Tim Price

The Myth of Gold as an Inflation Hedge

The tone of the piece suggests that investors can EITHER invest in gold (an asset whose value is not contingent on anybody else's ability to pay and which even Alan Greenspan has conceded, in extremis, still represents the ultimate form of payment, while fiat money is accepted by nobody) OR in stocks and bonds, but not both. So much for a balanced portfolio. For sure, speculators seem to have been taking profits (and/or paying for other leveraged losses) in recent weeks by selling gold. But some of us are perfectly happy to own an asset that has been a store of value for over 2,000 years. That puts the acknowledged volatility of one month or even two-and-a-bit decades into a somewhat broader perspective. Particularly when most international banks are probably technically insolvent, and their shareholders should be unsurprised when they are diluted out of existence.