To: TobagoJack  who wrote (27693 ) 1/24/2003 12:14:43 AM From: Maurice Winn     Read Replies (2)  | Respond to    of 74559  Jay, after $400 comes $500 as sales and profits continue to boom.   Gold on the other hand, is just a dead lump of hope, inflated by expectation, fueled by greed, propelled by wishful thinking, supported by speculation, surrounded by a baying mob of medieval Aztec mystics.   Everyone knows that gold is a no-brainer investment guaranteed to be the next big thing.  The P:E ratio is zero, but what the heck, if the dot.coms could do it with a bit of razzle dazzle, surely gold can make a come-back like an old prize-fighter.   No-brainer investments are great for some people.  I prefer brainer investments with actual profits, revenue growth, long term customer demand, large consumer surpluses, development trajectories, a long term monopoly and run by talented, honest management, with a P:NPV ratio to make me drool.   Perhaps a baying mob of Aztecs with a no-brainer investment idea is a place you like to be.  Just be careful that in the height of mania, they don't select you as a human sacrifice.  They are quite icky about the process.  I suggest leaving just as the chanting gets loud and jostling starts, if you must time the mania and try to swipe the loot at the height of frenzy.  They might all stampede when the bone starts being pointed around for a victim and you might be crushed in the rush for the exits.   The USD has plunged - but yes, there's potentially another 20% to go and we'd still be a little short of the mid 1990s peak against the Mighty Kiwi.   The best gold can do [as long as it remains in fashion] is match the inflation rate of the US dollar, volatility notwithstanding.  The sky's the limit for Mighty Q!  Actually, it can grow through the sky.  Gravity limits growth of 3D material objects, which crush under their own weight, hence the adage that trees don't grow to the sky.  The ethereal world of cdma2000 phragmented photons and cyberspace is unlimited.   It's not even limited by the sum capacity of human brains, because cyberspace will develop its own needs.  But even the total capacity of human brains is not a bad market.  A factory will have all variables monitored by cyberspace in highly automated processes, using graviton.com  transducers and cyberspace links via cdma2000, untouched by human hands and minds. Speaking of seeing the most obvious trends ....  and fighting courageously against Ginzu knife-sharp blades of the windmill.  The hurricane of pixelated photons will blow away a few cobwebs.  You'll need to form your gold into an anchor shape to avoid being blown away like a feather in the wind.   Here's one of my favourite trends: 3gtoday.com  Mqurice