If your talking adusted for inflation, wouldn't a continually weakening dollar along with a further rise in gold offset the gain so we might never see the price as high as 1980 (adjusted for inflation)?
Possibly, but the rate of inflation would have to be high vs. the increased price of gold. I'd say right now that gold is catching up, because we have inflationary expectations with some real inflation (depending on who's calculation you use).
At worst its a store of wealth. The problem is arguing that people only own gold from its highs. If you've been accumulating it at various price points against the dollar and at various times, then the gold probably did you very well.
