If you believe that inflation will happen then when it does the headlines will be how well gold is doing. The common man will see these headlines and run to gold then realizing that the price would have gone so high it is out of their range to invest in. They will then go in flocks to silver and that price will be driven up up and up. Get your gold and silver while you can. That is if you believe (hyper)inflation of the dollar is inevitable.
It's all posturing. Do you really think the Chinese will PUSH for an alternative currency? Let me ask you all something. Would you do something that would cut the value of your investments 10%? 20%? Maybe more? Because that's what would happen. If economies pushed for another standard, their reserves of dollars would be worthless. Of course, it might be good for us. As our debt would become less valueable as well. A weakning dollar isn't bad for the u.s. economy right now. Inflation is too low, and anything to get exports going is great. China is helping us. We should thank them.
i can't do it. i feel like if i commit to gold i'm also commiting to black helicopters and canned goods.
Real estate - that sounds good. With leverage! I know that might sound sarcastic given the current crisis, but seriously inflation is usually great for real estate, especially when you have leverage and the value of the debt plummets in real dollars. The key is getting in while mortgages are relatively cheap. Jorge, what kind of real estate do you have in mind?
Not right. Prices are determined by supply and demand only. As long as people's wages don't inflate with the inflation, the demand won't be able to push up the price. And as more people get unemployed, the supply will go up and drives the price down. Also, the kind of leverage in 2007 is gone "forever".