Who Can Really Afford It?

Every time I see a commercial on Fox"News" promoting investment in gold, I have to ask myself "who can afford to buy gold"?

For quite some time now, conservative talking-heads have openly promoted ( and some are even paid to promote ) investing in gold. From Sean Hannity, to O'Reilly, Beck and even domestic terrorist G. Gordon Liddy, gold is being hyped to viewers of Fox"News" and audiences of right-wing talk radio. But seriously, who can afford to do this?

With talk of the unemployed, those losing their homes, and those looking for affordable healthcare benefits, one has to wonder who these conservative pitch-men really have in mind while hawking the precious metal. Certainly not the lower income brackets, and not the middle class that they claim to love so dearly. Who is left but the more affluent in society that afford this avenue of investment. Sure, a small-time investor can use gold to strengthen their portfolio, but the reality of this comes down to the fact that investing in massive amounts of gold ultimately draws down the value of the dollar, a currency that conservatives claim to champion but seem to have little faith in.

An interesting sidebar to this is that on Friday, gold prices ( in fact all the precious metals listed ) closed down 4.2% while the dollar showed an increase of 1%. Though some analysts are showing this is a predictable dip that will rebound come March, there was literally no reporting done on this by those that touts golds superiority over the dollar.

While the Chinese are the worlds largest gold producing nation, as well as the largest holder of US treasuries ( which is still based on the value of the dollar ) I have to wonder exactly why they would want to promote gold as the more trusted currency and ultimately devalue their investment.

I am not an economist, never have claimed to be one, but the fact that conservatives are openly advocating that the more affluent in society drop their investments based on the dollar in favor of gold seems to smack of an urge to destroy the middle and lower income brackets of the entire country. Perhaps their perfect America is one where only the a small percentage of people actually matter.