While doing an interview a few months back with Turd Ferguson at www.tfmetals.com, he made the comment “gold has never been more valuable than it is today”. This is so true and correct, I’d like to break it down into small pieces because from a historical standpoint there is no comparison to where we are today.
OK, I guess it would be best to first clear the air and address those who will say Turd’s statement is wrong because they paid $1,700 for their gold and are sitting on “losses”. Yes, from the standpoint of what gold will “fetch”, gold is “down”. Were you to sell it today or barter for a piece of real estate, it will take more ounces today than it would have two or three years ago. I get it and am not a stu-nod.
The key word in the statement is “valuable” with the root word being “value”. The other key word is “today”. I bounced writing this piece off my mentor and he said “very good quote but I’m not sure it is true”. He went on to the examples of France just prior to the Revolution and to Germany prior to and during WW II. This is very true if you were French in 1790 or a Jew living in Germany but …like the snotty kid in grade school who likes to correct his teacher, I pointed out the obvious. In these two examples, only were the French and German Jews affected. Today, everyone on the planet will be affected one way or another because the dollar’s global pervasiveness and reach. As for “value”, the key is to retain value. Gold is THE only money all throughout history to have done this. Gold is THE only money on the planet that cannot default and THE only money which cannot be debased (though this has been attempted 24/7 by central banks forever).