Is the gold price today trending in the direction you expected?

At today’s market close, the gold price per ounce was just over $1,431 USD.

You and I aren’t the only ones wondering if the upward trending is going to come to a halt…and whether or not the price of gold is going to go tumbling back down the hill…

In a recent CBS News report–March 6, 2011, to be exact–radio talk show commentator G. Gordon Liddy was quoted talking about his reasons for buying gold(1).

The context of this part of the interview was that some people are buying gold because they believe we’re approaching hyperinflation, and perhaps even the end of the world. Liddy, who said he does invest in gold, was asked if fear was his motivation for his investment choice.

Liddy replied that no, fear was not the driving force behind his decision. Rather, he bought gold “out of prudence(1).”

This story also featured quotes from Marin Aleksov, who is the CEO of Rosland Capital in Santa Monica, California. Mr. Aleksov’s perspective on the gold price today was this: yesterday, gold was valuable. Tomorrow, it will still be valuable.

Mr. Aleksov was quoted as saying, “A $20 gold piece, for instance, which is close to an ounce, you know, 100 years ago, used to be our currency. You can walk into a store and buy a suit like this with that coin. Hundred years later, that coin right now is, what? $1,400, $1500? You can still go into a store and buy that same suit!(1)”

I share this not because we all need to invest in suits, although it’s my personal opinion that we should each have at least one very nice one.

But it’s interesting to look at the gold price today from that perspective, if only to see how far we’ve come, on the wings of inflation.