pharaohs is as shiny today as the day it was buried. Like we mentioned, it doesn't rust or corrode. The Egyptians buried lots of it. They completely encased the pharaohs in a golden sarcophagus before burial

as a sort of craft into the afterlife. I guess man has been making gold spaceships all the long. Hey, maybe they got the idea from the aliens that built the pyramids. You know what's as good as gold, the fine products and services that support this show. We'll be right back. Thank you for listening to and supporting this podcast. Your support of our sponsors keeps the lights on around here. All the deals, discount codes, and ways to support the show are all in one place.

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It was by the decree of King Cresas of the ancient country of Lydia that we minted our first gold coins ever made, and that was around 550 BC. Lydia, by the way, is part of modern-day Turkey. The Egyptians soon followed suit and minted the first great currency, accepted and revered around the ancient world, the shekel. So I've heard of the shekel, but people who talk about shekels are either playing Dungeons and Dragons or they're rapping. In other words, it's people just being super chill and cool or people that are

rapping. Least hip person ever. And by the way, side note, the Israel calls their currency the shekel currently, but it is not, there's no direct lineage between their shekel and the Egyptian shekel, which was a coin originally weighing 11.3 grams. And it wasn't quite gold, as we understand it. It was a naturally occurring alloy called Electrum that was roughly two-thirds gold and one-third silver.

The shekel became the money of the Middle East. Oh, okay, the money of the Middle East is a pretty good rapper name, though. Yes, I agree. At around 50 BC, the Romans minted their first gold coin called the Arias. And I looked it up, by the way, on eBay, you can still get an arias for around $19,000. Hmm. And why would I want one? Because, Jordan. That's how you get into underground gladiator fights. Have it you ever been to Italy? Well, only for overrated pizza and the occasional heist, but that's about it.

Yeah, okay. Well, in 1284 came the Italian coin, the Duckett. Oh, yeah. Public enemy has a line. I don't wear gold, but I clocked duckets. Or was it, is it DuCott or Duckett? I've always heard Duckett. I did do The Dictionary.com. and found two of the three dictionaries pronounce it, Duccott. And one pronounces it Ducotte. Fair. Okay.

What does it matter how it's pronounced? It is in a lot of lyrics. The ducet, as I'm guessing it was pronounced, was an incredibly popular coin, regardless of how you want to pronounce it. Why was it so popular? It was popular because it was stable. And it was stable because it was made from a set amount of gold.

It was about 3.5 grams. of solid gold. So by always being a specific set amount of gold, people could, I guess, feel secure in what they were getting? Well, that was the idea. But actually, it wasn't a very stable size at all because of clipping and the clippers. That was messing the whole thing up. Why were the clippers a problem?

Their record looks pretty average this season. Wrong clippers, Jordan. And technically, it wasn't the clippers. It was the clippings that were the problem. Clippers were just that. They were people who would clip gold coins and collect and melt down the clippings. It was actually a pretty sweet gig if you were just a little dishonest, which I guess everyone was back then because those gold coins were constantly shrinking. Ah, the first gold scam.

Since gold is a very soft metal, I'd imagine it's pretty easy to clip. Yeah. And when you see really old coins, they're like really messy around the edges. Is that why? Clippers? Well, actually, no, they started off a little rough around the edges, kind of like this podcast, from the production process at the Mint, which made clipping the edges so easy, which made clipping the scourge of banks and governments. The damage to the integrity of coins was actually pretty serious, so much so that in the

1700s, the British government tasked none other than Sir Isaac Newton to take on stopping the clippers. Wait, what? I haven't heard this story of Newton. The dude has one impressive resume. Yeah, he was an intense dude. Side note, but my favorite Isaac Newton story is when he was studying color and light and he wanted to see how he would perceive light differently if he poked his eye with a pin, so he did. That guy was curious as hell and possibly a little bit insane. Right. And Newton was obsessed with stopping the clippers. He even had spies out in the population looking for clippers. Spies. Wow. And to think this whole time, I thought he was just the apples and gravity guy. Look, old pin in the eye, Newton set out to foil the clippers as the new master of the mint.

and he saw the coin edges that we already discussed as the cause of and solution to the clipping problem. Newton created a coin with a defined printed edge. So if someone took a chunk out of it, it'd be obvious. It seems like it should have been obvious to make that a thing before. Right. And once Newton reinvented the coin, Britain had a, quote, re-coinage. All the coins were called and replaced, and Britain's currency became stuble. So you could then trust how much your coins were actually worth, which I guess that seems logical.

