joe, i think it depends on which "economic future" camp you're in....

if you believe the system we have will recover and get stronger then gold should start to settle at some point. i'll probably get shot but i can see where gold may begin to drop in price as the economy shows a heartbeat ...i dont know that we'll ever see $300 again

if you are in the camp that believes the economy will get worse and people will lose faith in "perception based" currencies and credit systems then gold will go up.....

either way gold will remain what it always has been....gold.

in an extreme case (2012 type stuff) that wipes out our paper/electronic monetary system then "physical gold" would become "priceless", which is a good argument for having some gold on hand.