Financial Markets

I am a political person.  I follow the current news and what our wonderful (that would be sarcasm) politicians are doing.  I don't understand it all though.  The financial markets stump me.  When I hear that the value of the U.S. dollar is going down, I don't understand what that means.

I do hear a lot about buying silver and gold, the worth of each, etc. I have jewelry that is both silver and gold but I don't think that's what they mean.  I've been looking at gold and silver coins at http://www.goldeneaglecoin.com.  That is one option. I mean, I can't be Fort Knox with bars of gold lining my closets, but coins are a possibility.

This is definitely one area I need to educate myself.