My issue with gold is this: if one holds gold as a hedge against say, the USD devaluation, wouldn't it make more sense to hold a basket of currencies? Or if one holds gold to protect against inflation, wouldn't a basket of commodities make a more useful hedge? Or equity of companies with pricing power?
It seems that the only way gold increases in value is due to falling confidence in another currency. As an investor I don't want to invest in falling confidence: I want to invest in future production.