I found it instructive to look at the stock market (Dow) and gold separately during the previous boom/bust cycles. In the 20’s and 30’s the United States was on a gold standard, meaning the value of a dollar was “tied” to gold. This tie to gold stopped the Federal Reserve policy of inflation and caused a massive credit contraction. You can see that during that bust period, the stock market did all the work. In 1973 the United States officially gave up the gold standard allowing the Fed a much easier path to inflate. Thus, in the 80’s the fall in the ratio was made up almost entirely by an increase in the price of gold, with the stock market completely stagnating instead.

What will happen this time?

Dow and Gold Side by Side 1928 – 2008