SaturnV,This thing about Indian buyers being the major movers in...

SaturnV,

This thing about Indian buyers being the major movers in the market...hmmmmm.

I know that this has traditionally been the case, however the way demand has overwhelmed the mints in European and Anglo-Saxon countries is pretty astonishing.

Last month, we had the first indication that central banks were buying (the WGC said that there were net CB purchases, rather than sales).

Bear in mind that this was all before the Helicopter Drop. Nobody should underestimate the importance of this move by Bernanke. This is the most significant thing to have happened since the US repudiated the rump of the gold standard in 1971. You need to understand that every (and I mean every) central bank and treasury department in the world are furiously meeting and trying to figure out what the implications are (short, medium and long) of this move by the Fed.

Here's the first conclusion they'll come to: up until now, the US has taken the position of the $US as the world reserve currency seriously - they've not been completely responsible, however they've avoided totally destroying things, because they've seen value in being the world reserve currency and have also seen it as been a good thing (remember the "strong dollar"?).

Sorry, now they don't care. Or, more specifically, they have come out in the open to the world and said,

"I know what you're thinking - Did he fire six shots or only five? - Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself.

But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

Well, Vladimir, well Wen...do ya?

I think they do. I think that Ben, Timmy and Barak have been caught up in that famous American hubris and self-importance. I think that the world has finally had enough of the Americans abusing their reserve currency status. Heli Ben's massive "shock and awe" print is about to do two things:-

(a) Achieve what he set out to, and create inflation; but
(b) Destroy the credibility of the US currency and monetary system in the eyes of the world.

As an academic economist, his entire life has been focussed on the (a), but he never (nor did any Americian) think in his wildest dreams that (b) would occur.

Well, it's occurring and he's causing it!

Life has been so good in Western societies for the past few generations, that we have come to favour salesmen, celebrities and bribery, over true leadership and substance, regardless of how ugly it may sometimes seem to be.

A company is only as good as its leadership. A country is no different. We must start electing the "Jeff Kennett's" of this world for a while, and kick out the "Bob Brown's".

This isn't a quilting match - it's a boxing championship. Putin and Wen realize that, however us pampered, lily-livered Westerners are still living in a 1960's flower-powered haze.