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Gold certainly does not ebb and flow. I keeps its value steady in the short term (less than a couple hundred years). Government fiddling with the economy changes the price (not the value) of gold as liquidity is added or subtracted beyond what is called for by actors in the economy. That is called inflation and deflation. Keynesians and Monetarists who staff this administration as they do most administrations, exist to allow the politicians to believe they can operate an economic perpetual motion machine by fiddling with levels of government spending (Keynesians) or by fiddling with the amount of money in circulation (monetarists). They are always a drag on the economy and add difficulties and thus expense to the flow of commerce.

Gold does not change in value and is not an investment.If gold appears to be going "up" be assured that the value of the dollar is declining. You buy gold when you don't trust positive investments to perform better than inflation and then you keep up with inflation minus transaction fees and storage.

The Fed began to "correct" a 5 year deflation in the fall of 2000 when the price of gold stood at $250. The price since then has risen fairly steadily to it's current level of about $320 (it fluctuates a few % when stability is lacking) The gold theorists had been saying during the deflation that the "proper" price of gold was about $360 because that is where it was when the deflation started. Some said that it should be "corrected" to that price and others said that was too drastic and it should be corrected to $320. Well, it is at $320. If it starts climbing again look for $360.

Actually the "correction" of the "incorrect" gold price is just the wrong thing to do. It should be stabilized at whatever point the Feds get their heads out of their orifices. It is the change that is harmful, not any particular level.

The rise since fall 2000 represents about 30% inflation that we will experience in the general price level. Commodities have been drifting up for a while. Retail stores are starting to feel the pinch and are raising peripheral prices as they try to hold down the prices on their major lines.