阿天,this is informative indeed to many. But I'd like to point out one angle, regarding "gold doesn't generate cash flow"...
What are we, what we doing here? Gold is 基石 for the system, believe me, I get it, so do many others. But we are merely individuals, we need cash flow: to bring food on the table, to pay bills. So we need to stick with our jobs, small business, real estate... If you have 1M, that's still nothing. If you have 100M, things start to get interesting. If you are 1B public company, for example, you still have all responsibilities and need to maintain a "cash and equivalent". When you look at those 10Q for example, how much (in balance sheet) do you see are in "physical gold"?
Just different angle, my friend. Cash is King: when you have a 金条, I have a 大饼, then I guess it's about the environment, arm and stick. LOL