Gold, gold, gold for Australia

There's gold in them thar retreats...hidden in the rafters, buried in the garden. Those survivalists lurve their shiny insurance, but you know what they say about too much of a good thing. Fortune Magazine's article The Appeal of Gold is an illuminating read about the hows and whys of gold's popularity among those obsessed with the 'end times'. Gold is seen as a highly desirable form of currency in the event our economy crumbles...but as the author points out, you can't hedge against everything...

"As the survivalist instinct rises in all of us, it's worth asking ourselves, How much of this should I do for real emergency preparedness and how much for an investment because everyone else is feeling the same way?

"Much of the current growth in survivalism comes from people who, having witnessed the aftermath of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, are adopting measures to ensure that they will at least have food and shelter in a worst-case scenario. They stock up on emergency food supplies and water and maybe look into solar panels - things that would be considered reasonable to anyone who lived through the Cold War and spent time in school learning to huddle under a desk should anyone press the big red button. Those things just seem like Good Common Sense."