Gold has been extremely bullish since the start of August, outperforming silver during this time. Below is a chart comparing gold and silver thus far in August. 
I don't think silver bulls have anything to worry about, and they should enjoy the opportunity to accumulate more at what I suspect will soon be perceived as bargain prices. The bargain prices of silver become more apparent when one considers delivery costs: If you want to take delivery of a gram of gold, it is going to cost you around $100 USD at a coin dealer.
It is hard to take actual delivery of less than a gram; it becomes too hard to measure and see, and too easy to lose, when increments get much smaller than that. From this perspective, I think it is fair to say that the smallest deliverable measure is almost like the smallest transaction unit for a currency. In other words, if the whole world went back to bartering actual gold for their shopping, nothing that costs less than $100 today could exist; that would be the minimum price for all goods and services.
Clearly, this is not ideal; it raises far too many prices, and pushes many people beyond their ability to survive. For this reason, gold does not fully satisfy monetary demand. Beyond a certain price point, its appreciation makes it difficult to use for small purchases in barter transactions. This is where the need for another monetary metal -- such as silver -- comes from. For this simple reason, I believe gold will take silver with it, and that the gold/silver ratio is a worthwhile metric to monitor in times of global political restructuring.
I realize that due to digitization we can have infinitely small pieces of gold exchanged via digital transactions and gold banks; however, that requires an additional layer of intermediation -- like a gold banking system as opposed to direct bartering of gold. I do believe we will see the emergence of gold-backed monetary and banking systems, and that this may ultimately help stabilize gold's value in the long run (at a much higher price point), but the bartering utility of precious metals is still a necessary consideration as insurance for all banking/financial intermediary systems -- both commodity-backed and fiat ones.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
