Warren Buffett Disses Gold

04-30-2011 • EconomicPolicyJournal.com

In 1930, when Buffett was born, the price of gold was $20.65. Today, it is $1,565.70. WSJ goes on: Buffett harps on and on about gold. He says it has no utility, and about how silly people are who are getting in now -- when gold prices are near nominal highs. "There’s no question that rising prices...can start affecting behavior," Buffett said. "People like to get in on things that are rising in prices. Over time, it has not been the way to get rich." He's listing all the things he'd rather have than all the gold in the world, because all you can do with gold is admire it or, as he says, "fondle it." Munger repeats what he's said previously that gold investors are preying on fears. Gold is considered a safe haven investment, because investors tend to flock to buying gold assets when they're freaked out about the health of other assets and the economy. Keep in mind this is said by a guy who has been obsessed with acuiring paper dollars his entire life. Paper dollars are nothing but a medium of exchange that can be printed up by the Federal Reserve at will at any time. But Buffett seeks dollars becasue they are a medium of exchange. Gold can also be a medium of exchange, but a medium of exchnage that can not be printed up at will by the government.