Ready to get personal again? I’ve got a semi-secret to share with you – something that my closest friends are well aware of and I’m wanting to bring you in on this absolutely fascinating aspect of my identity.
Here it is: I become overwhelmingly terrified whenever I start to think about paper money. Essentially, I am uncomfortable with the fact that our system of paper money is not backed up by gold anymore and I am unable to have a serious conversation with anyone about this without shouting “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE RUBLE?!” (I suppose I should update my monetary panic phrase to “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE DRACHMA?!” but it always goes back to Russia for me.)
Russian 1000 Ruble Note 1993 (Photo credit: LostBob Photos)
ANYWAY, last night I was sort of listening to Nightside with Dan Rea as I drove home and he mentioned, in passing, that U.S. Olympic medalists have to pay taxes on their medals. I, of course, immediately began freaking out and wondering what the actual amount of gold exists in gold medals.
Olympic Medals and Reflections (Photo credit: Kevin H.)
Well, it turns out there’s not actually that much. A gold medal has only about 1% actual gold and is made up of mostly copper and silver – it’s valued at about $644 which means that there wouldn’t be that much tax liability for a gold medal. A silver medal is worth about $330 and a bronze medal is only worth about $5.
So if you were planning on burying gold medals in your backyard just in case we have another greenback/ruble/drachma/euro/Shrutebucks situation, don’t bother. Apparently, all that glitters isn’t really gold.
Related articles
- What’s A Gold Medal Really Worth? (npr.org)
- Ruble Headed For Biggest Slide In Week After Crude Oil Declines (undisputedlegal.wordpress.com)
Doesn’t it make you long for the days when people actually exchanged goods and services? Instead of just moving paper around..
YES.