What an expensive mistake that must have been. Yeah. You know, we talk about the stability of gold. I think it's worth noting, and this is just me here, that I think there's something primal at play with the stability of gold. Like we as humans, we see it. We want it. We yearn for it.

We know that people will always want it. It is our precious. So it's reasonable to assume that it will always be. valuable. Well, to be fair, the precious in Lord of the Rings, that's not a good thing. It drives people crazy. Smeagel was like a normal guy and then he was that little goblin guy because of the ring. Yeah. And guess what? So does gold. It would be impossible to tell the story of gold without telling the story of greed. As poet John Ruskin asked, do we have gold or does gold have us? Okay, I don't know John Ruskin, but that line kind of sucks.

It sounds like something a 14-year-old trying his first joint stolen from his uncle's glove compartment thinks is deep, bro. Okay, fine. I only used it to illustrate that the human want of gold is insane. People do baffling things for gold. It's like the hot girl at middle school. And dudes just turned into dumbasses around her. It's like a lost city of gold through the dense disease and snake riddle. jungle? Yeah, okay. Get me machete. Let's go. I guess gold does to men what boobs do to boys.

Are you referring to the legend that of El Dorado and the Spanish conquistadors and all that? Yeah, I am. But just as an example of gold fever or gold sickness or greed or whatever it is, there are plenty of examples of the destruction, madness, and burning want of gold. The Spanish are just one. The conquest and destruction of the peoples of the new world is in many ways a result of the human want of gold. It's always captivated men, much like this podcast. It was actually the writings of Marco Polo who talked of Chinese and Japanese gold that inspired Christopher Columbus. And that's what Columbus was trying to do. I did not know this, to get to Japan for the Japanese gold.

Wait, what? He was going to Japan? How am I just learning this? I had no idea about any of this. Well, I looked into it. He was actually, he ultimately wanted to get to India, but he thought he'd just do a quick stopover in Japan, pick up some gold, and then use it to buy some spice in India. That is a hell of an errand list.

I had not heard of that whole stopover in Japan fact before, but he ends up in the new world. Well, wherever he ended up, he was going to look for gold. Columbus was crazy for the stuff. In fact, Columbus's diaries mentioned gold 65 times. He definitely had his money on his mind, him and his trusty sidekick, Money of the Middle East. And they all did. That's the fact. All the explorers that followed had gold on their minds. Pizarro took the quest for gold to new extremes. He made the trek into the unknown looking for El Dorado,

the city of gold you just brought up. It seems so ridiculous now believing in an entire city made out of gold. Right. Not to mention. If you're like a conquist or in the gold game, And you found an entire city made of gold. Wouldn't that like flood the market and crash the price of gold? Maybe this is where that innate human want of gold thing comes in. Maybe you just sell it bit by bit like crypto scammers are doing now in the modern era, which reminds me if anybody wants to buy some doge coin, hit a brother up.

The sad thing is, despite all the pain and suffering caused by the Spanish quest for gold in the new world, the gold plundered by the Spanish was squandered. Spain failed to become the economic powerhouse they had hoped to be. They built some nice buildings with the money, but for the most part, they just burned through it. They were like a lottery winner who blows it all on leopard print leather couches and caviar. Yeah. Only they didn't want caviar. They wanted spice. Europeans wanted spice, and they traded gold for it. Most of the spice trade was with the East. The Europeans paid for Spice.

