“So if/when the U.S. has negative rates, I should borrow dollars and buy gold and come out ahead on the loan?!?! “
Your guess is as good as mine. Markets sometimes do the exact opposite of what appears to make sense to me.
I don’t think that negative interest rates filter down to the level of individual savers. I looked into that once and IIRC it’s aimed at huge balances.
Not fair!!! I should be able to borrow $$ at the rates “evil banks” get to!!! (So I can take it and lend it out at 5-12% interest in my “Lending Club” account {arbitrage}). That is why the “private bank owned Fed is ripping us off” argument comes about! They need a PR department.