For “hard money” advocates, this has been a remarkable month. Gold has risen by more than $100, silver has begun to surge, and the headlines are full of news items quite capable of raising public concerns to crisis levels.

Perhaps the heart of our pro-gold thesis is this consideration: governments are inherently inefficient, they attempt to provide services far beyond their genuine fiscal ability and these trends result in deficit financing, growing debt levels and ultimate “watering” down of currency values.

Some financial commentators have speculated that bitcoin and other virtual currencies have captured a portion of funds that would have been invested in gold. I find it a bit ironic that people who invest in precious metals would even consider another fiat currency.