While the article makes some valid points let's look at the last ten years in the typical comparitive fashion:  1yr = gold up higher than the market, 3yr = gold up higher than the market, 5yr = gold up higher than the market & 10yr = gold up higher than the market. 

Last I checked INVESTORS are trying to make money on their investment and as such GOLD as been kicking azz and taking names for a decade.  I don't hold gold bullion but invest through a gold fund and a prec. metal mining fund when I added them in 07 at a time when gold was $860 and ounce.  One has done a little better than if I had owned gold bullion one a little worse so my DIVERSE investment mix is delivering like GOLD.  Moreover we know that investing 101 speaks to diversivfication so EVERYONE should have 5% gold, I currently still have 10% and will most likely get down to 5% when it looks like the dollar stabilizes.  Like anything else, there will be panic and profit - taking so when gold falls it will most likely be hard.  And just like i did when Real-Estate took a dump, I'll be ready to be back in when it's close to a bottom. 

All of you citing how well your gold investments have done are completely missing the point. Enron was up 400% in 4 years right up until the collapse. The same could be said about Healthsouth, Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers, and Colonial Bank. All were good investments until the day they became bad investments. Citing past performance proves absolutely nothing. The fact that the gold bubble hasn't popped yet doesn't mean that it can't. It's that foolish rationale that lead to the Great Depression and the most recent recession. An investor in 1925 could have easily bragged that the stock market had never fallen 98% in 3 years. History repeatedly proves that logic wrong.

Gold is only valuable because people BELIEVE that it is. Unlike a corporation, there are no cash reserves or capital assets backing that PERCEIVED value. If the investing public woke up tomorrow and decided gold was no longer "cool", it would become valueless overnight.  You can't hold look at a hunk of gold and tell what it's worth unless the guy on CNN tells you what it's worth. For that reason, it suffers the same whims that fiat money does. It's 100% perception, 0% intrinsic worth.

And like others have pointed out, in a truly apocalyptic economy, gold will still be useless. Food, water, shelter, and protection will be the traded currency. Give me a gallon of water... you can keep your heavy hunk of metal, thanks.

Physical gold and physical silver will see us through the upcoming currency wars, the demise of the once mighty US$ and the guaranteed default by our government on our debt.  Otherwise, the government would have to hyperinflate which has no connection to inflation.

The big banks cannot and will not be permitted to default-guaranteed.

Trust my words, readers; I have been in this field for over four decades and have an open mind that cuts through all the BS.  Watch oil and copper as well.  We all NEED oil and that is the hyperinflationary barometer.

Take heed of these final economic warnings or you will be on your own and not bailed out.

And you can't eat gold, too. Blah, Blah, Blah.

No one said the world was coming to an end(armageddon), just ending as you(msn money staff) know it. You could pile up your u.s. dollars in a bank account, collecting hardly any interest, and look at it, too. Its about purchasing power. The u.s. dollar is going to lose purchasing power for the forseeable future. Gold will do well in that environment. Maybe, there are no guarantees with GLD, but I rather own it when this country has a "funding crisis" and we will have one.

1st rule of investing in metals,take possession of your goods. You will sleep better. lol

This new backlash against gold is amusing. last week a similar story ran and there were readers comparing gold to the .com stock bubble burst and one guy even said it was like tulip bulbs - a fad that would burst (I still don't know what he was talking about).

Gold a fad? Gold has been part of the human economy for 6,000 years. It is, by far, THE most historically reliable measure of value in the history of this planet. Don't forget, gold has seen hundreds of human fiat currencys come and go. If I had to bet as to which one will be standing after the other is consigned to the bins of history - gold or the U.S. dollar - I'm putting my money on (and into) gold.

In the short term ( 6 months maybe a year) gold and silver will rise.

As long as the dollar stays weak gold silver oil, etc  will rise in value, but look out if the dollar gains its footing and strenghtens, gold oil silver will accelerate down quickly in value.

If Armageddon comes along...

"It’s a solid propellant missile," he told the Times. "You can tell from the efflux [smoke]."/Richardson​~Examiner

Clinton gave China the ability to launch ICBMs, and they do it regularly to stress   Taiwan, as does NKorea to show their might.

Not that far a reach to think  China is flexing its muscles at a time of the Obama/G20 meetings.

And, lil obama's ego wont tell US they know its from China sub!

Oh well, due to lack of GOLD to hoard,  I think I will start stockpiling more chocolate!