From Richard Russell in Dow Theory Letters:

If the dollar continues to decline and gold continues to advance, at some point people will ask themselves, "Am I crazy because I'm holding all these dollars. Maybe I should hedge a bit and put about a tenth of my cash into gold."

This kind of thinking has not yet rubbed off on most Americans. It hasn't because Americans have grown up with the idea that the dollar "is sacred." Americans grew up with dollars, their parents grew up with dollars. The dollar was always money and could always buy wanted items.

Only oldsters like [me] remember working for $18 a week and buying a loaf of bread for a dime and renting a three-bedroom apartment in Manhattan for $325 a month. Like the frog in the pot, Americans have grown up with inflation. They're used to it. So who needs protection from the fading dollar?

Americans don't believe they need protection. What's happening hasn't sunk into their brains yet. But as the decline in the dollar accelerates and as it makes the newspaper columns, they will "get it." At which time the gold market will gather strength.

So better to buy gold and gold shares now -- rather than wait a year or two from now for a correction.

Great events, earth-shaking events, often begin just as hints.

Crux Note: Learn more about the excellent Dow Theory Letters here.

More from Richard Russell:

Why politicians and bankers hate gold

The absolute best thing you'll read about gold this month

The great Richard Russell on the dangerous secrets of the Federal Reserve