While many investors have grown excited by gold’s surge to a record high above $1,072 an ounce, in inflation-adjusted terms it hasn’t even matched its 1980 high.

That peak was $873, or $2,287 in today’s dollars. Gold would have to rise another 113 percent to reach that level.

Many experts say the precious metal is headed inexorably toward that mark. The huge U.S. budget deficit and debt burden is seen driving inflation higher. And that in turn will keep pushing gold upward, they argue.

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The precious metal also is benefiting from the dollar’s slump. The U.S. Dollar Index has dropped to a 14-month low.

“Gold is not at any peak,” Martin Murenbeeld, chief economist at Canadian money manager DundeeWealth, tells Bloomberg.

“The world’s money supply has increased, and gold hasn’t kept pace. We’re now in a period where gold is catching up.”

Many see gold as the best way to protect capital as the dollar keeps sliding.

“Gold is the hedge against currency devaluation,” John Brynjolfsson of hedge fund Armored told Bloomberg. He sees gold surpassing $2,000.

Even Barclays Capital, not known for its extreme forecasts, says gold has a good chance to hit $1,500 in 2010.

Famous stock bear David Tice of Federated Investors goes much further than that.

“We don’t think it will end until we get to $2,500, $3,000 or so,” he told Yahoo. “We essentially are printing money. Quantitative easing is debasing our currency.”