The gold/silver price ratio is an interesting phenomenon. Traditional metal people will point out the the long term ratio was 16 units of silver would roughly average 1 unit of gold. That has gone out the window for some time now. Again, a rough comparison: when I was a kid and borrowing dad's car for a cruise around town gasoline was about .35 cents a gallon. That's when the quarter was silver. Hence, a 1/4 ounce of silver got you the gallon of gas. Today, that same gallon of gas will cost "approximately" the equivalent of a 1/4 ounce of silver - not exactly of course. The other old story is that an ounce of gold should buy a good men's suit. Historically it does. What's changed? The key is that we are denominating these commodities (like all others) in US $'s, and, without getting in any way political, the bi-partisan crew of goofballs running the show cannot stop debasing the currency (this is a world wide problem).
David:
You asked why I "stack" gold. It is my opinion, based on my investigation and probably as much on my personality, that every paper currency in the history of the planet has failed, eventually. I do no see ours as being a candidate for exceptionalism. If the wheels come off this current state of living arrangements the bad stuff is going to go right through the biggest exhaust fan ever. We need fiat currency to conduct our day to day affairs, but saving in it reminds me of saddling up to a crooked three card monte game. Not for me.
We skated on very thin ice 10 years ago or so - next time, and it's coming, who knows. I mentioned the 321gold.com website in my original comment, and I think you would be interested in another site I take a look at sometimes:
coloradogold.com. They are metal sellers, but I would recommend you click on the "Don's Column" icon. He's the retired owner of the site and he writes a column once or twice a week. He's old school and a character, but having read some of your views on things through the years I'm pretty sure you're going to like where he's coming from.
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