Interesting article by Jeffrey Miller... and many of the comments are worth reading too...

From the introduction:

"The thought occurred to me that if gold was indeed the best investment vehicle and store of value then it ought to handily outperform other investment vehicles over extended periods of time. On that premise I determined to compare the long term spot price of gold versus the long term Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Such a head to head comparison might be able to determine the relative value of either investment vehicle as a long term store of value. In this process I arbitrarily assume that the better investment vehicle is therefore, the better store of value.

Of course, if gold or the DJIA does not provide a net positive return, then it fails as an investment and also as a store of value. Thus we need to first determine if either vehicle provides a long term positive return. If so, then we can compare those returns to determine which vehicle is better. So, does either provide a positive return? Which is the better investment: gold or the DJIA?"

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1263...