Marc Faber Interview: Inflation Money Printing Gold Silver

The Federal Reserve's money-printing policies continue to make gold an attractive investment even though it has hit a succession of new highs recently, Marc Faber, author of the Gloom Boom & Doom report, told CNBC.

"Dr. Doom" as he is often referred to, rejected the notion that gold is in a bubble even as it begins to approach $1,500 an ounce.

• He related a story from a conference he attended this week where he asked the investment professionals in attendance if any had more than 5 percent of their personal assets in gold. No one raised a hand. 

• "If it were a bubble a lot of people would have gold. The whole world would be trading gold 24 hours a day," he said. "But I don't think it's really a bubble. I think gold is maybe cheaper today than it was in 1999, when it was $252.

• What makes gold such an attractive investment is due in part to the Fed's move to keep the US dollar cheap as a way to boost asset prices and stimulate a recovery.

• Investments in hard assets will be good buys in the future as Chairman Ben Bernanke and the rest of the Fed continue the liquidity-friendly policies, Faber said.

• This is bad news for consumers, who will pay more for food, energy and a broad spectrum of other goods as inflation accelerates.

• Even if the Fed enacts incremental interest rate increases. That's because small raises won't be able to keep pace with inflation and thus won't slow down the hike in prices in real dollar terms.

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