“Gold”

This is a technical appendix to the G20 Communique announced in a separate press notice Rationale: A global currency standard will give the peoples of the world a common measure of value, linking past, present and future, and connecting peoples across space as well as time. The old complicated network of dozens of currencies is…
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Yesterday I kicked off a round-table discussion organised by the CSFI of Benn Steil’s new book which carries this title. This is what I said. Benn Steil starts this stimulating book by poking fun at those politicians and others who have, in recent years, called for “a new Bretton Woods”. They have all been disillusioned….
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A few years ago, there was much excitement amongst monetary reformers when the governor of the People’s Bank of China made a speech championing reform. But China did not follow up that initiative – indeed, officials downplayed it, saying that Governor Zhou had been speaking in a personal capacity. Then came President Nikolas Sarkozy, who…
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As Jacob (“Jack”) Lew, the ex Citibank man who has succeeded Tim Geithner as US Treasury Secretary, surveys his inheritance, one thing he will probably not be worrying about is the dollar. Perhaps he should. True, prospects for the US currency have brightened recently. This reflects the new spring in the step of the American…
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    Following my last post on gold, I got several comments: for and against. One said that the real reason gold has come back over the past 10 years is that central banks have stopped selling and started buying again. Indeed!   Net gold purchases by central banks in 2012 were 534 tonnes –…
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    To wean central banks from inflation targeting you’ll have to snatch it from them by force; they are clutching it ever more tightly to their breasts. But they must bid it a tearful goodbye. The big question is what will replace it. Mark Carney has said that: “Flexible inflation targeting is the most successful…
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David Cameron’s speech threatening to pull the UK out of the EU unless the other members agree to its demands may have started a process of withdrawal that could become irreversible. Although this outcome would be contrary to the stated objectives of the UK prime minister and British government, commentators on both sides of the…
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  The world economic recovery remains fragile and could easily be derailed by renewed financial turmoil. My first wish is a terminological one – please, can we find a more useful word or phrase to describe what has happened? The word “crisis” and the phrases “financial crisis” , “great financial crisis”, “Global Financial Crisis” ,…
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Most economic commentary, such as that of Roubini,  falls into this category (see Diary of  21/11/12). The “analysis” amounts to saying: “Oh, what a mess we are in!” We knew that already. Some vary their message by claiming to detect chinks of light in the gloom. Others conclude by saying things like, “If only the…
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    In investment terms, we face a scenario that says neither bonds nor equities are likely to rise.  The ‘uncertainty’ is greater than ever.  And it is ‘uncertainty’ that drives people into gold, not relative values in paper currencies.  We have to think that gold is the central thing around which everything else moves….
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