A quote from Keynes "General Theory".

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Interest today rewards no genuine sacrifice, any more than does the rent of land. The owner of capital can obtain interest because capital is scarce, just as the owner of land can obtain rent because land is scarce. But whilst there may be intrinsic reasons for the scarcity of land, there are no intrinsic reasons for the scarcity of capital.”
. . .
“Thus we might aim in practice (there being nothing in this which is unattainable) at an increase in capital until it ceases to be scarce, so that the functionless investor will no longer receive a bonus[.] (emphasis added by me) “

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(I pulled this quote of Keynes from Kyle Bass blog here)

In other words Keynes thinks capital should have no value. To me this is typical of looking at something from an academic point of view where everything is just numbers. For example, say a guy works hard and saves money to start a business up. From Keynes perspective those dollars that the guy put his sweat and blood into to save has no more value than the dollars that the Fed can conjure up out of nothing from a printing press or computer keyboard. To Keynes capital does not represent work and productivity but simply something abstract that can be created at will. I think people that work for a living and save and work hard at a business they own would take exception with that.

We have a whole generation of economists that have been trained to think along the lines of Keynes, with a small group of economists as exceptions to that rule. This is the road we are being lead (or some of us pushed) down.

That is the difference between gold (and silver) and dollars. It can't be conjured out of nothing. It represents a real asset that takes effort to procure and can't be created out of nothing at a cost of nothing. The East knows this. China and India account for over half the worlds gold consumption and a significant portion of the world population that is actually seeing increases in living standards and real income instead of those standards decreasing.

The 80's gold run up was  pretty much a US centric thing and came to an abrupt halt when real interest rates turned positive (ala Paul Volker). We (the Fed and Treasury) can't stand to have positive real interest rates today as it would bankrupt both. Today the US accounts for 8% of gold consumption. We are the tail that is attempting to wag the dog. Those that fail to see that connection will easily be fooled into following the wrong path to wealth preservation.

John