Because China, Russia and the Middle East -- at a crunch (albeit extremely stressful even for them) -- could survive the demise of the West (there are plenty more potential consumer markets in the world), the latter couldn't survive without the former. Unless we have universal warfare, this is why gold will resume its role as a world currency before too long -- as future historians will relate (with some amazement no doubt that America was so resistant). And it will probably occur when the likes of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase decide to turn from poachers to gamekeepers for a bigger -- but more law-abiding -- future, not because of any particular G20 summit.
Keith Keith Hudson, Saltford, England You keep trying, Keith, and I do wish you luck but I do not see a possibility of a return to the inflexibility of the gold standard. As I pointed out in a previous posting, currencies are strategic devices that governments can use to their advantage, and to their disadvantage as well. Currencies can be inflated and deflated for domestic economic purposes and they can be pegged to other currencies to achieve advantages in international trade. How China has used the renminbi is an example of the latter. Would countries really want to lose such strategic flexibility just to pile up huge hoards of gold or run out of gold? I hardly think so. Ed
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