I realize all that. But owning and holding gold is pointless unless you are prepared to defend it. Even if you divest of it in times not strife ridden, your government will find a way to screw you out of the value added you have gained. This is implicit to the new PPACA ancillary laws and regulations - Reporting Gold sales, specifically.
If you want to speculate on it, there are plenty of fools out there willing to buy it thinking it will be a better investment that other intrinsically valuable things. I’m not saying it isn’t a good scheme if you know how to work it and don’t depend on it as a SHTF option.
I’m not familiar with the PPACA ancillary laws ... this sounds nasty. Got any reference links?