by Julian D. W. Phillips, Gold/Silver Forecaster
In 1971 President Nixon closed the window that allowed U.S. dollars to be sold for gold owned by the U.S. Just before that, the price of gold was $35 an ounce. Since then gold has been called a ‘barbarous relic’, a term used by Keynes, the famous economist.
From that time on, the world’s currencies stood merely on the confidence their governments engendered and the control they exercised over international financial dealings of all kinds. That confidence lasted until 2007 when the credit crunch brought government financing on both sides of the Atlantic into question. Up until now the performance of the underlying value of currencies has hidden these questions as exchange rates are adequately ‘managed’ through swap arrangements to stabilize exchange rate movements to the extent that violent moves don’t happen. But the real value of currencies in terms of their real solvency is now a matter of open debate. As of now, relative to the amount of gold available to markets, the price of gold is the only measure of value that currencies can be held to. We look at that and look at the conditions that are determining the value of currencies now and in the future.