Gold for sale -- at what real cost....?

So apparently the Germans have a strong desire to buy gold, and an entrepreneur is looking to help them out by placing Gold-vending machines in train stations all over Germany...

If this is true - and this article is from the Financial Times -- then folks in the EU should be pretty nervous about the long term health of their economy.

Germany is the largest economy in the EU, and of course in the Euro zone. If German citizens are anxious enough to replace their individual currency holdings and Euro-denominated investments with personal holdings in gold that is a serious issue. Not only is this indicative of terrible consumer confidence, which would be an albatross around the neck of the economy, but it poses a risk to the value of the Euro, which would have an impact on the entire Euro zone.

Granted, one entrepreneur setting out to sell gold in small lots does not a crisis make, but if there is real market demand for this type of "investment" then I would add it to the list of reasons to be nervous about holding Euro-denominated investments.

Also -- wouldn't this be an invitation to petty larcenists of to camp out near the machines?

Here is a link to the article in the Financial Times: Link

Just thinking out loud...

ChanceVS