The general theory is that as the dollar falls people will rush into holding gold and it will go through the roof. So is gold a good hold? Last time I looked it, had a very weak correlation with the dollar over the years and certainly nowhere near the -1 you would hope for if you were a goldphile. Is there some belief that in this very global economy a new gold backed dollar will immerge or are western governments selling gold into these current rallies in the knowledge that gold backed currencies are a thing of the past. Also, let us bear in mind that as a currency hedge, rental RE bought at the bottom of the cycle can be comfortably leveraged against it's own income, something that gold cannot do. And so, is gold a good hold or simply a good trader?
Pretty thick subject indeed. Too many variables to be able to conclude at which point in time one would be better than the other, even though I agree with your income concept. Gold is liquid. I like that.
There are some attempts at the moment, with some interesting geopolitical ramifications http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_gold_dinar
"Is there some belief that in this very global economy a new gold backed dollar will immerge or are western governments selling gold into these current rallies in the knowledge that gold backed currencies are a thing of the past. don't make me laugh. the dollar will disappear. governments sell gold not out of knowledge but to finance their extravagances. one more thing like many investors e.g, British government western governments sell at bottoms never at tops.