THIS COULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED TO A MORE DESERVING GROUP OF SUCKERS

Although the story never mentions his name, The New York Times reports today that Glenn Beck's favorite investment has lost a lot of its value -- and the rise and fall track Beck's rise and fall rather closely:

Below the streets of Lower Manhattan, in the vault of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the world's largest trove of gold -- half a million bars -- has lost about $75 billion of its value. In Fort Knox, Ky., at the United States Bullion Depository, the damage totals $50 billion.

And in Pocatello, Idaho, the tiny golden treasure of Jon Norstog has dwindled, too. A $29,000 investment that Mr. Norstog made in 2011 is now worth about $17,000, a loss of 42 percent.

"I thought if worst came to worst and the government brought down the world economy, I would still have something that was worth something," Mr. Norstog, 67, says of his foray into gold.

Gold, pride of Croesus and store of wealth since time immemorial, has turned out to be a very bad investment of late. A mere two years after its price raced to a nominal high, gold is sinking -- fast. Its price has fallen 17 percent since late 2011....

The Times story mentions a lot of non-Beck related reasons why gold has lost value -- the economy finally seems to be bouncing back, fears of inflation seem to be unfounded -- but it's hard to overlook the fact that the gold boom coincided with Glenn Beck's Fox News tenure (with the Beck-endorsed Goldline as a key sponsor).

The Times notes that "$5 billion ... flowed into gold-focused mutual funds in 2009 and 2010." Beck's Fox show went on the air in January 2009 and was a ratings smash in '09 and '10. Gold mutual funds, the Times says, peaked in April 2011 -- the month Fox announced the end of Beck's show. The show ended on June 30, 2011. Gold prices peaked the next month.

Sorry, suckers -- you fell for this. You thought gold was going to help you through the Apocalypse that Beck promised you was imminent, several times a week. You got played.

Or perhaps...

Two prominent hedge fund managers who had taken big positions in gold [exchange-raded funds], George Soros and Louis M. Bacon, sold in the last quarter of 2012, according to recent regulatory filings.

"Gold was destroyed as a safe haven, proved to be unsafe," Mr. Soros said in an interview last week with The South China Morning Post of Hong Kong. "Because of the disappointment, most people are reducing their holdings of gold."

IT'S ALL GEORGE SOROS'S FAULT!!!!!!1!!1!!!!!!!