Gold is absolutely a negative sum game. From a technical financial perspective it has negative carry[1] because of the cost of storage, insurance etc. Quite a few other assets are similar (eg art). Negative carry doesn’t intrinsically denote a scam but its fair to say that its much easier to establish a “fundamental” theory for the value of something like a dividend-paying stock that has positive carry.
[1] Negative carry means it costs money to hold an asset on an ongoing basis. Given most assets have transaction costs when you buy or sell, anything with negative carry will be a negative sum game in your terminology. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/costofcarry.asp
> as a commodity, gold HAS a source of revenue besides the investors; namely, the purchases by consumers like jewelers and industry, who take gold out of the market (2/3 of the production) for uses other than re-sale.
That is for sure a reasonable basis for a fundamental theory of value for gold - that there is demand other than from investors, but that’s not revenue[1]. Revenue is income generated by an activity or company. As an investor, you don’t get to benefit from cash arising from the demand for jewellery and industrial uses of gold without selling. The mark to market on your position should benefit but you don’t get cash.
So for that reason it is still a negative carry asset (ie it costs money to hold on an ongoing basis).
[1] Negative carry means it costs money to hold an asset on an ongoing basis. Given most assets have transaction costs when you buy or sell, anything with negative carry will be a negative sum game in your terminology. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/costofcarry.asp