Spice in gold, and the East kept the gold. It's also crazy to think about how crazy the Europeans were for spice. Yeah. Empires rose and fell on spice. If you've ever had British food, by the way, he'll know that that spice was very needed. Yeah, I need a time machine and 100 pounds of Cheeto dust, and I'll control the world. It'll be brilliant. Speaking of brilliant, let's add one more notch to Isaac Newton's accomplishments. Newton, as Master of the Mint, is also credited with devising the gold standard, and this gold

standard was adopted by the global economy. So, damn, he was accomplished. I'm wondering if I should maybe poke myself in the eye as well. Do not poke yourself in the eye. No one poke themselves in the eye. Okay, fine. But as weird as it is to say, I am really impressed with Sir Isaac Newton right now. Yeah.

devising the gold standard, revolutionizing science, inventing calculus. To be honest, I see a little bit of me in Isaac Newton. Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. We all do, I'm sure. But can you clearly define what the gold standard is exactly? Well, the roots of it go back to the weight of gold. Gold traders were getting lower back problems, and transporting it left them vulnerable to attacks from thieves. Yeah, it sounds like leaving a casino. in Jersey City. Exactly. So merchants began using bills of exchange. That is to say, paper notes that represented actual physical gold being kept somewhere. But people had to trust that. That piece of

paper represented an actual amount of gold. These notes had to be backed by reputable banks and merchants. So like money. Yes. And now the reputable bank or merchant was the government. So with each paper note being, a receipt for physical gold, the world's money stabilized. We tied it to the price of gold. Is it true that you could go to a bank and exchange paper money for gold? Yes. Back in the day, you could really do that. This ended, though, with FDR's executive order in 1933. But yes, at one time, you could exchange dollars for gold. But why? The whole point of paper money was that you could trust that the gold was there. You didn't need the gold. Funny, there was an executive order demanding people turn in their gold so they could print money,

but then you could take your money to the bank and demand that they give you your gold. Right. That's exactly why FDR. I mean, technically he suspended the gold standard in 33. The U.S. dollar was still backed up by gold, but he ended that practice. You could no longer just go turn in your gold because people during the Depression were getting nervous that their money wasn't going to be worth anything, but that gold would be. So more people were turning in their dollars for gold, then we're just hanging on to their dollars in FDR in order to get the economy go and said, you've got to turn in your gold. Right. It sounds a little suss, right? It's kind of like, oh, I'd like to see the gold that backs up this money. Actually, we're changing the rules and you can no

longer do that. Now that you've asked, no. The answer is no. Yeah. Now for a golden shower of savings from the fine products and services that support this show. We'll be right back. Those codes will help you save a couple dukots, a few shekels on the sponsors that help support the show. Jordan Harbinger.com slash deals is where you can find any code for the show. You can also email me. I'm happy to surface any code for you. It is that important that you consider supporting those who support the show. Now for the rest of Skeptical Sunday. So I guess there were a bunch of countries that subscribed to the gold standard. Yes. And because the price of gold was fixed, this caused prices around the world to move uniformly. This was a huge

step forward for the global economy. By the 1830s, America was on a form of the gold standard, and in 1900, the U.S. Congress passed the Gold Standard Act. We know that period from 1880 to 1914 as the classical gold standard. During that time, most countries used the gold standard, and this was a time of great economic growth. So what happened? The Archduke Franz Ferdinand happened. He just couldn't control his whole getting assassinated fetish and World War I broke out. Never heard it put quite that way, poor old Franzy Ford. Well, whatever the reason, the governments at war couldn't resist the temptation to just print

money to pay for their war. And they did. Lots of it. So they were printing money that was then not based on gold. Exactly. And after World War II, only the dollar remained tied to gold. Fort Knox stabilized the dollar, and the dollar stabilized the world's money. It was called the Bretton Woods system, and it more or less forced the world to accept the dollar as the global economic currency.

Bretton Woods sounds like a summer camp for East Coast rich kids. Isn't that what these world economic forms are? Every time I see a G8 summit on the Greek islands or someplace, it just looks like rich folks dividing up the world. So in 1971, tricky dick himself, Richard Milhouse Nixon, took the U.S. off the gold standard. Nixon is no Newton, that is for sure. In fact, it's more appropriate to say that he was a new sense. Hold for applause. That is going to be a long hold there, unfortunately.

