8 responses to “Shocking Headline of the Day (or not) (Goldbug Edition)”

1. 

   Surreal American

   March 12, 2013 at 10:53 am

   But, but…those Swiss America ads assured me gold would protect my wealth against the cartoon versions of Obama and Bernanke:
2. 

   OzarkHillbilly

   March 12, 2013 at 11:40 am

   Who’da thunk it. Buying gold when it is at record highs is not a sound investment strategy. Getting people to do so however, is the height of hucksterism.
3. 

   Tsar Nicholas

   March 12, 2013 at 3:45 pm

   Not a gold bug by any stretch, but that’s a ridiculous headline and this is a ridiculous blog post.

   Back in the late-1990’s gold was trading around $265 per ounce. And plenty of us back then were saying that people needed to be in gold. Same for oil, which at that time also was out of favor on Wall St. Then gold doubled. Then it doubled again. Then it increased by over half again. Within a decade.

   So, yeah, obviously, like anything else, gold will not increase in a beeline to infinity. And it will underperform other assets at times. Like anything else. But from $265 to $1,800 in 10 years ain’t too shabby.

   Over the long haul if you don’t have at least a material (~10% or more) portion of your assets in gold you’re as naive as a babe in the woods. Gold is the ultimate long-term inflation hedge. It’s also the most direct hedge against a debasement of the U.S. Dollar. The debasement of our currency and inflation are foregone conclusions. Hence the need for gold as part of any diversified asset allocation. Other key assets are income producing commercial real estate (purchased at high cap rates), oil, selected foreign currencies (Francs, Loonies), other hard assets (pipelines, timber), and baskets of commodities.
4. 

   Gold Star for Robot Boy

   March 12, 2013 at 5:29 pm

   @OzarkHillbilly:

   Grifters gonna grift.
5. 

   Just ‘nutha ig’rant cracker

   March 12, 2013 at 7:46 pm

   @Tsar Nicholas: For people who will buy and hold assets, gold has been a good long-term component for a portfolio. Unfortunately, the market is not a haven for long-term investors, it’s a casino where the patrons rubes change their bets, sometimes on an hourly basis. For these “investors,” the headline and the article make some sense.

   If you were a stock, I’d dump.
6. 

   Gromitt Gunn

   March 13, 2013 at 10:04 am

   @Just ‘nutha ig’rant cracker: If he were a stock, he’d have been delisted years ago.
7. 

   deathcar2000

   March 13, 2013 at 11:50 am

   Comrad Tsar’s investment talk is right out of the 1980’s. That cat’s prob still calling a “investment house” to clear his trades. Man, are you using a Tandy computer to type that crapola.

   “Back in my day a sodie pop use’ta cost a nickle and you can see a moving picture show for two bees and a straw penny. oh buddy those were the days.” Ol’ Timey Tsar.

   Get bake in bed grandpa before you break yer hip!
8. 

   grumpy realist

   March 13, 2013 at 5:02 pm

   @Just ‘nutha ig’rant cracker: Gold’s rather neat to look at, but if you want to do a play on precious metals, better to go for the platinum and palladium group of metals, which at least get used in catalysts. I’ve got a few platinum stocks but otherwise, gold ain’t all that useful. It’s definitely the bigger fool grifter schtick.