The confusion about gold

Most people don't get it when it comes to gold and why it may be an investment. Here are a couple of ideas for everyone to discuss.
1. Gold is the global economic thermometer. When the price of gold is rising it is a sign that something in the system is not healthy. What that could be most will never know, but here are the suspects: worldwide inflationary pressure, potential derivatives meltdown, deflationary pressure in the US.
2. Gold is a global currency unsanctioned by any government. Gold historically has been counter-cyclical to the dollar and that is a sign of it trading as a commodity. Currently we are seeing the price of gold decouple from this inverse relationship. I am not saying it is completely decoupled, only time and hindsight will tell if that is the case, but gold is showing signs of trading independently as a currency.
3. There is no good alternative in currencies. Europe has serious social unrest and too many social programs that governments are on the hook for. The US has it's twin deficits plus the off the books deficits - medicare and social security. There is not another currency that has the potential to be the worlds' reserve currency. Basically, nothing is that attractive so people move to gold.