Thanks so much everyone. I am reading over everyone's ideas still, all very interesting. But I had an epiphany I think.
Let's say gold is at $1,800.
Let's say the fed increases the money supply by 30% over a period of time. Let's say the "fundamentals" for gold have not changed in the meantime. So gold increases by 30% in price (as it should to reflect the fact that there are 30% more dollars chasing the same amount of gold).
But in that case, if you sold you gold for $2,340 (30% gain on $1,800), you are literally NO BETTER OFF because your $2,340 is upon the sale worth only the $1,800 it was before the investment because each dollar is now worth 30% less! So have you really GAINED anything at all? Clearly you are better off than if you had just held the cash, but you are really no better off from where you were before, are you?
Maybe that is why 2rosy and Stockpredictor said issue debt. There you REALLY WOULD be better off because that 30% rise in prices means you debt is in effect worth 30% less. So are there any other asset categories that really GAIN in an inflationary environment, as opposed to just "hedge" against inflation by essentially offseting it?
Time to buy a big new house on a lot of borrowed debt at cheap rates it seems!!!