Well, now if you want to exchange paper money for gold, you can't go to a bank. But before FDR, you could. But certainly you can buy gold. I mean, I see ads selling gold all the time. Oh, yes, the commercials selling gold and gold coins. There are many companies doing this, and many of these companies have been fined for deceptive practices, including one back in 2012, which was convicted on a 19-count criminal fraud rap, a company, gold line, touted by a huge cable personality at the time, Glenn Beck. Yeah, those ads seem so predatory. Yeah, and that's because the sales pitches are targeted at older, more conservative people. The pitch plays off of a fear of government overreach

and used a certain executive order to scare people into thinking the government is coming for their gold. Ah, yes, shout out to FDR and the gold executive order. Now, that actually sounds a little like a children's book. FDR and the gold executive order. It's got to end with a flying wheel chair. I see the whole thing in my head. Oh, wow. I think your idea needs to end right about now. Again, fine. But both the cable news guy and the salespeople had some version of this pitch. Everybody should diversify their retirement portfolio with gold, but did you know that the government can confiscate your gold? That liberal tyrant FDR already did it once. Well, what's to stop future president Bernie Sanders or Greta Thurnberg from doing the same. I mean, since Greta isn't even

American, I can safely say that you're exaggerating, but I understand the vibe. Yes, exaggerating fine. That's, but not by that much. They played on fears about the government, inflation, retirement, and of course, the old chestnut, societal collapse. Ah, yes, societal collapse. classic cable TV news fair, fear sells, I'm afraid. And the fact of the matter is, once you are fearful, the ads hit you with the sales pitch. The government can come for your gold, but they can't come for your gold coins. Gold coins are protected. And let me guess, gold coins are what they are shilling in the commercial.

Uh-huh. And unlike pure gold bullion, gold coins. coins have this thing called numismatic or collectible value. So what is bullion gold? That's just gold. That's what you're just buying gold. You're buying gold bullion. I see.

And the coin is more valuable than just the gold it's made of because what? It's got an eagle printed on it. Right. Exactly. That's the numismatic value, except that's highly speculative, right? And these companies aren't selling shekels or ducats. They are relatively random coins minted recently. In fact, some of these gold companies have minted a new term to try and get around this

false advertising. They call their coins semi-numismatic, which that's not a thing. So they just made up a term to describe selling novelty coins disguised as money. Okay, I think I get it. Yeah. In fact, Pokemon's have a higher collectible value than some of these coins. These coins are marked up 90%, and I saw some of the companies that were marking them up as much as 120%, all higher than the melt value of the gold. I think I've seen this where it's like $5 gold coin 2795.

Look how collectible this is. It comes in a case that's made out of solid plastic. Yeah. Right, melt value. Is it melt value? What is melt value? It is exactly what you think of it. It is.

It is the value of the gold the coins are made from. So if you melt down the coal, the coins are made from. So if you melt down the coin, you're left with the actual value of the gold. So with these markups, even if the price of gold doubled, which it doesn't, the person buying the coins would just break even. So this is what's known in the industry as a, quote, shitty deal. Sure. It sure sounds like it. And people fall for this because I've seen those commercials, but of course nothing like this appeals to me. The last thing I want is a bunch of plastic encased eagle coins that are worth one third of what I paid for them. Yes, they did fall for it. And plus,

this is so important. This is where the rubber meets the rub, if you would. And this is where all the motivation came in. The salesperson, at all these companies, received a higher commission when they sold the collectible coins than just the gold bullion. In some cases, like 20 times more commission. That is a sizable chunk. I can see the motivation. Bingo. Like I said, one company was convicted on 19 federal counts. Ever since then, the game has changed a little bit. FDR and the Gold Executive Order can no longer be used in ads. So no one will mention it? One thing that is definitely worth mentioning is, and this blew my mind when I learned it, all these companies that were selling the coins, they all had A ratings with the Better Business Bureau. The companies with the 90% markup

