Had Jared Laughner been a "Mad Money" junkie, no-one would have said that his murderous psychosis implied something about the mental stability of Jim Cramer fans. If they did so, they themselves would have been seen as either loony or unstable. The same consideration applies if Laughner had been a value-investing junkie. Because he was fixated on gold, though, the old insults have been floating around again.
Andrew Leonard hasn't joined in; in his Salon article, he points out that smearing gold bugs as Jard Laugner types is unfair. He does say that he's against a return to the gold standard, preferring floating currencies, but he does note that being out of the mainstream is not the same as being insane.
Rather than say we should be grateful for small mercies, I point to the fairness exhibited by Mr. Leonard as a sign that gold is becoming semi-mainstream. It's still alternative, but not as edgy as it used to be. Had this incident taken place in 2003, there would have been an outright pile-on.
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