If they can buy stocks, they can just buy CCF. :)
I would say that precious metals are NOT money. While they once were, and once decoupled from money were still seen as a store of value, they are now just a commodity.
There is, in fact, nothing magical about precious metals that makes them suitable as a store of value. The premise is, of course, that there are limited quantities of precious metals available, and that additional quantities are obtained at a slow and predictable rate.
There is a small but real risk - particularly with precious metals decoupled from money - that some industrial uses of precious metals will be rendered obsolete by technology, reducing the value of precious metals significantly.
Historically, precious metals have not been outstanding as an investment vehicle. That's why I used the term "store of value", and not "investment".
That said, any social security plan that permits individuals to direct an investment should permit investment in precious metals funds, or even precious metals directly. As poor of an investment as precious metals are over the long-term, I feel that are an important diversification. In times of extreme hardship, precious metals have always proven the ultimate backup plan. And while this may be different now (Maybe your corner grocer will say "Gold? Don't want it! Give me gasoline!) we do have only the historical record to go on.
On the other hand, in such times of extreme economic hardship, I suspect that it would be a moot point - your marks on a ledger showing that you own some precious metals would probably be meaningless...
In a truely fair and sane world, you could somehow use some of your social-security investment funds to store some coins in a safe-deposit box, maybe filing a periodic statement that it's still there.
(Opening left for conspiracy theories! Question 12a. "Where is the bullion stored?" Boot-jacked bullion police, legally breaking in to banks and shooting off locks...)
Will George W. Bush be elected? Dunno. Hope not. Though I'm not sure which one is more likely to form a Gestapo - George W. or Al. |
