Yeah I know I just said I don't read WaPo like yesterday.
This sounds to me like the author lost some money speculating on gold and is out for revenge, but it could spark a debate nonetheless. I am of the opinion that gold isn't going anywhere. There will always be a place in the market for precious metals. I'd tag mk but his inbox is gonna be a big enough mess when he gets back.
There will always be a place for precious metals, but gold as a sink for the paranoid to salve their apocalyptic thoughts is being diversified away. John Mauldin made the point that Bitcoin is to hipsters what gold is to Tea Party 'boomers (and that Kickstarter is their "as seen on TV") and it made sense to me - people flock to gold because it's immune from centralization and currency manipulation and BTC has all that and none of the physicality.
I've heard some sober investors (the type who tell people to just buy vanguard index funds if they aren't an expert I finance) that putting 10% of your portfolio in metals isn't a bad idea if you have a big portfolio. Other than that holding metals is not really an investment strategy. It's nice to have a bit buried in the back yard for societal collapse.