One major reason why people own gold is that gold can't go broke. Gold can't go broke because it has no counter-parties or liabilities against it. Gold can't go broke because gold is pure wealth. Sure gold can go down in price in terms of a currency, but gold CAN NOT GO BROKE.
This is the crucial fact hat the "dollar-bugs" fail to comprehend. This is the reason why sophisticated wealthy people own large quantities of gold. Gold represents eternal unquestioned wealth.
Wealthy people do NOT hold gold for appreciation. They don't care about the price of gold today or tomorrow. That is not why they hold gold.
- Richard Russell, Dow Theory Letters
I've honestly never cared about the price of gold – as measured in dollars – nor have I ever been interested in trading gold.
In fact, I've never sold a single ounce of gold, though I have given some away as a gift. Understanding gold has always been easy for me, intuitive even. It's the only sound, private, stable, and universally accepted form of money. An ounce of gold is no one else's liability. It's easy to hide, easy to transport, and easy to divide.
In my mind, the battle between the value of the dollar and the value of gold is simple.
Gold stands for honesty and permanence and has for all of recorded human history. It is the physical manifestation of truth. There has never been a single time in all of history where an ounce of gold failed anyone, ever. Paper money, on the other hand, stands for fraud and deceit. It is the physical manifestation of a lie. And it has been for all of recorded human history. There isn't a single historical example of a paper currency that didn't fail everyone who held it.
- Porter Stansberry, S&A Digest