Opposing Digits

High price points to economic troubles

Gold, which yesterday passed $600 an ounce for the first time in 25 years, is the thing to watch if you prefer a big-picture approach to economics. The metal, after all, is almost the only thing that has enjoyed a real value for 3,000 years. It may not generate an income, but the supply is finite and it has always been traded.

In the 1970s US humiliation in Vietnam, the Cold War, an oil crisis and hyperinflation were terrific for gold. From $35 in 1968, the price hit $835 in January 1980, a rise that now seems barely credible.

# posted by madthumbs @ 10:57 PM