I very much doubt Bernanke and friends will allow any sort of serious deflation until the very end when even government intervention will no longer be effective. Let's hope it doesn't come to that because cash will be wiped out.

History shows that gold and gold securities will perform very well in both an inflationary and deflationary environment and this is well documented. Cash is only diminished in both circumstances. Gold tends not to perform well in good economic circumstances with higher interest rates.