No, not the Burl Ives classic, but the metals themselves.

2005 is about to close, and both metals have done crazy stuff during the year. Gold prices are up 15%, and crossed $500/oz this week for the first time in 23 years. Silver’s been no slouch, gaining 30% this year, and crossed 8.50 today, the highest it’s been in 18 years.

Why?

Well, I have no idea, other than the typical supply and demand stuff. I’m sure as the price goes up, more folks buy, and when more folks buy, the price goes up. That’ll work for a while, but I think there’s a whole bunch of theory out there on the whole market that probably sums it up better.

For me, I’m just riding the wave, and putting a little away every now and then. No big investment here, but a curious facination with numbers is keeping me interested. Of course, I’d love to have a whole bunch of gold if it gets above $2000/oz like some folks are saying. Who knows if that’ll happen!

I’ve even seen some folks saying that gold is becoming the fourth currency (along with the dollar, yen and euro). I can’t see that though. No one makes circulating coinage of gold, or backs their currency with it, and you sure can’t go the 7-11 and buy a Slurpee with a gold coin. Well, I guess you actually could — the US Eagles have a denominational value, but it’s waaaaaay less than the value of the metal! So how is it money if I can’t trade it directly for goods and services? I guess the thought is that I have to go the local metal buyer, trade for whatever currency I need, and then go buy supplies for my bunker.

Not for me! For me, it’s numbers, pretty metal, and socking away a little something against me spending it on a bunch of Big Macs! 🙂