The Oil Drum: Canada

CR, the SNL link is in the post:
• Don't Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford (classic SNL video).

As for gold, while I think everything that Mish says is in principle true, I am wary of gold, for three reasons;

1. Market manipulation
   Central banks all over are selling gold in mass quantities whenever they feel like it. Now the IMF joins in as well. A weird paradoxical tendency, if you think about it: if they would keep it in their vaults, prices would rise, because it would be scarcer. So what's the reasoning? Go to gata.org sometime.

2. Gold and "normalcy"
   There may be, I think, a bottom limit to how well gold performs in "extreme" times. First, you can't eat it. Second, as in the 1930's, possession may be banned, which hinders its use as currency. Mish' arguments should hold up well as long as there is a semblance of a remaining functioning economy. But how low will we go?

3. Gold mining is an extremely polluting process
   I'm not so sure I wish to support that. I know, the same is true of many commodities. Personally, I draw the same conclusion for all.

Happy Thanksgiving. It's 28 Celsius here in the east. Eating turkey poolside.