This week, the price of gold touched the psychologically significant number of $1,000 per troy ounce. Gold has been making records over the last few months, so I thought you might appreciate a view of the bigger picture. Here is a marvelous chart and article prepared by BBC news titled "30 Years of Gold Highs and Lows." It traces the rise and fall of the price of gold from $35 per ounce in August, 1971, to the heady heights of the present. Annotations are included that pinpoint key events affecting the price of gold. Nice overview!
In January of 1980, gold hit a record of $850 per ounce, a record that was unbroken until January of this year. Just to keep things in perspective, there has been significant inflation since 1980. Depending on the metrics you use, 850 "1980 dollars" would equal over 2000 "2008 dollars." So while it is true that gold is in uncharted territory in "nominal" terms, it still has a long way to go to set any REAL records. The dollar is coming under increasing suspicion as the reserve currency of choice. There is nothing categorically different between Federal Reserve Notes and other modern currencies (which all have no intrinsic worth), so these other currencies are unfit to serve as reserve alternatives. Under these circumstances, is it possible for the price of gold to make real records in the years ahead? Wouldn't you be pleased to have bought some gold about 8 years ago when it was selling for about $250 per ounce?
About five years ago, I became convinced that silver (which was selling for about $4.50 an ounce at the time) would make a dramatic upward advance in the coming years. A sense of moral obligation drove me to share this information with a circle of friends who had the means to benefit from this knowledge. How could I face them in the future if I withheld what I knew? I did not cajole or pressure anyone to respond; I gave them the information and sources to examine the issues for themselves; I encouraged them to take my appeal seriously; I answered those who had questions. Interestingly, I know of only one person who acted on this information. Because silver has moved above $20 per ounce, he is happy with his decision; it has proven to be a good one.
I am not saying "I told you so." I am not advocating we pursue some get-rich scheme. I am definitely not giving you investment counsel. I simply want you to hang on to something that is illustrated above. Next week, I will post two articles on "Obnoxious Christians." Please bring to those posts a knowledge of a KEY principle: Men are free to make their own choices, but not all choices are created equal. Some are bad choices, some are good. Especially when we are dealing with choices of the utmost importance, we have a moral obligation to communicate with others what we know about the good and the bad of choices that are theirs to make.
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