RE:RE:Outstanding economic numbers Interesting post.
Gold bugs have been predicting the fall of the USD ever since the US government decided to take it off the gold standard in the early 1970s.
Other times where armegeddon was predicted for the USD:
Oil Embargo of the mid 1970s
Skyrocketing inflation in the late 1970s / early 1980s
Dot Com Bubble Burst of 2001
Financial Crisis of 2007-09
While other currencies have taken beatings over the decades, the USD has always bounced back strongly whenever it started to teeter. Reason? The US was and still remains by far the largest economy in the world based on both total GDP and GDP per capita (though China is coming on strong re. total GDP). Yes, the USA runs up huge deficits and has a massive amount of debt, but when an economy is still the envy of the world and productivity continues to remain strong, people will flock to the USD in times of trouble, and I believe it will remain the world's reserve currency for a long time to come. Gold, Silver, Copper, Oil, Natural Gas, etc. are priced on the world market in USD for a reason, and I think that will continue to be the case going forward.
Now, of course there are times when gold bullion surges in price, but in my view, gold is a trade, not a buy and hold asset, as over time, it does not generate total returns near as high as alternative investments like stocks (e.g., S&P 500), real estate, etc. Same goes for gold mining companies given their high capex requirements.
Another thing gold bullion has going against it is its limited uses vs. other metals and minerals like copper, iron ore, aluminum, steel, even silver. A good chunk of the world's gold is in coins or bars sitting in highly secure locations paying no dividends and costing money to store and protect. This is not my idea of a good investment. That said, there have been periods since 1973 (1976-1980, 2000-2011, 2016-present) where the price of gold has experienced a steady ascent. Currently the price of gold is at all-time highs, so is buying bullion right now a matter of buying high and selling much higher, or is this about as high as it gets on its current 2016- bull run...? Who knows.