had A ratings with the Better Business Bureau? Yeah. It turns out. that companies that buy membership with the BBB get A's, A's, A's. In fact, CNN did an investigation into the Better Business Bureau and found, quote, BBB's rating system is seriously flawed, resulting in grades that appear to be arbitrary and change erratically, end quote. So you can buy your way into the Better Business Bureau? No, that sounds like another episode of Skeptical Sunday in the making. Right, and I'll get right to work on it. Discovering the BBB is a farce is such a disappointment. It turns out many disreputable companies by high ratings to lure people. So beware. That said, these highly motivated gold salespeople are still out there trying to get people

to buy $6,000 worth of gold for $10,000 in the form of gold coins. Yeah, gross, despicable. Is anyone stopping these gold scammers? The Security and Exchange Commission has just this year charged three gold company executives in fraud targeting retirement accounts. And surprise, surprise, it was another gold coin scam. I mean, I'm not sure how true the premise is to begin with. If there was some sort of societal collapse, would gold coins be the go-to commodity to trade? You're going to haul those things around? Yeah, I'm thinking if the world goes mad max, I don't want to be hauling around sacks of gold coins. I'm thinking sacks of canned food would probably be worth more. I'll point out another doomsday prepper notion is that if you have to get out of the country and the world is in

collapse, you're going to want to take gold with you because it doesn't have a country of origin. But in the modern age, you'd never haul gold around. It would be so much easier to just take a thumb drive filled with crypto. The bottom line is gold coins are not a good investment. and the companies pushing them are dishonest. So they're the modern day clippers with an even worse record. Sounds like we need another Sir Isaac Newton. It seems like not only are humans drawn to gold, but we're drawn to gold scams.

And these scams are everywhere. I want to tell you a personal story. This really happened to me. Is it about your Mr. T doll? No, I'm taking that to the grave. Oh, yeah, you said that. And I am. In fact, I'm taking the Mr. T.

doll to the grave as well, like a Egyptian and the sarcophagus. So I'm sitting in a cafe in L.A. some years ago. And this guy comes in and he strikes up a conversation with me. And this was such the perfect con because he starts by getting my empathy. So he starts by telling me how expensive it is to go to Disneyland nowadays and how he just wants to take his kids to Disneyland, man. But it's so, so gosh darned expensive. And once I commiserate with him, I'm like, oh, man, I really feel for you. Yeah, It's super expensive, giving your kids to Disneyland these days. That's what he hits me or the he goes, hey, I want to show you something. And he pulls out these gold coins that are clearly just replicas of old gold coins.

And he says, so he's like, I was cleaning this mansion up in the hills, and I came across this drawer full of gold coins. And I got a level with you, man. I stole them. So I can't sell them. but I will sell all 10 of these gold coins to you for $100. And then you could turn around and sell them legally. So first thing I did was they were, like I said, replicas of old coins.

So I looked them up on the internet, like what the actual coins were worth if they were real. And each coin was worth around $15,000. I was like, dude, if these coins were real, each one of them is worth around $15,000. So I'm not sure you should be selling all 10 of them to me for 100 bucks. And he's not willing to give up the scam at this point. So he says, no, no, that's fine. 100 bucks is fine, man. I'll take 100 bucks for all 10.

I said, okay, well, here's the other thing, my man. See these pictures of the actual gold coins I'm looking up that I just looked up on the internet? See how they're all worn and weathered and you can see that they're really old. Your coins look brand new. These are brand new. These are clearly replicas of gold coins. to which the guy who could not give up on this idea of getting $100 bucks out of me, he said, oh, you're really smart, huh?

