Gold and Money

Throughout civilisation gold has been used as money, but the two are less closely related now than in the past.

Modern currencies (like many older forms of money) can have their supply expanded by diktat, usually by a government or a central bank. All modern money is subject to government in this way, which means that the value of savings is decided, to an extent, according to a political agenda.

Modern savers are exposed to any economic or political crisis which could cause money to be over-issued, so their long term prosperity depends on the reliability of the political mechanisms for imposing monetary scarceness.