Buy Precious Metals

Unlike this guy I'm not a classically-trained economist. But when I see gold at a 25-year high, headed above $600/ounce; copper up 80% in the last year; zinc up 100% over the same time; nickel reaching 20-year highs; and aluminum and silver up, I get worried. Precious metals are what you buy when you feel everything else will lose its value. Buying gold ingots is historically seen as a recession-proof move by those rich enough to hold through bad times.

We may be hitting peaks on all of these natural resources, too, which is contributing to spiking prices. In this way the copper and zinc and gold markets are not that different from the oil market. But I think that precious metals are seen more as the safe bet:

William Chan, a gold dealer at Delta Asia Financial Group in Hong Kong, said volatility across all commodities markets has driven investors to gold.

'Gold is being bought as a hedge against rising oil and commodity prices,' Chan told Agence France-Presse.

'Problems with Iran and the effect that is likely to have on oil supplies from the Middle East is the main culprit,' he added.

Others say gold is a hedge against inflation or a weak dollar. Whatever the reason, I'm a little unnerved by so many people going into metal and pushing the price so high. This can't have too many positive real-world consequences for the US economy.

Can it?