RTFA: http://www.kitco.com/ind/fekete/dec052008.html

Of course, it is too early to say whether gold has gone to permanent backwardation, or whether the condition will rectify itself (it probably will). Be that as it may, it does not matter. The fact that it has happened is the coup de grâce for the regime of irredeemable currency. It will bleed to death, maybe rather slowly, even if no other hits, blows, or shocks are dealt to the system. Very few people realize what is going on and, of course, official sources and the news media won’t be helpful to them to explain the significance of all this. I am trying to be helpful to the discriminating reader.

Gold going to permanent backwardation means that gold is no longer for sale at any price, whether it is quoted in dollars, yens, euros, or Swiss francs. The situation is exactly the same as it has been for years: gold is not for sale at any price quoted in Zimbabwe currency, however high the quote is. To put it differently, all offers to sell gold are being withdrawn, whether it concerns newly mined gold, scrap gold, bullion gold or coined gold.

On the one hand, it’s important to take these premonitions with a grain of salt, since they are most frequently issued by gold bugs who have a vested interest in their gold gaining as much resale value as possible.

On the other hand, if these gold bugs have no intention to sell their gold, and are merely hanging on to it as a mechanism for storing value, then articles like this one are interesting…