If a person believes that there is going to be more meltdown in the financial sector, well beyond what we have had so far, than perhaps gold is the place to be.
While i think it is fair to be critical of the Greenspan Fed for ignoring the mortgage mess that they were warned about in plenty of time to act, and also taking rates way too low, too late in the business cycle, but in plenty of time to help re-elect Mr. Bush, it is a bit unfair to be so hard on the Bernanke Fed whose hands are largely tied by the fiscal mess created by rather idiotic Bush administration policies that were rubber stamped by a legislative branch that apparently feel asleep for 4 years. And even worse, when the weren't snoozing, they were working evil.
Because of this mismanagement of the public trust we added a gargantuan sum to the public debt, an amount so large as to make it a political necessity that it be, in Argentinian style, monetized. Hence the weak currency, and high prices we see today. It is an unwritten rule that politicians, and especially Treasury Secretaries, never speak of this in direct terms, so the average citizen goes to bed thinking his taxes have been reduced when in fact they have been raised by a clever ruse.
We will get out of this. A brighter, more capable, and pragmatic administration will take over come January. The troops sent by lies, and asked to die in the wrong cause for the wrong reason, will come home. The fiscal problems that got us into this mess will get fixed.
In the meantime i expect to pick up bank stocks for 10 to 20 cents on the dollar that will eventually make me a very happy man. At the price they will be trading at, I can afford to wait a very long time!