The author states that the price of gold has fallen 21% from its recent peak. What the author has failed to state is that these are COMEX futures prices which are moving in complete opposite of physical gold prices. Not only is  physical gold bullion commanding higher increasing prices, but many dealers are reporting lead times of 12 to 16 weeks. Some have stopped taking orders for physical gold altogether due to the overall onslaught of orders.

As for 20% being a big bet, the markets are tanking far greater than 20%. And figuring in returns for gold verses the S&P over the past 5 years has gold as a big winner, (95.59% gain vs -7.31% loss as of October 22, 2008).

The author is way off on this one.  While I don't condone a 20% investment (personal financial standings vary), over the next five years gold will appreciate substantially reaching levels of $1.5K+/oz.  The federal government and foreign governments cannot support the dollar over the long term given the debt and leverage practices the United States Government is involved in now.  Until the government changes its spending, earmark and tax policies the economy will continue to suffer.  The current tax policies need to be replaced by the FairTax.  This is the only way to attract lost and new business and jobs back to this country.  Until the people take away the power of the politicians and decide how they are going to be taxed the problems will continue.  Over $70 trillion of untaxed revenue leaving the country every year would create a heck of a surplus under the FairTax!  

Foreign investment is being withdrawn from the U.S. economy and unemployment is on the rise.  Depending on who the next president is we could be looking at catastrophic financial conditions in the U.S.

The catalist for further decline in the dollar is in place.  Where we go from here is up to us.

I only see one reason why a person should load up on gold. Or silver. That's if ya believe that the fiat currencies of the world are going to become worthless. Being a prospector myself, I see gold as a hedge against failure of the currency. I don't care if it goes up or down. I dig mine up out of the ground. If ya place 20% of your holdings in gold, it'll cheer ya or pain ya when it has big moves, just like stocks. The big thing to remember is to do your research and make informed decisions. If ya move with your emotions, you get slaughtered with the rest of the pigs that Cramer talks about.

I really have to disagree with this one. Sorry.

But, I am not an investor in gold or silver. A person should keep it handy for protection against a government that spends $0.08 printing a $100 note and then runs the presses 24/7. Heck, don't worry about losing some of your paper money, worry about losing everything you've got. The viability of a the fiat money system is based on high interest rates and disciplined printing (Output of the economy must be in line with the output of the money supply). We are certainly doing the exact opposite of that.

The writer of this piece sounds way too much like a stock broker.  Sure, the stock market will come back, and that's when investors will start shifting more of their assets back to equities.  And here's another point about gold: As coin collectors, many of us are invested in rare gold coins.  These are valuable BOTH as gold and as rarities--they have two ways to be valuable.  The gold market has experienced wild swings, but the rare coins market is booming.  

Right or wrong, I am making money with gold ans silver that I had hoarded from two years ago. My stock holdings are all down an average of 40%, while my precious metals are netting as much as 50 to 100 percent, and that is on ebay sales.