Gold is a great predictor of our economic health because as the most constant, objective measure of valuein existence, its price is the single best measure of the value of the most important price in the world: the U.S. dollar.
Many analysts have attempted to value gold in other ways, such as by assuming a constant ratio between the gold price and consumer prices, personal incomes, the amount of U.S. dollars in circulation or the value of the world's financial assets.
Koch tends to invest in industries that convert raw materials into higher-value products, with complicated operations that require a lot of engineering talent and constant innovation in production methods.
The company, as shown by the growth difference between constant and current exchange rates, has been hampered by the Swiss franc which has gained 31 percent invalue against the U.S. dollar.