My brother got killed buying gold - thinking it was a safe investment. He bought it reasonably, it went up, but when he needed to cash it in, it was trading below what he had bought it for and he took a loss. The good thing about commodities is that they generally keep some of their principal value, although that can fluctuate. The bad thing is that they do not generate any return other than this fluctuation.

A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.

Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich