Friday, October 19, 2012

How Far Can Gold Prices Rise? $5,000? More?


We are living in extraordinary times in relationship to the price of gold and its correlation to the quantitative easing programs put into play by major economic global players around the world.

So while the idea of gold soaring to price of $5,000, and possibly even to $10,000, while seemingly outrageous for the uninitiated, could in fact become a reality, dependent upon how economies respond to previously failed stimulus measures, and how those nations deal with the growing amount of debt incurred as a result of creating money out of thin air.

A couple of major factors are the debasement of currencies and how high inflation will rise.

Gold prices will largely move on those two factors, especially when the U.S. dollar and other currencies fall in value and are no longer perceived to be places to safely park one's capital.

The major problem with predicting the price of any asset is usually those who understand where things really are, tend to get overly excitable and project prices reaching certain levels dates which are too short in duration. Afterwards, most investors don't believe the probable numbers because of the many failed short-term predictions. But that doesn't mean the underlying assumptions are false, just that the people making the predictions usually are doing so to garner attention to themselves.

That aside, gold will continue to be in a bull market for some time to come, and bubble status hasn't come close to reaching proportions which could actually be identified as such in any meaningful way. The price of gold,, in other words, isn't close to reaching the top yet, and nowhere near enough casual investors have entered into the gold fray yet to allow speculative investing to push the gold prices up. As a matter of fact, we're not even close to that to use the term "bubble" in relationship to gold prices. It will happen someday of course, but is likely to be years away, as well as a much higher price away.

Even those with a much more conservative bent see gold climbing to $2,000 over the next 12 months or so, and possibly as soon as a few months from now, which could be around the early part of 2013.

With the direct connection between the price of gold and creation of money out of thin air, the current practices of open-ended stimulus by the Federal Reserve - the central bank of America - and the lack of effect on helping the economy, all that's really happening is a growing debt load and rising inflation, with nothing positive in return. That is a extraordinarily positive environment for gold, and as well for silver, and both will benefit over the next decade or so, and possibly much longer, depending on the actions of governments and central banks during that time.

The only reason the U.S. dollar hasn't appeared to totally collapse, is other major economic players and their central banks have taken the same actions, which masks the fall in value of the U.S. dollar, because their currencies are also falling. It's more accurate to measure any currency and its value against gold than other currencies, as they're generally simply moving in lock-step with one another because of similar actions taken by central banks, which negates the fall in value of the U.S. dollar.

All of this is to say there is no political desire or will to stop the creation of funny money, and until and if that happens, or is forced to happen, there is absolutely nothing to keep the price of gold to continue on to new heights.

In the end, we're in totally uncharted territory as far as the amount of money being printed, national debt, and amazingly high unfunded liabilities. In the United States alone unfunded liabilities are over $220 trillion (that's not a typo).

But even with these unprecedented numbers, the underlying elements that push the price of gold up are still in place, and because they're increasing in number, as far as money creation goes, and it's only a matter of time before inflation of major proportions set in, gold prices will continue on their upward trajectory, and while it's impossible to know how high it'll go and how long it will take, we're going to continue to see an amazing story unfold concerning gold, and those riding the trend will continue to see their wealth grow with it.

At this time there is no reason to fear a gold bubble, as it's unlikely we're even in the early stages of one. But there will be a time when it arrives, yet even then history has proven the price of gold can soar for some time before it settles back down to earth. We're not close to being there yet, although there will continue to be corrections, which for now must be considered buying opportunities.

So will gold reach $5,000 or even $10,000. It's totally possible, although there is no way to put a time frame on it. All of this will be determined by central bank actions and government policies. Look to Europe to note that governments have little will to implement austerity policies, even though they must if they are to survive. Each government continues to attempt to kick the can down the road and hope it doesn't stop on their watch. One day it will, and gold and those investing in it will wildly benefit from it; even more so than they have in the past in all likelihood.

We are in uncharted territory will central bank money printing and government debt and obligations around the world, that means the price of gold is also in uncharted territory, and all we can do is follow the actions and trust what we know to be the consequences of the practices of these two entities. Nothing will change gold price movements as they relate to the actions of governments and central banks, and how it has responded in the past will continue to be the same in the future until there is in fact a real gold bubble. We're not there yet.

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