JohnL

The End of the U.S. As We Know It: Tracking the Dollar Downward

"As much as I admire people like Peter Schiff, they do not go far enough in their assaults on the enormous problem we face. When they are asked, on various news and financial networks, what can be done to stem the tide of the coming catastrophe, they cavalierly toss out the the same tired solutions: cut spending, cut taxes, raise interest rates, and back the dollar with gold."

If you think those are "tired solutions" for what ails the economy, I would like to hear your suggestions. People like Schiff are offering solutions and helping the average citizen understand what the government has done to our money and our republic. This education might just help us avoid going down the path of totalitarianism when things get really bad.

Gold as a Truly Last Resort

"Gold was money for most of recorded history. That hasn't been the case for a while now and people are a lot more sophisticated than they used to be."

Dave W, you're right; people are a lot more sophisticated today. Many of them found employment at Countrywide, Bear Stearns, Lehman, WaMu, AIG, Merrill, Citi, Moodys, the Fed, Treasury, etc. With all of that incredible intellect running around loose, I think I'll hold onto my gold. It may just become money again.

Bernanke's Great Lie: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression

I think many of the comments reflect a basic confusion about the differences between saving, speculating and investing. Savers are trying to avoid risk while speculators and investors consciously do so. Over thousands of years, gold has normally been superior for saving. It is only a good speculation when it's exchange value gets really low. It has never been an investment except for jewelers and others who use it in their products. To compare gold with shares of Microsoft stock is unfair to gold. To compare gold with fiat dollars printed in alarming quantities by our government is unfair to the hapless dollar. :-)

Gold's utility as money has always been attacked by the Bernanke's of the world - bankers and politicians. The author provides some nice clarifications of our monetary history to challenge their attacks.