Joe Scarborough Admits: 'Glenn Beck Has Been Right' About Gold

Today on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Matthew Bishop, the US Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief for The Economist, talked about his new ebook “In Gold We Trust? The Future of Money in an Age of Uncertainty.”

Co-written with Michael Green, Bishop’s ebook discusses some awfully familiar themes: the instability of fiat currencies, the skyrocketing price of gold, and the future of the global economy.

“If you got volatile markets, why do you run to gold?” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough asked Bishop.

“This is a very interesting time because…the people who have been the most successful investors over the past few years, a lot of them basically are very worried about the future of the dollar, very worried about the future of the euro, and they see gold as the best alternative currency,” Bishop answered.

“And they’ve been right a lot,” Bishop added. “They have a lot of their money in that currency and I think the rest of need to understand why. It’s always dismissed as this kind of crazy rightwing thing to do,” Bishop added.

No, really?

“I was gonna’ say! So Glenn Beck has been right,” Scarborough interjected.

“Well, he has on this particular issue,” Bishop said.

“Remember like a year or two ago, Glenn Beck was talking about gold, gold? I mean, if you had invested like Glenn Beck told you to invest, you’d be doing pretty well right now,” Scarborough said to a thoroughly unamused Lawrence O’Donnell and Mika Brzezinski.

Watch the Morning Joe crew discuss gold and the uncertainty in the markets (via MSNBC):

Of course, the compliments couldn't last long.

“Now the survival seeds, we’re not so sure-- the coming apocalypse,” Scarborough added, “But on the gold front, that’s been a good thing.”

“Yeah, so we can debate gold, guns, and God -- his three-way position -- but I think on gold, he has been right and I think it’s because there is a real problem with our money system,” Bishop said.

“We’re in this period where the Fed and the European Central Bank are now printing money (for good reasons) to get us out of the economic slump in the short run. But in the long run, where does this go? The likeliest outcome, I think, because of the gridlock in Washington…is that they’re going to inflate their way out of the situation and that means all our money will be worth a lot less,” he added.

But what was the bottom-line? What was the final message Bishop brought to the table?

"If you think that Washington is going to take the tough decisions and sort out the country’s finances, then probably gold is not for you. But if you don’t think that, then I think there’s quite a good chance that we’ll have a crisis of the dollar,” Bishop said.