Why Krugman, Roubini, Rogoff And Buffett Dislike Gold

By Jan Skoyles  Edited by Mark O’Byrne 

A couple of weeks ago an article appeared on Bitcoin Magazine entitled ‘Some economists really hate bitcoin’.

I read it with a sigh of nostalgia. As someone who has been writing about gold for a few years, I am used to reading similar criticisms as those bitcoin receives from mainstream economists, about gold.

As with bitcoin, gold is just a step too far for many economists. Criticism is often, as with bitcoin, targeted at the people who invest in it, rather than the asset’s own track record, fundamentals and safe haven attributes – classic attacking the ball and not the man.

This frequently involves name calling and the pejorative ‘goldbug’ label. This is used to try and discredit anyone who says anything positive about gold including being bullish on the price or seeing it as an important diversification. Often some of the gold naysayers refuse to distinguish between gold as a diversification in an investment or pension portfolio and gold’s role as a hedge against currency devaluations on one side and on the other calls for a gold standard.

Two completely separate matters – one pertaining to monetary policy and the other to investing, saving and personal finances.

In my experience to invest in gold is seen by the critics as the ultimate rejection of central banks, financial systems and government. These critics believe that faith in something that just gets mined out of the ground is baseless compared to something that ‘involves human endeavors (like stocks)’ as Joe Weisenthal of Bloomberg argued.

This ignores the fact that the production of gold, refining of gold, minting and fabricating of coins and bars and indeed the brokering, delivery and storage of bullion, and the running of the myriad of different precious metal companies involved in this quite large industry involves human energy, innovation and endeavours.

Below I touch upon some of those critics who continue to dismiss either gold as an investment or as a form of money which may play some role in the monetary system.

Nobel Prize Winning Krugman

If anyone could be accused of having a caricature of gold, it would be Paul Krugman. For him, gold investment is a push for the gold standard and anyone who advocates diversifying into gold is a lunatic, right wing “gold bug”.

Krugman most recently riled fans of gold when he ……

To continue reading click here.

Why Krugman, Roubini, Rogoff And Buffett Dislike Gold

By Jan Skoyles  Edited by Mark O’Byrne 

A couple of weeks ago an article appeared on Bitcoin Magazine entitled ‘Some economists really hate bitcoin’.

I read it with a sigh of nostalgia. As someone who has been writing about gold for a few years, I am used to reading similar criticisms as those bitcoin receives from mainstream economists, about gold.

As with bitcoin, gold is just a step too far for many economists. Criticism is often, as with bitcoin, targeted at the people who invest in it, rather than the asset’s own track record, fundamentals and safe haven attributes – classic attacking the ball and not the man.

This frequently involves name calling and the pejorative ‘goldbug’ label. This is used to try and discredit anyone who says anything positive about gold including being bullish on the price or seeing it as an important diversification. Often some of the gold naysayers refuse to distinguish between gold as a diversification in an investment or pension portfolio and gold’s role as a hedge against currency devaluations on one side and on the other calls for a gold standard.

Two completely separate matters – one pertaining to monetary policy and the other to investing, saving and personal finances.

In my experience to invest in gold is seen by the critics as the ultimate rejection of central banks, financial systems and government. These critics believe that faith in something that just gets mined out of the ground is baseless compared to something that ‘involves human endeavors (like stocks)’ as Joe Weisenthal of Bloomberg argued.

This ignores the fact that the production of gold, refining of gold, minting and fabricating of coins and bars and indeed the brokering, delivery and storage of bullion, and the running of the myriad of different precious metal companies involved in this quite large industry involves human energy, innovation and endeavours.

Below I touch upon some of those critics who continue to dismiss either gold as an investment or as a form of money which may play some role in the monetary system.

Nobel Prize Winning Krugman

If anyone could be accused of having a caricature of gold, it would be Paul Krugman. For him, gold investment is a push for the gold standard and anyone who advocates diversifying into gold is a lunatic, right wing “gold bug”.

Krugman most recently riled fans of gold when he ……

To continue reading click here.