Gold: You know you're in trouble when even the NY Times gets it

Think of it as the Tea Party of investments.

The price of gold has been rising as anxious investors cast what amounts to a throw-the-bums-out vote against, well, just about everything.

The weak dollar, the volatile stock market, the lackluster economy, the yawning budget deficit, the accommodative Federal Reserve — all this and more have people rushing for gold.

The metal touched a high of $1,424 an ounce on Tuesday, although the price remains well below the peak of the early 1980s once inflation is taken into account.

“It’s in effect a protest vote that there’s something amiss with current policies,” said Abhay Deshpande, a portfolio manager with First Eagle Funds and a longtime gold investor.

“People are almost acting as their own central banks because the advantage of gold is that it acts as a hiding place in times of currency turmoil,” Mr. Deshpande said. A steady drumbeat of higher price targets from Wall Street firms — as well as recent pronouncements from political leaders — has buttressed what was already strong investor demand.

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