Paving Material

(Source)

At one point in Dutch history, there was wild speculation about the value of tulip bulbs.  Wikipedia describes the situation in an article called "Tulip Mania."

Tulip flowers are pretty, but other than their aesthetic value, they really do not have much use.  They cannot be eaten and have no industrial applications.  They are easy to grow and multiply, and only last for a few days each year.  They are pretty much worthless.

People can be irrational and base their decisions on feelings, rather than rational thinking.  For a brief period in the 1600's, some people were irrational about tulips.

Despite what financial prognosticators and commodity salespeople may say, the Law of Supply and Demand is true.  If something is useful and rare, it will be valued and people will look for ways to acquire more of it.  If it is not of much use and is common, it will be treated like dirt.

 

The previous Michiganian Free Press (MFP) article speculated about where a stash of gold might be located, and how it might be influencing the efforts to reconstruct the Michigan Land and Soil Jurisdiction de jure governments.  If there is such a stash, it has been there for decades.

Gold has its uses, but its primary value is aesthetic, like tulips.

The public perception is gold is rare, but is it?  If there is a mountain of gold many times larger than the University of Michigan "Big House," how rare is it really?  And if it is buried in Northern Michigan, how is it of any practical use to anyone?

People bury things that are worthless, typically in "land fills."

A recent AVR article (#4746, April 8, 2024) pointed to a video about modern alchemy, which explains that the technology and practice actually does exist.

Turning common substances into gold has been consistently discredited as impossible, but perhaps the promotion of that belief has served to keep gold "rare," and thereby prop up its perceived value.  Even the Book of Revelation sells the idea that gold is rare on earth, but is "paving material" in heaven (Rev 21:21).

This Wikipedia article strongly conveys that narrative overall, but has this caveat at the end...

Click to enlarge.

What if men have been able to manufacture gold in practical ways since ancient times?  What if the Egyptians and other civilizations created vast quantities of the heavy element and were eventually "swimming in it?"

The Law of Supply and Demand would come into play.  In order to maintain their love affair with the silky, solid, shiny, beautiful material, and justify their own monopoly on its ownership, they would need to reduce the supply and keep the masses of people ignorant.

They would need to bury it.

And what a disaster it would be to their perceived "wealth," economies, and personal statuses as "very important people" if the common people found out "the Emperor has no clothes," and the impressive golden chariots and shields are too heavy to be practical and are as common as dirt.

Engineers need to see data and understand the theory behind new ideas.  They especially need to see things actually demonstrated, but they can also be influenced by circumstances and related evidence.

If the reconstruction of the de jure Michigan government has been hindered and delayed because of some buried paving material in the Upper Peninsula, that is truly sad.