Gold’s relentless ascent may continue – a wonderful investment opportunity stemming from the spreading loss of faith in fiat money. Or the fourfold price rise in seven years may be the result of fearful and naive buyers putting their faith in a barbarous relic. That faith could eventually be crushed, bringing hefty losses (as happened 31 years ago). These clashing world views were displayed last month in the US Congress. Representative Ron Paul, hard-money advocate and the Tea Party’s “intellectual godfather”, asked Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke whether gold was money. Told “no”, Mr Paul asked why central banks held so much of it then. The answer: “It’s tradition.” That tradition is not dead; the Bank of Korea just made a small purchase of the yellow metal, for example.
一种看法是，金价的持续上涨势头会继续——鉴于投资者正普遍丧失对法币的信心，这可谓一个绝佳的投资机会。另一种看法是，金价在过去7年里翻了两番，正是因为那些惴惴不安、天真的买家将全部信心都寄托在这种“野蛮的遗迹”上，这种信心终会被摧毁，带来惨重损失（就像31年前发生的那样）。这两种相互冲突的世界观，上月也出现在了美国国会上。众议员罗恩•保罗(Ron Paul)是黄金这种硬通货的拥护者，被誉为茶党的“精神教父”。他质问美联储(Fed)主席本•伯南克(Ben Bernanke)黄金是否属于货币。在得到否定的回答后，保罗追问道，那为何世界各国的央行持有如此之多的黄金。伯南克的回答是：“这是传统。”这个传统没有消亡；例如，韩国央行(Bank of Korea)就刚刚购入了少量黄金。