You're too smart for me, man. I'm not smart enough to do this scam, but you are. I will sell you these coins and you could go scam people with them. Just give you $100 for the coins and then you could turn around and go sell them for a lot more. I was like, dude, I don't want your replica scam. coins. And as this dude was walking out of the restaurant, I had to know. I was like, excuse me, sir, do you even have kids? And he was like, hell no, as he walked out. So, this is so ridiculous. So you went from having someone to try to sell you fake gold coins,

to trying to sell you the scam of selling fake gold coins. That is amazing. It's how this guy sounds like a bonehead. I mean, I appreciate the hustle, but he was right. about one thing. He's not smart enough to run this scam. I think I'll avoid buying gold coins except Duquots, or Duckets, that is. And by the way, Regulio, next time someone tries to scam you,

maybe don't give them tips on how to improve the scam, numnuts. Good point, good point. Okay, fair point. Sometimes I can't help myself. And as for Duckets, you know what? I think I'm more of a shekel man. Well, sir, Regulio, I award

you a shekel medal. that I found in a drawer while cleaning out a 200-year-old mansion in Northern California. Yeah, I appreciate that. Thanks, Jordan. Thank you. All right, just one more time. I love gold. Dive into the intense world of bare-knuckle boxing with undefeated champion Bobby Gunn and his biographer, Staten Bonner, as they reveal the gritty realities and rich history of the sport. Raised in the raw and resilient world of the traveler community, Bobby's journey began in parking lots

fighting for cash at the age of 11 under his father's watchful eye. If you understand where I come from my culture, my upbringing, all dogs are dogs. They have different breeds of dogs. Little Swalas and their pit bulls. Gypsy traveler people were pit bulls. My world is a different world. Fighting is a religion. My grandfather was a champion fighter.

My great grandfather, old Black Bob Williamson, was a great athlete. It goes back to hundreds and hundreds of years. I was raised around it, formed it to mold a lot of. by it. Unfortunately in my life there was a lot of darkness and growing up in his tough world member. My old man, he molded me. I was bred and born to be this person that he made. It was a hard upbringing and he was tough that way. It prepared me. The underground circuit was here before I was here and it's still thriving. It'll be here when I'm dead and gone. But there were some fights I was in and I fought people that were bad evil bastards.

They try to do me in. Some people are rotten. I'm a bullies player. I don't like bullies. I was the king of my world for a long time, and I run it, and I'm proud. I promise you, you want something to go for it. You might not get there fast, but you'll get there.

I promise you to do it. Please go for it. Don't sit back. I wish I was going to do it. Do it. You got one life. You got one name. You got one story.

Don't leave the page is black. My God, fellow, you can do it. Tune in to uncover the untold stories behind the scars and successes of bare-knuckle legend Bobby Gunn on episode 981 of the Jordan Harbinger show. Thank you so much for listening. Topic Suggestions for future episodes of Skeptical Sunday to Jordan at Jordan Harbinger.com. Show notes at Jordan Harbinger.com. Transcripts are in the show notes. Advertisers, deals, discounts, ways to support the show all at Jordan Harbinger.com slash deals.

I'm at Jordan Harbinger on Twitter and Instagram. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn. Michael Regelio is at Michael Regelio on Instagram. Michael Regelio Comedy.com. Tour dates are up now as well, and we will put that in the show notes, because as always, nobody can spell Regulio. This show is created in association with Podcast 1. My team is Jen Harbinger, Jace Sanderson, Robert Fogart, Ian Baird,

Millie Ocampo, and Gabriel Mizrahi. Our advice and opinions are our own. I'm a lawyer, but I'm not your lawyer. so do your own research before implementing anything you hear on the show. I would hate for you to lose Ducats because of my advice. Also, we may get a few things wrong here and there, especially on Skeptical Sunday. If you think we really drop the ball on something, let us know. We're usually pretty receptive to that. We all know how to reach me, Jordan atjurbaner.com. Remember, we rise by lifting others. Share the show with those you love. And if you found this episode useful, please share it

with somebody else who can use a good dose of the skepticism that we doled out today. In the meantime, I hope you apply what you hear on the show so you can live what you learn, and we'll see you next time. This episode is sponsored in part by Something You Should Know podcast. Finding a new great podcast shouldn't be this hard, so let me save you some time. If you like the Jordan Harbinger show, you'll probably like Something You Should Know with Mike Carruthers. It's one of those shows that makes you smarter in a practical, useful way. Same curiosity vibe we go for here, just in a fast-focused format. Mike brings on top experts and asks the exact questions that you'd want to ask,

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