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Yes, demand for the shiny yellow metal has indeed been surging of late. Perhaps exceeded only by demand for gold-related quotes, song lyrics or catchphrases to use in gold-related headlines; for all the large number of the former it does seem like supply may still be getting rather tight. Thus, no punning title for this post.

I take note of gold because I own some. Largely through some odd chance circumstances, which might make for kind of an interesting story some day, but for now I’ll just note that I came into a modest number of bullion coins back when they traded for less than $500/oz. People are now lining up to buy the things at around $1,700/oz., so this is arguably one of the best investments I’ve ever made.

Or, at least, would be one of the best investments I’ve ever made if gold bullion were an investment; as is, gold is just inert metal and produces nothing, so it’s better described as speculation than investment.

Still, growing numbers of people seem ready to speculate on a further rise in gold’s price. It isn’t difficult to see why, either; recent economic shocks have probably made people even more interested in a “safe” store of value at the same time that they’ve made more and more options previously considered “safe as houses” seem, well, you know. Why not gold, at this point? If it seems a bit “survivalist,” well, don’t a lot of even the “mainstream” news items on any given day?

Obviously I share in the “lots of things going to shit” gloominess, myself, to some extent. And yet, for whatever it’s worth, I’m in the process of divesting myself of the increasingly popular “safe haven” of gold. (more…)

(Note: so, I wrote the rest of this post earlier in the day. Which only multiplied the disconcerting feeling when I returned home, and found that the storefront across the street which has been filling its windows with old clothes now has a sign up. And so for the time being, whenever I enter or leave my apartment, or stand in front of the living room window, I’m going to be confronted with a banner reading “FUTURE NO FUTURE.” Great.)

Is this the link of the week?

I think it may be. I found the whole thing fascinating, in any event. Others may not, and I admit that I’m pretty terrible about being directed to something and then thinking “this is too long, what’s the executive summary?” So I’ll pull out a few key items:

“…cuts are just a sideshow, a diversion from the main event. They’ll keep rolling on and on and on, because the simple truth is that wealth is being extracted from society at an ever faster rate.” Yes, this does seem to be one of our era’s big, largely-unrecognized patterns.

“If America can reform its banking sector, it has a fighting chance at a prosperous future. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t… without the institutional reinvention of finance, America simply won’t be able to create the future, because it will keep investing in yesterday’s already overleveraged, zero-social-return ‘ponziconomy.’”

“…consider the Irish Bankers’ Strikes of the 1970s, when fed-up bankers petulantly decided to go on strike (with the assumption that the economy would collapse, and society would beg to have them back). Instead, the economy kept growing…”

“…the ‘instability’ that is the heart of Wall Street’s scare tactics is in fact already upon us, savagely so.”

“…the Dutch just digitally self-organized to force their parliament to axe bankers’ bonuses. Not just going forward, but retroactively… using technology invented in the U.S.A….” Once again, if only Americans were not so ignorant, and to some extent determined to remain ignorant, of what happens in other societies. If only.

Also, re-reading the interview, it seems like a great many of these comments can be applied to the energy industry as well, probably not coincidentally.

P.S. While I’m at it, “Constitutionally Rotten” isn’t bad, either. Will Wilkinson has one of his good days, doing an admirable summary of a Fareed Zakaria essay rather as I’ve done here with the remarks of Umair Haque. (See also.)

P.P.S. This is rather pithy, as well. And while there’s nothing at all really new, I may as well throw in this while I’m at it. Meanwhile, assuming that I don’t just drink myself to death before I even make it that far, after I get back from France I think I’m going to just stay in bed curled up into a fetal ball for several days.

Saw a bit of CNN the other day, and the juxtaposition of a couple of rich-executive outrages within just a few minutes prompted kind of a funny thought.

These guys, these bankers and CEOs and other megabuck con artists…

They’re really starting to remind me, more and more, of Dr. Strangelove. Beyond a shared generally-maniacal nature, it’s really the arm. Strangelove’s arm, of course, memorably kept raising itself in a Nazi salute, in an apparently autonomic reflex. (The one scene where he was literally beating on it, with his other arm, in an attempt to subdue the wayward limb is just a riot.)

Whereas these guys, as they keep on demonstrating apparent contempt for the rest of society with bonuses and other “let them eat cake” policies, seem to have a similar problem with involuntarilly giving the finger. I mean, it just seems so gratuitous that even I find it difficult to believe every instance is 100% intentionally offensive. And yet, figuratively, their arms keep reflexively shooting up in a strident, middle-finger salute.

Which, for all that the reality is revolting and infuriating… does strike me as a pretty funny image.