Quote from makloda:
If the dollar is in bad shape then why not short the dollar outright? Why use a proxy like gold that sometimes works at hedging dollar weakness and SOMETIMES doesn't.
The US Dollar was cut in half 1983 - 1987, yet Gold only traded down to sideways with insane volatility.

Quote from Devin Brady:
Gold did not rally during that time because of heavy central bank selling.
Supply and demand.
Quote from makloda:
If the dollar is in bad shape then why not short the dollar outright? Why use a proxy like gold that sometimes works at hedging dollar weakness and SOMETIMES doesn't.
The US Dollar was cut in half 1983 - 1987, yet Gold only traded down to sideways with insane volatility.
Quote from dtrader98:
It's ok to put up a hypothesis for causal explanation in hindsight, but the point he illustrated is that the common hedge argument does not always work, regardless of the cause. And it's worth proving that to yourself by actually going back and corroborating facts firsthand (not you necessarily, just in general).
Too many neophytes tend to rely on specious myths regarding relationships that often fall apart dramatically, and cost them a lot of money. Another perfect example is the flip flopping relationship of COT speculators vs. commercials (ex: S&P 500 extremes).
Quote from dtrader98:
Nice to see someone observes these types of relationships objectively, for once.
Pretty risky shorting dollar from here though, IMO.
Quote from makloda:
If the dollar is in bad shape then why not short the dollar outright? Why use a proxy like gold that sometimes works at hedging dollar weakness and SOMETIMES doesn't.
The US Dollar was cut in half 1983 - 1987, yet Gold only traded down to sideways with insane volatility.
Quote from brettman9:
To get back to the OP:
Peter Schiff's entire argument comes down to one unassailable premise he holds (direct quote):
"At some point very soon, China and Japan will decide it is in their interest to 'pull the plug' on the US."
That's it. If true, he would be right with gold's price in dollars/oz. If not, he won't.
Now, China and Japan pulling the plug means they will start to dump dollar assets and stop all purchasing of dollars. They would have to know that this would decimate the dollar's value.
These two countries together hold close to half of all dollar reserves in the world.
This decision would be like someone who owns half the float of a stock going on CNBC and telling the world that they are selling all of it. In other words, 'pulling the plug' means devaluing their assets and our debt. We owe less. They own less.
Seems unlikely to me, regardless of the conventional fundamentals of the dollar.
In point of fact, over the past 12 months, they have both increased their dollar holdings.