oldgoldbug

Countdown of Manipulated Gold Price Running Out

Gold here at $840+/- is under massive selling pressure as the only real source of funds for investors besides Treasuries. That gold has held up so well is truly remarkable. Even the mining stocks have taken terrific beatings. This looks like a normal correction in a bull market. Perhaps it goes to $650-$700, perhaps not. The risks of not owning gold far outweigh the risks of it falling another 15-20%. Besides, investors holding a diversified portfolio will be doing pretty well in their other investments if their gold drops. Right now holding gold looks pretty good compared to the performance of other investments.
The performance of the mining stocks and futures markets reminds us that nothing substitutes for owning physical gold.
Given the massive movement into gold, it is clear many investors are considering an integral part of their portfolio. As a bit of a curmudgeon, I wonder if we won't see a nice plunge just to test the "cojones" of new converts.

Challenges in Gold Mining

Wow! traderstaff "...just buy the paper stuff" OK, take the paper to the coin store and get cash. Oops, doesn't work. Gold (and to some degree silver) are the ultimate insurance policies. Today we take over Freddie and Fannie because the wheels are coming off the system; what will happen tomorrow? If everything continues to work then trading paper will be fine. If the system crashes or locks up (lots of people around who remember the bank holiday in the 1930's) you will need to have both cash and precious metals just to get through each day. When the capitalist system wipes out excess capacity for the purpose of moving productive assets into other uses, it can be a very messy experience. We want it to be easy, pretty and pain free - it isn't. Those who had capital to get into the game when the Dow hit 50+/- in the 30's have probably done OK. And remember, one of the keys to the revival of the economy was the arbitrary increase of the price of gold from $20 per ounce to $35. Physical gold's buying power was increased 70% at the stroke of a pen. Of course, the government forbid the owning of gold as well but I'm sure plenty was squirreled away "just in case".
I would recommend we all have some precious metals and cash put away "just in case".