Brett Arends: "What Price Suits Gold?"

Check out this WSJ.com article by Brett Arends on the buzz surrounding gold. This is up on RealClearMarkets.com, so you don't have to be a WSJ.com subscriber to access it. Here's part:

A long-standing rule of thumb among gold enthusiasts is that an ounce of gold should equal the cost of one high-quality man's suit. (A fund manager I know in London argues that this goes back to ancient Rome, when an ounce of gold allegedly was enough to purchase a top-of-the-line toga.)

That wisdom isn't particularly helpful today. At Saks Fifth Avenue you could pay $795 for a Hugo Boss suit, or $2,050 for Dior. When I last bought a suit on Savile Row in London some years back, it cost me about $1,200, but one could have spent a lot more.

Michael Narwani, a tailor and the owner of Custom Clothiers in Wellesley, Mass., says his bespoke suits vary from around $700 up to many thousands, but "$1,000 would buy you an excellent suit." By that measure, gold would be about the right price now.

A silly debate? Maybe. But this is the central issue any investor faces when dealing with gold.

We should expect the silliness to get really wild among those debating gold if things keep going.