Explain, then, the collapse of gold prices following the 1980 or so peak. It could be had for around $250.00/oz in 2000, I believe. Was this deflation? No, it wasn’t. It was a combination of loss of demand, due to economic fears easing, and increase in supply due to central banks selling.
Gold is a traditional safe haven in times of economic trouble. We’re in a time of economic trouble. Such times do not last forever, and neither does an elevated price for gold. It’s not a good longterm holding.
Cherry-pick the window in time to demonstrate how poor of an investment gold is, like certain fans of Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve are wont to do, and you get one impression. That impression isn’t untrue, it’s just misleading due to painting an incomplete picture.
Cherry-pick another window in time to demonstrate how great of an investment gold is, like certain champions of investing in precious metals are wont to do, and you get another impression. That impression isn’t untrue either, it’s just misleading, again due to painting an incomplete picture.
The US dollar was a hyper roller coaster ride in the 1980's. Ran way up in value from 1980 to 1986 and then collapsed. Probably best not to judge gold with dollars in that period. Gold had run up in value and then the price came down when the US dollar when on its hyper roller coaster ride. When the dollar later collapsed around 1986, gold partially recovered, but the loss in dollars from the roller coaster was a done deal by 1986. Gold in dollars was fairly stable between 1988 and 2000.
The events of which you speak were anomaly of such short duration that they are not even a blip on the long term curve.
The author is correct, your argument is not sound