Ben Believes Gold Only Has Value Due To Tradition

ron paul just asked the bernank if he thought gold was money. The bernank almost swallows his tongue, stares blankly for a few seconds and then says, “no.” paul then asks why banks hold gold on their balance sheet? why not diamonds? the bernank says, “tradition, I suppose.” so let me get this straight, banks hold billions of dollars of an asset that pays no interest or dividends on their balance sheet for reasons of "tradition". nothing to do with anything else, just tradition. uh, yea. that must be it.