So right. Little question that gold has been bid higher than it should have been by investors trying to treat it like any other commodity. But of course, it isn't just another commodity [though, it is a commodity].
Unlike, say, pork bellies or copper, gold isn't consumed. Gold isn't [very much anyway] used in the production of goods and it doesn't provide an income "stream". Gold is valuable in that its quantity is amazingly stable and that people have historically valued it.
It is a hedge against inflation. This "catastrophic" drop is a market correction of the type the government wouldn't allow were it to do with anything other than gold. I'm bemused by all the celebrations at gold's demise.
I suspect know they're premature.
By all means, spend as much of your own money as you feel comfortable buying gold. If you make money, great. But if you lose money, don’t claim that you were somehow manipulated by a secret cabal of bankers.