"Gold bug" (sometimes spelled "goldbug") is a term frequently employed in the

financial sector Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, ...

and among

economists An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

in reference to persons who are extremely bullish on the commodity

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

as an investment and or a standard for measuring wealth. Depending on the circumstances the term can have one or a combination of closely related and often overlapping themes that extend beyond the support for

gold as an investment Of all the precious metals, gold is the most popular as an investment. Investors generally buy gold as a way of diversifying risk, especially through the use of futures contracts and derivatives. The gold market is subject to speculation and ...

, including in some cases the use of the term as a

pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...

Various themes on the term

* An

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...

or speculator who is very

bullish Market sentiment, also known as investor attention, is the general prevailing attitude of investors as to anticipated Market trends, price development in a market. This attitude is the accumulation of a variety of fundamental analysis, fundamenta ...

in buying the

commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a comm ...

, or similarly themed financial products such as junior mining companies, gold certificates, bullion ETFs, and other derivative instruments related to precious metals. * A person with no knowledge of basic economics or monetary theory who opposes or criticizes the use of "

fiat currency Fiat money (from la, fiat, "let it be done") is a type of currency that is not backed by any commodity such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender. Throughout history, fiat money was sometime ...

" and supports a return to the use of the

gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the la ...

or some other currency system based on the value of gold and other imagined "hard" assets. * Someone who considers one commodity, usually gold, "the appropriate measure of wealth, regardless of the quantity of other goods and services that it can buy". *A person, often with views summarized above, that subscribes to so-called "

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

" relating to gold & silver, frequently including but not limited to, alleged manipulation of the price of precious metals and the supposed disappearance of gold held by the United States Government at

Fort Knox Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold res ...

. The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) is a small but prominent promoter of such conspiracy theories within the gold bug community. However, such persons are widely dismissed as cranks and their beliefs as fringe by reputable economists, business leaders and government officials… until the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

's 2022 conviction of ex- J.P. Morgan traders of fraud, attempted price-manipulation, and spoofing. Such practices were apparently "common practice" in

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The compa ...

(that J.P. Morgan eventually acquired), as well as reported at

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

’s

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

& at

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

that employed manipulator David Liew.

History

The concept, in the second sense, was popularized in the 1896 U.S. presidential election, when

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

supporters took to wearing gold lapel pins, gold neckties, and gold headbands in a demonstration of support for gold against the " silver menace".Mieczkowski, Yanek and Carnes, ''The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Elections'' (2001), p.176.

Notable gold bugs

Alan Greenspan Alan Greenspan (born March 6, 1926) is an American economist who served as the 13th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. He works as a private adviser and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC. ...

Thomas Kaplan Thomas Scott Kaplan (born September 14, 1962) is an American billionaire businessman, philanthropist and art collector. Kaplan is the world's largest private collector of Rembrandt's works. Kaplan is the chairman and chief investment officer of ...

Bill Murphy (businessman) Bill Murphy (born 1946) is a former American professional wide receiver who played one season in 1969 for the New England Patriots. He subsequently became a financial commentator and gold bug, who serves as the chairman and director of the Gold ...

Ron Paul Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, physician and retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as well ...

Peter Schiff Peter David Schiff (; born March 23, 1963) is an American stock broker, financial commentator, and radio personality. He is CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc., a broker-dealer based in Westport, Connecticut. He is also ...

* Judy Shelton

References

Gold Pejorative terms for people {{economics-stub

Various themes on the term

History

Notable gold bugs

See also

References