In all my years in investing, there’s one rule I’ve prized beyond every other: Always bet against central banks and with the real world. In the seventies, the central banks were defending the United States’ artificially low price of gold. Central banks and governments always try to maintain artificial levels, high or low, whether of a currency, a metal, wool, whatever. When a central bank is defending something – whether it’s gold at thirty-five dollars or the lira at eight hundred to the dollar – the smart investor always goes the other way.
It may take a while but I promise you you’ll come out ahead. It’s a golden rule of investing.
James B. “Jim” Rogers – American star investor, business columnist and author (b. 1942), Quotations book 2008