The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Monday, August 2, 2010

'De Facto' Gold Standard Arising - Niall Ferguson

From Dow Jones:

Harvard historian Niall Ferguson tells Diggers & Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie, Australia that we are now in a second industrial evolution where commodities are scarce while money is plentiful through government issue of debt and central banks' quantitative easing. He says this causing volatility and upward pressure on commodity prices. "The question is are we living through the end of the age of paper money. Will gold make a comeback?" Says return to original form of gold standard will not happen as gold production cannot keep up with economic growth so deflation would follow as in 1930s. However says a "de facto" gold standard starting to emerge as investors increasingly use gold to benchmark their portfolio performance. Spot gold at $1,182.50/oz, up $1.10 since Friday's NY close.
at 2:10 PM