[caf]

Do people naturally have a better sense of what a gram of gold 'should' buy versus a $50 note? I'm only going on personal experience here, but I doubt it.

Here's another possibility, though: what if a lot of the consumption that was stimulated since the GFC was really capital expenditure brought forward - things like households upgrading and replacing their durable goods - replacing that dodgy fridge a little earlier than was planned, that sort of thing? Eventually that well will run dry, and households might well start saving instead of buying concert tickets or whatever.