No matter how the tide turns, there is security in gold bullion investments.
March 16, 2011 – The mountains of government economic indicators are both confusing and useless to most individual investors in gold bullion. That’s because they live in the real world.
John next door flips burgers by day and stocks Wal-Mart shelves at night. Bill and Mary across the street brace for foreclosure when Bill’s unemployment benefits expire next month. No matter how high the stock market climbs, and no matter what the Fed wants us to believe, in the long run it is how well the average person is doing that determines the health of the economy. And according to The Rasmussen Consumer Index, consumer confidence is the lowest it has been since last September.
The Index is a highly reliable indicator of consumer economic confidence based on the three- day moving average of data gathered from nightly surveys of ordinary people. That figure is now 75.4 compared to a baseline of 100 set in October 2001 and is 14 points lower than just one month ago.
The disparity between the Index and Wall Street sentiment should come as no surprise. While insiders are rolling in Bernanke bucks, two thirds of the general population consider their finances to be less than good, and a full quarter rate their condition as poor.
Consumers have no reason to believe the economy is recovering. Many are buried under enormous negative equity in their homes. As wage growth remains stagnant, gas and food prices have sharply curtailed what little disposable income people have left. Vast amounts of personal debt have been deleveraged through default, putting further credit out of reach. And structural unemployment is pandemic, making future prospects dismal for millions.
What will happen when the Fed withdraws from “quantitative easing” in June is hotly debated, with expert opinion split between inflation and a slide into double-dip recession. No matter how the tide turns, however, gold bullion investments offer the security that the dollar can no longer provide.
