gold, page-44140

I can't agree with your argument - or perhaps we are talking about different things.

infrastructure, food, shelter, education, health. etc.. ​

are real things that are produced by people. If debt was simply pouring cash into the economy and man was not producing products to consume with that 'debt' - majority just spending the debt (printed-cash) on what products are available - then there would be rampant inflation and no jobs to repay the debt. There isn't rampant inflation therefore the cash must be going to good use, producing goods and services.​

Of course there will be bubbles in specific assets, always was always will be. That doesn't make the whole system a disaster.

A fallacy of modern times, I think., is caused by the widespread availability of media. Most of us are time poor so we latch on to whatever headlines grab our attention. For example, Sydney housing is overheated and Venezuela is a basket case = the world is heading for a disaster. Availability bias is a strong influencer and can lead to false conclusions.

If there is a GFC MkII - and I think there could be - my mind wouldn't change that the world is improving year on year. Housing defaults and headlines of people thrown on the streets wouldn't change my view (sad as it would be to see for those involved). I would view it as simply redistributing wealth (most certainly unfairly distributing) but in the long run things will continue to get better for the average person. Individually there would likely be horror stories but that is not the average.

I'm just not convinced that gold will be what everyone turns too. It will have speculative runs, that I am certain, and it will slowly grind upwards (to keep ahead of inflation) but no mind-blowing spikes.

I would love to be wrong. I like gold!