Not an investment....?

Gold is not an investment, but an insurance policy against the collapse of the dollar. The dollar isn’t going to collapse, despite America’s need to borrow nearly half a trillion dollars a year overseas. That’s because our trade deficit is shrinking, from 6% of GDP in 2006 to 3% today; it well may be a trade surplus by 2020 due to the energy boom. If you have a current account surplus, you can finance a big government deficit for a long time–just look at Japan. The bad news is that the economy is still very weak. The good news is that we can paper over the deficits resulting from a weak economy for the foreseeable future. The price of insurance against dollar doom has fallen. That’s good (don’t you want the cost of your life insurance to fall? The last thing you want is for your life insurance policy to pay out).
-David Goldman


Ed. Note:   For what it is worth, today you can buy ten 1898 Double Eagles for around $1,674.60 each.   $20 to $1,700 in 115 years.  Growing at, give or take, 4% per year; not the world's greatest investment, but not the worst either.