You are right Skol & we wouldn't need gold if monetary policy was done responsibly, however particularly in recent times the likes of Greenspan & now Bernanke & his European & Japanese counterparts are willing to throw the kitchen sink at their currencies to stave of a depression & inflate their way out of debt. Gold physically values things & although is produced out of the ground which has a substantial production cost to it & cannot be printed in the trillions that we are seeing now & have done for decades.