Many posters are concerned about OGC's hedging. I am impressed...

Many posters are concerned about OGC's hedging. I am impressed by their hedging sensibility.

Many financial observers are concerned by the continuous attempts to regenerate consumer spending through bailouts and "free" printed money.

Only ONE (1) leader of a country in my opinion is financially qualified to run his country under present conditions.

His name is John Key.

The wall Street Journal recognised his different approach and an interview with him can be read if you google John Key-Wall Street.

For the purposes of this blog, I have included the conclusion- what this implies is OGC's hedging is a VERY sensible action for a New Zealand company.

Does New Zealand's model hold lessons for the Obama administration? Mr. Key says that might be "presumptive." But he does outline a few general lessons: "Your citizens are entitled to expect you to be realistic . . . to be specific about what it is you're going to do, what you can or can't do. And finally, I think, to be confident that you can get through it. Now there's plenty of doom and gloom merchants out there. But the single biggest risk is that everyone believes them and stops doing anything. I can't see how that helps us." What did he learn in his former trade? "It taught me not to panic."

Going forward, he worries about, among other things, the U.S. dollar's path. Like most other trading nations, the bulk of New Zealand's exports is denominated in dollars, and the country's private sector borrows heavily from offshore markets. Says Mr. Key: "For anyone trying to manage currency risk, and indeed often interest-rate risk, you know, it's not generally the absolute level, it's more the volatility that becomes the determining factor." A strong and stable dollar policy out of the Obama administration would be helpful.

But ultimately, Mr. Key says his biggest fear is rising inflation on the back of rising money supplies. "Economic theory will tell you that inflation is going to rise -- and that inflation will be exported around the world. . . . In the short term, I'm not criticizing U.S. policy: I think inflation is probably the thing that's going to be necessary to get them out of the current issue. [Federal Reserve Chairman Ben] Bernanke sort of signaled that. But longer term, inflation is cancerous to your economy."

So would Mr. Key, the onetime foreign-exchange trader, buy or sell the U.S. dollar? As we move toward the door, the press secretary steps in: That's one call that's off the record.

You now make your judgement on the hedging issue, perhaps OGC could hedge another third at $NZ1500 per oz. I know I would if I was a director.