Commodity Money Quotes

• The page discusses quotes about commodities from famous investors, economists, and businesspeople
• Commodities include goods like metals, grains, and oil that are basic economic building blocks
• Quotes discuss commodities as a hedge against stock market crashes, their relationship to inflation and currency values, and their importance in a diversified portfolio
• Commodity prices are driven by supply and demand factors like production difficulties and speculation
• Commodities have value due to their real-world use unlike shares of a company that could become worthless
• The future of commodities depends on population growth and resource scarcity according to some of the experts quoted

In the world of investing and trading, commodities are often viewed as a complicated asset class, reserved for those with a deep understanding of markets. While they are certainly complex, they are also the building blocks of our economy.

The prices of goods like iron, gold, copper, oil, corn, and wheat have a ripple effect on the rest of the economy. When the price of iron goes up, for example, the cost of building construction increases.

Commodities have been traded for thousands of years. What have we learned in this time? Here is what the brightest minds in economics and investing have to say about what commodities are, their impact, and their future.
 

 

The Enduring Value
“Stock prices can go to zero. Commodities cannot. Unlike shares in a company commodities are real things that are always likely to be worth something to somebody.”
— Jim Rogers, investor and inventor of the Rogers International Commodities Index (RICI)

Hedgers and Speculators
“When you look at a commodities market you need hedgers and speculators. If you don’t have one, you don’t have a market. That’s how it works.”
— T. Boone Pickens, oil and gas magnate

Just Government Leads to Prosperity
“Every wise, just, and mild government, by rendering the condition of its subjects easy and secure, will always abound most in people, as well as in commodities and riches.”
— David Hume, Scottish Enlightenment philosopher

Oil and the U.S. Dollar
“Over time, there’s a very close correlation between what happens to the dollar and what happens to the price of oil. When the dollar gets weak, the price of oil, which, as you know, and other commodities are denominated in dollars, they go up. We saw it in the ’70s, when the dollar was savagely weakened.”
— Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes

The Problem Though
“The problem with commodities is that you are betting on what someone else would pay for them in six months. The commodity itself isn’t going to do anything for you… it is an entirely different game to buy a lump of something and hope that somebody else pays you more for that lump two years from now than it is to buy something that you expect to produce income for you over time.”
— Warren Buffett, investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

On the Price of Gold
“I know of only two men who really understand the value of gold, an obscure clerk in the basement vault of the Banque de France and one of the directors of the Bank of England.
Unfortunately, they disagree.”
— N.M. Rothschild of Rothschild & Co. investment bank (also attributed to Thomas Edison)

The Money of Kings
 

 

“Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves.”
— Norm Franz, Money and Wealth in the New Millenium

What Is Money?
“Gold and silver are money . . . everything else is credit.”
— J.P. Morgan

Common Sense is…
“Common sense is one of the most unused commodities available to man.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough, author and professional life coach

What Drives Gold Purchases
“What motivates most gold purchasers is their belief that the ranks of the fearful will grow . . . As ‘bandwagon’ investors join any party, they create their own truth — for a while.”
— Warren Buffett, investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

On the Cyclical Nature of the Market
“Historically, there has been a bull market in the economies every 20 or 30 years.”
— Jim Rogers, investor
 

 

On Relevant Businesses
“In a commodity business, it’s very hard to be smarter than your dumbest competitor”
— Warren Buffett, investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Government Corruption and Reliance
“When a nation is over-reliant on one or two commodities like oil or precious minerals, corrupt government ministers and their dodgy associates hoard profits and taxes instead of properly allocating them.”
— Bono, musician, and venture capitalist

The Importance of…
“Commodities such as gold and silver have a world market that transcends national borders, politics, religions, and race. A person may not like someone else’s religion, but he’ll accept his gold.”
— Robert Kiyosaki entrepreneur and author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad

The Future of…
“I have an eccentric view on commodities not necessarily shared by my colleagues — or by almost anybody. And that is, we’re running out of everything.”
— Jeremy Grantham, British investor and co-founder of Grantham, Mayo, & van Otterloo

How the Challenges of Production Impact Prices
“The exchangeable value of all commodities rises as the difficulties of their production increase.”
— David Ricardo, British political economist who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries
 

 

On Keeping a Diverse Portfolio
“Owning a variety of asset classes means that some part of your portfolio will be doing well when the cyclical turmoil arises. A broadly diversified portfolio includes large-capitalization stocks, small-cap, emerging markets, fixed income, real estate, and commodities.”
— Barry Ritholtz, author, equities analyst, and CIO of Ritholtz Wealth Management

How Commodities and Inflation Impact Food Prices
“When the commodities go up and the cost of transportation is going up, and the value of the dollar is going down, it’s all going to translate to an 8 to 10 percent rise in food prices.”
— John Catsimatidis, American billionaire businessman and CEO of Gristedes Foods, the largest grocery store chain in Manhattan

On Oil
“A century ago, petroleum — what we call oil — was just an obscure commodity; today it is almost as vital to human existence as water.”
— James Buchan, author, historian, and diplomat

Bitcoin and Blockchain
“You might think of bitcoin and blockchain as two halves of a whole, but in reality, they are very distinct commodities.”
— Olawale Daniel, consultant and lead trainer with Olda Consult

Gold as Freedom and Security
“The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

On Long-term Viability
“If the world economy gets better, commodities are a very good place to be in… even if the world economy does not improve, commodities are still a fabulous place to be.”
— Jim Rogers, Jr., American investor and financial commentator
 

 

What are Commodities?
Capital is money, capital is commodities. By virtue of it being valued, it has acquired the occult ability to add value to itself. It brings forth living offspring, or, at the least, lays golden eggs.
— Karl Marx, German philosopher, economist, socialist revolutionary, and political theorist

“Like all valuable commodities, truth is often counterfeited” — James Cardinal Gibbons

“In regards to the price of commodities, the rise of wages operates as simple interest does, the rise of profit operates like compound interest” — Adam Smith

“Opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth. Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon anyone who will accept them. If you are influenced by “opinions” when you reach DECISIONS, you will not succeed in any undertaking” — Napoleon Hill