Nominal

If you adjust for inflation, the price of gold is nowhere near its all-time high. Adjusted for inflation, the price of gold would have to go up to $2,500, at a minimum, to hit its high, and that's using the federal government's questionable CPI calculations. With proper inflation adjustments, it's probably closer to $7,000. See this link.

50%?

Nearly fifty percent of our incomes go to taxes? It depends on the taxpayer, of course, but this is a fair approximation of taxes calculated on income:

Federal income taxes: 20%
Social Security/Medicare taxes: 7.65%
State income taxes: 5%

On top of this, most people incur sales taxes, property taxes, gasoline taxes, and a host of other excise taxes that are passed onto the consumer. In my situation (and I don't own a big home and I don't spend a lot of money on non-essentials), I estimate that the sales and property taxes take about 5% of my income.

Because of my seven children, my federal income blended marginal rate is fairly low, so I think my total share of taxes comes to about 40%. Many people, though, are well over 50%. Regardless of whether it's 40% or 60%, it's really disturbing if you sit down and think about it (which, of course, you're not supposed to do).