I get more emails, letters and phone calls about gold than anything else. An almost religious fervor seems to go along with being a gold bug. My bearish view on gold usually comes as a shock to worshipers. Yet year after year the precious yellow metal refuses to reach for the stars like it is supposed to. Why is this?
The most common belief by gold bugs seems to be that everyone will flock to gold as the ultimate hedge against inflation, international crisis, currency collapse and all other things apocalyptic. The latest global credit crunch may well be the trigger that finally brings about the demise of the US dollar, and when everyone finally loses faith in paper money, stocks, bonds, real estate, governments and central banks, gold will be the one last haven of security. Better to buy it now before the price explodes and we are talking about gold in terms of thousands of dollars an ounce instead of hundreds. The Fed will try and print their way out of trouble, which will cause hyperinflation, and Uncle Sam will be happy because his skyrocketing debt will cost less to service. The only asset of real value will be gold, which is finite. Panic driven demand will push the...