Food is perishable thus cannot be stored for a long period of time. If people believe that there is going to be serious inflation in the near future, then they have to get rid of the surplus cash after buying all the necessities, food, shelter, and etc. Historically people have chosen precious metals for preserving the purchasing power of their savings during times of inflation. In the early months of 1980, when gold was at the previous bull market high, there was a long line of people outside a local coin shop waiting to buy gold, or so I was told. Trust me, if and when gold is at $1500, you will not have trouble finding a buyer. I’m not saying $1500 is the price to sell, just to say you can sell at that price easily if it gets there.

With regard to who sets the price of gold, the market does. There has been a market for gold for thousands of years. Again when people start to lose faith in paper, gold will become more valuable.