Just because hard assets have had a few great years, does not mean squat.
The dollar vs. the Euro is just a Special Olympics race of competitively debased currencies.
Those Special Olympic competitors beat the hell out of your world class gold for 20 years. Currencies are what they are, pieces of papers representing debt used to buy products which have an inherently depreciating value as you print more. It is better than having to back them with gold, since there is not enough gold to back all the currencies. Our economy would be prisioners to Russia and South Africa for their gold everytime we wanted to increase our money supply.
But rather poorly in the last 2000 years.
The fact is a dollar barely buys half the housing it did 10 years ago, half the food and less than half the energy.
When T-bills reach the Volker style rates required to stop inflation, I'll happily trade my ugly metal for those.
But don't hold your breath.
For decades gold was $20 an oz, then it was $35 an oz for a few more decades. Ending with Nixon. So gold beat paper from any period before 1971, big time. Your $35 cash is still $35, your 1oz of gold is now $600.
By cherrypicking dates you could still construct a scenario where dollars have held value more than gold, but that game will soon come to an end, in my opinion.
Currencies are what they are, pieces of papers representing debt used to buy products which have an inherently depreciating value as you print more. It is better than having to back them with gold, since there is not enough gold to back all the currencies.
?? Any amount of gold could back a currency.
Our economy would be prisioners to Russia and South Africa for their gold everytime we wanted to increase our money supply.
Why do you need to increase the money supply. A finite amount of money would cause prices to fall over time, rewarding savers and builders, as opposed to the current system that rewards bankers. You've become habituated to the illness (inflation) to the point that you can't imagine living without it.
Murry Rothbards "The Case Against the Fed" lays out this scenario very well.
Those Special Olympic competitors beat the hell out of your world class gold for 20 years.
Gee, ya think that might have been different if CB's didn't sell into spikes and the government promise exhorbitant interest rates (i.e. Volker) in times of crisis guaranteed by our sweat no less???
Our economy would be prisioners to Russia and South Africa for their gold everytime we wanted to increase our money supply.
Hogwash. The third largest producer in the world is the state of Nevada. Most American producing areas are barely exploited, the Comstock with all it's activity, barely 30% and the state of California a mere 15-20%...