Grab any Wall Street trader in a bar, or any portfolio manager in his office, and he’s likely to tell you gold is finished. It’s silly, nothing more than a shiny metal, a substance with little use and little real value, a “barbarous relic,” and the stuff of nothing more than superstition. Only a fool would own any gold in his portfolio. Right? After all, its value has plunged by $500 an ounce in the past year, and $100 just in the past month. Gold hasn’t even rallied during the budget crisis: So much for its “safe haven” status. There is just one nagging problem with this story line. One group of people disagrees. ... (full story)