"As the price of gold stagnates and doesn't make it to another planet, the whining of the goldbugs and conspiracy theorists becomes more extreme."
The problem with conspiracy theories is they play into the hands of the promoters of gold and silver, who have no interest in the truth, only to peddle their business interests by whatever means possible including latest conspiracy fashion, sucking in wave after wave of investor losers.
It is very clear to the sane and/or intelligent investor, whether they own bullion or not, why gold has fallen in the past couple of years... reducing US budget deficits, falling inflationary expectations, improving economy, rising real interest rates, easing euro debt crisis etc.
However, there is always very minimal discussion about these macroeconomic factors that have been driving gold lower on HC and elsewhere on 'gold bug' internet. Hence the wider perception out there that we're all crackpots, which plays into the hands of the wall street stock/bond promoters and gold haters.
There seems to be total denial here on HC that investors who've been buying bullion over the past decade could actually be selling.