i guess we parted with a lot of gold before the government shut down the gold exchange window. After seeing flurries of news stories over the years about central banks/ governments adding to their gold reserves, I've looked up the holdings per capita around the world, and we're doing better than most. If some large holder suddenly sold all their u.s. treasuries, having gold and silver reserves would absorb the shock. If I had money to invest in metals long term, I would go with platinum/ palladium which are needed in catalytic converters, which are just recently required on vehicles in developing countries. No strong feelings about gold or silver, either way; fine with me but not exciting.