Xref: utzoo sci.engr:1380 sci.econ:3900 sci.space:31745 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!news.arc.nasa.gov!skipper!shafer From: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) Newsgroups: sci.engr,sci.econ,sci.space Subject: Re: Excavating (mining) gold in the space by NASA. Message-ID: Date: 15 Jun 91 05:26:20 GMT References: <1991Jun14.161710.27655@noose.ecn.purdue.edu> <1991Jun14.183424.654@noose.ecn.purdue.edu> Sender: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov Organization: NASA Dryden, Edwards AFB, CA Lines: 28 In-reply-to: G E Derylo's message of 14 Jun 91 18:34:24 GMT In article <1991Jun14.183424.654@noose.ecn.purdue.edu> G E Derylo writes: I'm no economist, but wouldn't the introduction of that much gold and platinum into the market *drastically* decrease its value, making this a questionable financial venture? Sure, I know these materials also have crutial industrial applications, so we're not just dealing with jewelry here. But we're talking about a cubes of pure gold and platinum 25.53 and 53.09 feet on a side respectively. I would think this kind of find, if it were dug up tomarrow in the middle of Nebraska, would do really nastiy things to our gold-based (?) economy. Can anyone with some econ background comment on this? The gold and silver that the Spanish brought back from the New World messed up the European economy quite greviously. Galloping inflation, with too much money (precious metals, of course) chasing too few goods. This caused a lot of instability, first economic and then political. The diamond cartel (de Beers) very stringently limits the supply of diamonds, to keep the price high. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA "Turn to kill, not to engage." CDR Willie Driscoll