Armchair

Eh? You're seriously suggesting that if the PMOS briefed that gold was a better investment than shares it wouldn't be across every media outlet the very next day? (i'm not suggesting he would, or ever did.)

It's always interesting to look at stories in Google news and compare the language used, often you can spot a key phrase that is repeated word for word or almost so across all the papers/websites, do a google search on it and you'll find the press release that all the journos cut and pasted from. News is a business and if Press Releases take a journo 20 mins to read digest and reword into an article then his/her productivity is up and they can look to write another in the time that a 'real' investigative journalist has produced sweet FA.

Azazel/Johann, In my less than humble opinion you should both watch the below, Chomsky educates a young(er) Andrew Marr on how you don't need to be a red-in-tooth-and-claw conspiracy theorist to explain how the media is manipulated (by itself as much as anything). Marr's inability to counter Chomsky's arguments (they've obviously never occurred to him) or even frame his questions particularly well is evident in Marr's frustration. It's long, and in three parts but worth it, notable is Chomsky's suggestion that the "better" journos do try and get things past the system when they think the system won't notice it. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FSuaGIKTaEA&...feature=related

Guy from Bullion Vault was also interviewed on the Chris Evans thing on Radio 2 this evening. The PM one had someone from the world gold council I think.

Good Points. I suppose the reality is that I've been reasonably certain of the economic SHTF for a while, and have therefore been in BV gold for a little over 12 months, but as this thing has progressed I'm now leaning more to the baked beans and bottled water approach. It's very annoying that despite my best efforts I can't plan for the future because others have made such a complete phuck up of it. The gits.

The difference between the spot price of Gold and the price you pay to actually hold some in your hand is such a very clear sign of where this is going. As someone with all their gold in Bullion Vault I'm beginning to worry! If I sell in Bullion Vault now and buy some coins it'll be next week before it all clears, and that may be too late! Anyone else feeling the same way or has tonight just finally spooked me too much?

Just want to point out the obvious, in that all the advice of the bulls has so far proved correct: *Don't buy on margin *Don't trade *Buy physical or through Bullionvault or Goldmoney, NOT paper. Good Luck one and all.

My thanks to everyone for their thoughts. For myself, I remain someone who believes that on the balance of probabilities gold will probably go up in the medium/long term. I have to admit though that my confidence has fallen from - to give an illustrative figure - maybe 70% to 55% today. Goldfinger et al are quite correct in that the fundamentals*, on a historical basis, are very strong. But, as someone once said the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent. I certainly don't think it's possible to trade in and out of this market regularly and expect anything but losses. My worry is that despite the fundamentals, despite a new russian war... the reality is that since March the average price has dropped steadily. The five year chart looks ugly. This recent drop from $950ish has been precipitous, I told myself I'd sell at a safe-ish $840 if it dropped that far, and today I duly did. This is by no means the end of my flirtation with Gold though I hope, I will buy back in at some stage as long as the price does not continue its current fall. ...I see the price as an elastic band, the markets/PPT/whatever you want to call the realities moving the price, can push and push the price down, but in the end if they slip for a second it just means that the harder they pushed on the way down the harder it will spring back into their faces on the way up... this spring back up could be the price rocket many have predicted... It is of course also possible that the markets push the elastic band so hard it snaps. *-Monetary inflation for 15 years -HPC -Stock market over-valuation -Transfer of wealth from west to east and possibility/likelihood of financial paradigm shift occurring in the process -Real interest rates negative -Close to? at? peak oil In the final analysis I may have less confidence in gold than I did a month ago, but where else is a better place for your cash right now?

Hi all. Long time lurker, here and at HPC. Just thought I'd say thanks to all for your analysis and efforts to inform. Also, I'd like you all to fill in your own set of noxious expletives here to represent my lack of satisfaction with the Gold price itself. It seems to me that virtually all broader economic trends predicted by some (cgnao's impressive prognostication stands out perhaps - frighteningly) are coming true, but Gold isn't reacting the way one would assume. I'm not a bear on Gold, and not looking to get flamed, and I still expect a significant upwards move (otherwise I wouldn't own any!) but a summer of lateral only moving will test my nerves! Thanks again to all, but particularly the long time posters here, and the refugees from HPC.