I have to disagree with his assertion that the run from $35 to $850 was not a bubble, and it was similar to the other instances mentioned. Those were true hyperinflation, post-war in some cases and post-bank-collapse in others. We had inflation in the U.S. in the 1970s but it wasn't hyperinflation like in the other cases. We used our paper money as money, not as firewood; we continued to pay mortgages rather than pay them off because it was cheaper than buying another stamp; etc.
And while that $35 starting point was artificially low, so some of the rise (to $200 or so?) was gold catching up to its "real" inflation-adjusted value, we certainly had bubble behavior at the end: gold necklaces being snatched in broad daylight, for example. Only gold and silver crashed in dollar terms after their very spikey tops; real estate for example was a better store of value from 1980-2000.
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