Hey, I've been called worse! LOL

There definitely are some "over the top" types in the gold camp, no arguing that. Russell from what I gather and read has been pro-gold for a long time. There is some really good information out there on the gold market and what gold has meant historically in the financial arena. But you have to sift through a lot of hype to get to it.

The big deal about gold is it can not be created in unlimited amounts at almost no cost like paper/digital money can. It has a large stock to flow so that new supply is only added at about 1.5% a year (about the rate of population growth) and as one of the articles I linked to pointed out, even if gold mine production was doubled (which is unlikely), the flow (new supply or inflation of the supply) would only be about 3%.

What gives value to any money, be it gold, silver, paper, digital, seashells or tallysticks is what value people are willing to accept it in exchange for goods and services. If people quit accepting it for exchange and have no faith in it to hold its value as a medium of exchange, it becomes worthless, no matter what its physical composition. Historically gold and silver have never went to a value of nothing, even though their value in what they will buy in the way of goods and services varies somewhat over time (although a lot less than what paper currencies have, the gold/oil ratio or gold/land ratio is not that much different today as it was a couple generations ago). There are many examples in history of paper money being excessively created to the point they became valueless as people lost faith in its ability to hold purchasing power.

Will the US dollar follow that path? I hope not. But if it doesn't it will be unlike all the other paper monies that have in the past. Our Federal Reserve and Congress needs to change its ways in their money creation and spending habits or it is an eventual certainty.

John