America must now take one of two divergent roads. First, America may persist on the road of soft indulgence afforded by the unstable dollar’s official reserve currency role—the enabler of ever-rising budget and balance-of-payments deficits, therefore of immense American foreign debt. Though the centrality of the world dollar standard may gradually decline, it may still continue for another generation because of the unique amplitude and liquidity of the dollarized financial markets, repositories for vast sums not easily storRead more
Auction houses posted substantial sales gains last year due, in large part, to the increasing value of rare art work. The Wall Street Journal reported gains of 14% for Christies International over the prior year while Sotheby’s reported increased art sales of 14.5%. Art values, overall, posted gains of more than ten percent last year. The top ten priciest pieces sold by Christies ranged in price from $22.5 million to more than $43.2 million.
While global markets and sovereign nations teeter Read more
That's a headline in the London FT, front page, second section, on November 18th, and pre-posted on the Web as "Central bank gold buying at 40-year high," by reporter Jack Farchy, who ledes: "Central banks made their largest purchases of gold in four decades in the third quarter after a sharp drop in prices in September spurred buying to diversify [foreign exchange] reserves. The scale of the purchases ... Read more
A striking headline in July 8, 2011 edition of the Wall Street Journal Digital Edition's MarketWatch.
Coincidentally reported precisely 115th years to the day of Bryan's famous, or infamous, "cross of gold" speech ....
Reports the Journal:
ZURICH (MarketWatch) — The Swiss Parliament is expected later this year to discuss the creation of a gold franc — a parallel currency to the official Swiss franc, with the fringe initiative likely triggering a broader debaRead more
On May 23, 1944, John Maynard Keynes, newly ennobled, spoke in the British House of Lords in defense of a plan to establish order in the international monetary system. In particular, Lord Keynes defended himself against suggestions that he was reestablishing a gold standard:
"...was it not I, when many of to-day's iconoclasts were still worshippers of the Calf, who wrote that 'Gold is a barbarous relic'? Am I so faithless, so forgetful, so senile that, at the very moment of the triumph of these ideas when, Read more
