In the doctor's waiting room yesterday, the TV was tuned to the Home Shopping Network. I thought HSN mostly sold overpriced tchotchkes and underperforming gadgets, but it turns out they also sell gold. Specifically, a half gram of gold for only $79.99. (That's about 250% of the spot price, in case you were wondering.) Among the salesman's spiel:
Very close-up views of the piece of gold stamped "99.99% pure," with nothing to show the scale so you don't realize it's only about 5 x 5 x 1 mm.
A lot of the standard "can't say how much will be available at this price" and intimations of future increases in value
Vague warnings of possible future US government actions
"I asked a customer how it felt, meaning the gold itself, and expecting her to say it felt heavy, but she thought I meant how it made her feel, and she said it felt rich. That's the intangible benefit--when you own gold, you feel rich, because you know you own something permanent." [Side note: how can half a gram feel heavy??]
I feel so bad for the people who are suckered into buying this. The sellers are scum--not as bad as Nigerian-prince email scammers, but destined for a neighboring circle of Hell imo.