Editorial Observer; Who Needs Gold When We Have Greenspan?
By FLOYD NORRIS, The New York Times May 4th, 1999. Is gold on its way to becoming just another commodity?
Another doom-laden and negative article about gold, from 1999.

Editorial Observer; Who Needs Gold When We Have Greenspan?
By FLOYD NORRIS, Published: May 04th, 1999
Is gold on its way to becoming just another commodity? The people who run the world's financial system are doing their best to secure that fate for the metal that once was viewed as the only ''real'' money. The process of removing the glitter from gold has been a gradual but inexorable one, and is one of the most telling counters to the argument that national governments are less important in this era of globalization. Much of the world is now quite happy to accept the idea that a greenback backed by Alan Greenspan is just as good as one backed by gold.
Certainly gold's reputation as a store of value has eroded. At the peak of the gold frenzy in 1980, an ounce of gold cost $873, precisely that day's level of the Dow Jones industrial average. Now the Dow is at 11,014.69, about 38 times higher than the $287.60 price of gold.
Actually, that measurement understates the amount by which stocks have outperformed gold. If you had owned stocks all those years, you would have received substantial dividends. If you owned a lot of gold, you got no dividends but did have to pay storage fees for the stuff.
That is, in fact, how the central bankers of the world look at gold these days. Michel Camdessus, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said last week he expected the fund to sell gold for the first time in two decades. The Clinton Administration is pushing for such sales by the I.M.F. to help finance a laudable program to forgive debts owed by very poor countries.
The money received from the gold sales is to be invested in Government securities that will provide income, and that income will pay off the loans. The implicit assumption is that gold, which does not pay interest, is a lousy investment.
A couple of weeks ago, the Swiss electorate voted to begin untying the Swiss franc from its gold backing. The Swiss central bank could begin selling gold as early as next year. Once again, the argument was that selling gold was a way to find easy money for good deeds. To those who still view gold as the only real money, having the Swiss defect is a bit like discovering that Rome is embracing Protestantism. It is the last place that should happen.
But it is happening, and it seems likely that more central banks -- like the Australian and Dutch banks -- will join those that have already begun selling gold.

Why Bankruptcy Became So Popular
Published: May 8, 1999
To the Editor:
To answer the question ''Who Needs Gold When We Have Greenspan?'' (Editorial Observer, May 4), I offer the following quote: ''Certainly a gold-based monetary system will not necessarily prevent fiscal imprudence, as 20th-century history clearly demonstrates. Nonetheless, once achieved, the discipline of gold standard would surely reinforce anti-inflation policies, and make it far more difficult to resume financial profligacy.''
The author? Alan Greenspan, in 1981.
M. DOUGLAS POLLITT
Toronto, May 4, 1999

Media Doom Mongers
Way back in 1999, we were saying that gold was cheap, and a good buying opportunity. Most journalists, if they commented at all, were being very negative. One of the most memorable press comments was that gold had done nothing but gone down in price for the past 25 years.
It is always when everybody is at their most negative about a product, commodity, or share, that makes it the best time to buy.