I know, there are a lot of ideas that I have floating about but...

I know, there are a lot of ideas that I have floating about but all those ideas make sense, when you think about.... I'll try to break it down the best I can.

To be bringing gold into a discussion one needs to be fair and bring in the dollar. Why did you choose not to do so?
- China already has more than 1 Trillion in US Treasuries.... how long did it take China to build up such large reserves?
-During the Obama administration (8 years), the US government effectively printed out 6.3 Trillion... Think of America as a company.... wouldn't you think of that as a massive dilution? Wouldn't you be angry about such a massive dilution... is there going to be another massive dilution in the next 8 years?

I look at your list and I see steel rebar in there. Well for all I care you could have just called it rust. Now that's in itself is not like saying the dollar is just paper. But to say the next logical step is stockpiles of rare earth just throws a wrench at the real problem, not my current problem.
- China was recently added to the basket of international reserve currency... so how can they make their current hold value?... that is a difficult question to answer ... for a business/company the simplest answer is increase their Net Tangible Assets (gold that is valued by people(mostly females); and oil, steel, zinc, copper, rare, etc. that are valued by industries)...these NTAs can liquidated.... the more difficult answer is create a product that everyone wants (a place to live, a place to do business, a place that people want to visit).

Conspiracy theories in play...US dropping the price of gold so China doesn't fall into a recession perhaps? China has too much paper dollars maybe?
-Not sure about conspiracies theories, but China's yuan is included in the basket of reserve currencies... there are two important rhetorical question, the first is what will happen, if China printed out 36 Trillion Chinese Yuan?... what happened to Zimbabwe... The second is why didn't it happen when America printed out 6.3 Trillion USD?.......................................

Than in almost the same breath you bring in the Chinese people. They be so concerned about pollution you say. Show me the concern when illegal mining takes place in their own backyard. Isn't that a big card on the Texasn-hold'em table? Coal burning and graphite pollution is something they seem to willingly put to their own head while cocking back the trigger of the gun as babies are born.
-You need to understand China is still considered to be a third world country.
-You need to understand, all countries go through a process of massive environmental pollution before regulations catch up.... Do you remember, when Aussie factories were dumping there waste into rivers, and no one wanted to live near rivers?
-Corruption is still rampant. It is an undeniable fact.
-The most important thing about for the Chinese government is to keep there people happy... how can people be happy without jobs.
-China has an Authoritarian government that can make things happen, should the people demand it. The Chinese government decisions are final, not like in Australia (think of carbon tax), not like America (think of the future of Obamacare, Paris agreement, etc.).... they are not burdened by powerful industry lobby groups.
-The Chinese government has shown more efforts to increase the use of renewables, than most governments around the world (except for those Scandinavian countries).

Seems to me the Chinese don't care about the WTO agreement. They are simply hoarding as an selfish act of protectionism. Why so?
- They are hoarding so that businesses will establish and stay in China. The business that establish in China would be guaranteed supplies...

- Think about it this way..... if there was no Brazil... and Australia controlled 90% of iron production.... would you want the Australian government (our government) to ensure that our we have a steel industry and car industry.... f* we don't have either....