Jul 29, 2015

MarketWatch's David Weidner: "gold always has been a sucker's bet" (2015)

Gold has always been the favorite commodity of a fringe crowd that doesn’t trust governments, central banks, politicians and the financial system. This part of the gold market drives a lot of the buying and selling; it whips up a lot of frenzy. I don’t have any hard evidence, but I’d argue that gold’s value is inflated by people who aren’t investing in a commodity but in a belief system that may or may not include black helicopters and a U.S. invasion of Texas.

The sad part is that gold always has been a sucker’s bet. It’s supposed to protect against inflation. It doesn’t. It’s supposed to retain its value. It doesn’t. For those reasons, gold is supposed to be the ultimate currency. It’s not.

As fund manager and blogger Barry Ritholtz said of gold’s fundamentals: “It has none.”

~ David Weidner, "Why gold is falling and won’t get up again," MarketWatch, July 21, 2015

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