Something about the numbers doesn’t seem to add up.
The importance of the question accelerates in the face of global money-printing, which is also accelerating. Since the start of the economic meltdown five years ago, the balance sheets of the world’s central banks have been growing at a frantic pace.
The U.K. has led the pack, up 362%, followed by the United States, which is up 223% — even before QE III. China is printing money as well, up 151% during the period, the European Central Bank
, 146%, and Japan, 83%.That’s a lot of money-printing.
But take heart, because while the currencies of all those countries are absolutely, 100% fiat — redeemable in nothing but more of the same paper — the world’s central banks are said to have huge reserves of gold bullion. The U.S., U.K., the euro zone, Switzerland, Japan and the International Monetary Fund report having gold reserves of 23,349 tons among them.
Central banks of the world’s terminally indebted countries prefer the fiction that paper money that’s printed at little cost, or digital bookkeeping entries that are created at no cost, is money and therefore constitutes real wealth. However, there must be a reason that central banks universally hold gold reserves. (more)
We’ve
written before about rare earth elements (REEs): the futuristic
sounding group of 17 minerals with unpronounceable names that play a
critical role in everything from hybrid cars to flat screen TVs. Of
course, “rare” is something of a misnomer, as the minerals that make up
the group are not all that rare. They are, however, difficult to mine in
profitable concentrations.
