Sadly for the hard core gold bugs, there will never be a new gold standard.
Back in the 1970s, gold bugs were often publicly castigated for self-interestedly fueling inflation.
Likely, this particular platform plank is merely a political olive branch to the gold bugs.
Even with the cost of carry minimal for gold bugs, this is a losing play.
FORBES: Apple And Google Much Better Bets Than Black Or Yellow Gold
After riding high at the start of the 1980s, gold bugs had a miserable couple of decades.
It used to be that gold bugs touted the yellow metal's credentials as a hedge against inflation.
Debt at 100 percent of GDP makes gold bugs salivate and trading partners squeamish about holding our paper.
Gold bugs see reckless monetary and fiscal policy leading to plummeting currency values and out of control global inflation.
FORBES: The Fight of the Century: Bond Buyers versus Gold Bugs
Of course all of this has gold bugs giddy, despite gold selling at what would seem like nose-bleed levels already.
The best hope for equity investors in 2012 is that both the gold bugs and the bond vigilantes are wrong.
Gold stocks, as measured by the NYSE Arca Gold BUGS Index (HUI), have historically performed even better in these two months.
The price of gold rose 10% in 2011, while the Amex Gold Bugs Index (NYSE: HUI), a basket of unhedged gold stocks, fell 16%.
FORBES: 2012 Outlook: Several Factors Involved In Gold Stocks Having An Up Or Down Year
Gold bugs are full of reasons to buy, including the Euro zone crisis and indications that the Fed will do more to stimulate the economy.
Nouriel Roubini and a bunch of market letter writers and gold bugs (now in tatters) expect the sequester syndrome to crunch GDP in coming quarters.
Mr. Zimmerman and Utimco aren't gold bugs who shun other markets.
In any event, friends and family know well enough that we have been consistent and confident gold bugs since the early part of last decade.
The federal debt reaches over 90% of GDP five years from now, a number not lost on the Federal Reserve Board and our gold bugs.
Gold proponents, often known as "gold bugs, " took the opposite line.
Some die-hard gold bugs pointed time and again (ahem) to the historical low at 1 ounce for 1 unit of the DJIA back in 1980.
FORBES: Dow Not At New Highs Priced In Gold Or Cost Of Breakfast
Gold bugs are buying bullion for the understandable reason that central banks appear committed to printing more money: they fear that eventually this will lead to inflation.
For those into just buying bullion or coins a lot of gold bugs recommend The Tulving Company at www.tulving.com, but I have no personal experience with them.
America's markets attract the technophiles, China's lure the gold bugs.
Gold bugs see a different economic outlook.
FORBES: The Fight of the Century: Bond Buyers versus Gold Bugs
Most people opt for the uber-popular SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) or iShares COMEX Gold Trust (IAU), but many of the gold bugs I talk to eschew these ETF for physical gold or shares of gold miners.
There are also some recent ETFs that I have heard physical gold bugs saying they are more comfortable with, including Central Gold Trust (GTU) , which now sells above its net asset value (NAV) and Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS), which also trades above its NAV.
"Gold stocks, as represented by the AMEX Gold Bugs Index (HUI), an index of 15 large-cap, un-hedged, publicly held gold producers, have not kept up in percentage terms with the rise in the price of gold, and this is especially unusual because mining stocks are theoretically a leveraged play on the price of gold and should rise faster than gold in a rising price of gold environment, " says Nystrom.
You can almost feel the bugs' excitement as the message sinks in: gold is back.
应用推荐