Last month Belarus witnessed the effects of a collapsed currency when the Government cut the rouble’s value against the US dollar by almost half. Previously 3155 roubles would buy a dollar but in the blink of an eye they decided 4930 would be needed. This was not even the reality because perception of the collapsing currency meant the situation was even worse as people scrambled for foreign exchange on the black market where you needed at least 6000 roubles to buy a dollar.

So what sparked this crisis?

President Lukashenko had promised to raise public sector wages by a third during his election campaign, which he duly carried out. This was sustainable only because of the support Belarus received from Moscow in terms of loans. However, as fears grew about the country’s finances, support from Russia waned and even near neighbours from the EU didn’t fancy the risk thus sparking a sharp drop in confidence in the currency.
To exacerbate the problem there was a shortage of foreign exchange currencies, dollars or euros, in the country.

The consequences of a collapse

Wide spread panic broke out as the economy effectively became paralyzed and people suddenly realised their currency was of diminishing worth. Shops were quickly emptied of everything that could be bought. Everyday food was snapped up at “luxury” style prices as people thought of survival but also they also bought electric goods like toasters, microwaves, canned goods and virtually anything that was for sale as they rushed to convert their currency into “any tangible assets” that were not losing value as quickly as their roubles.
The empty shelves throughout the towns seemed eerily reminiscent of the Soviet controlled days.
Shoppers knew that anything they could purchase could be more useful as a form of barter than the diminishing currency in their purses and wallets.

The human cost was quickly evident from the stories of employees sent on unpaid leave as companies also struggled to cope and comprehend the impact. Andrei, a computer company employee explained how he queued for a week in Minsk trying to buy dollars but didn’t even get one. “In just one month, I have been made bankrupt, the entire country is bankrupt” he said, adding that “even during the Soviet collapse we never suffered such a nightmare”.

There are many more stories of hardship, families without food or the means to buy any, shops without stock for them to buy even if they had the means.

Dmitry who is a 48 year old factory worker explained how he closed his bank account to get out 5 Million roubles in cash so he “could buy something before my money turns to dust”.

Tensions are growing as many people blame the President for mismanaging the economy.
Staple food supplies are now hoarded but people feel anxious that unrest is starting that could spill over into conflict at any time.
Revolution is always more likely when the population are starving.

Which country is next?

This may all seem so far away from wherever you are reading this but the causes of currency collapse may be closer to your doorstep than you think.

How many countries are in deep debt and reliant on support loans and bailouts right now?
Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Japan, USA, Belarus and virtually all of Eastern Europe and the Euro zone (only they never put it in the headlines!)

What happens when the support cannot be maintained?
Currency Collapse.

It could be the US Dollar, the Euro, the Yen who knows?
But even if it isn’t your currency that collapses what will be the knock on effects in every developed country if one of these currencies collapses?
The same as in Belarus.

Globalisation has been the buzz word for expanding Capitalism but it also means that economies are now inextricably linked and inter-twined to such an extent that when one sneezes they all catch a cold!

Remember the level of Sovereign Debt is spiralling out of control in the US, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and others are close behind such as Spain and the UK. Austerity measures in all countries are hurting normal folk badly – they are losing their jobs, suffering pay freezes, inflation and pension erosion. Social unrest and industrial action looms large across Europe and this will itself impact the recovery and debt repayment. This has already started in Greece, Portugal, Ireland and large scale protests in the UK are gathering momentum with the Autumn likely to be the boiling point of anger.

The discontent and despair of regular folk is understandable as they are bearing the brunt of all the hardship and it just isn’t fair.
Politicians spout their practiced rhetoric about how to fix things but the reality is they just don’t care that much as they are not the ones affected. They have means to isolate them from the hardships and many of them are actually responsible for producing the mess. How can they care about regular people or preach what we need to give up when they don’t – ever met a poor politician? Enough said!

There is now even talk of a “sub-prime” type problem in China because of over-indulgence in property speculation, leaving huge swathes of developments empty or under-occupied and therefore leaking money and ready to default.

We need more than lip service!

Mainstream news outlets are all controlled by self-interest groups (private and Governments) and they never provide the whole story about global economic frailty as there would be worldwide panic if they told the truth. The situation right now is on a knife edge and the next Belarus is not far away. Politicians won’t admit it but then again they won’t suffer like the rest of us as they’re all rich enough and well connected to see out any storm. They care too much for their own popularity to be honest.
Posh boys and rich kids rule the world and their assets are well protected in advance.

Remember what happened when panic struck in Belarus, people bought any tangible asset they could because it would maintain value better than their currency.
This phenomenon is happening daily – your bank account is the best place to keep currency if you want it to devalue!

Currency is not a means of preserving wealth because it has no inherent value especially when confidence is lost – then it is just a piece of paper.

The only real money available is a tangible asset that maintains its value whatever happens to printed bits of paper currency – and that is gold!

A lesson on Money and currency

We need to understand the difference between money and currency as one is real and the other a promise. Money can be defined as a medium of exchange and a store of value and until fairly recent times was in fact coins made out of precious metal with an intrinsic value or for ease of use, notes backed by precious metal.
Money, when considered as the fruit of many years’ industry, as the reward of labor, sweat and toil, as the widow’s dowry and children’s portion, and as the means of procuring the necessaries and alleviating the afflictions of life, and making old age a scene of rest, has something in it sacred that is not to be sported with, or trusted to the airy bubble of paper currency. Thomas Paine (1737 – 1809)
Currency is still a medium of exchange but is not a store of value as it only derives its value by government degree or “fiat”. It’s value is based on the issuing the authority’s guarantee to pay the stated (face) amount on demand, and not on any intrinsic worth or extrinsic backing. All national currencies in circulation, issued and managed by the respective central banks, are fiat currencies.

The problem is that fiat currency runs the risk of central bankers printing too much and causing large inflation or worse. The more that is printed the more the currency is debased just as the Fed is doing now with the dollar. This has been going on for decades with central banks indiscriminately creating money to cover expenditure and ever increasing debt. There are examples throughout history and in the 20th Century most of us are aware that in Germany in 1923 it would take a barrow load of Deutschmarks to buy a loaf of bread but an ounce of gold could buy a reasonable house and one dollar was worth 4 trillion marks.

This irresponsible printing of money has eaten away at the value of the world’s reserve currency the USD dollar and dollar based assets, to such an extent that they have lost 82% of value since 1971, the year the US cut links with the gold standard. The GBP has fared even worse that the USD losing around 85% of value since 1971. There are many illustrations of then and now and how owning gold with intrinsic value would have more purchasing pro rata than currency. E.g the latest model Cadillac Eldorado would have taken 180 ounces of gold at $42.02 to pay the showroom price of $7,546. This same 180 ounces is now worth over $200k and would buy two Cadillac convertibles with enough left over to fuel to first service. In the UK an average family car cost £1000 around 60 oz of gold and now the same would cost £17000 around 23 oz of gold. The 60 ounces would have bought the same family car for you a sports car for your wife and a hatchback for your son or daughter. Gold retains its purchasing power year after year.

Not long ago the gold standard imposed monetary discipline on countries as they had to hold enough gold to cover the money in circulation but this all changed with the Jamaica agreement in 1971 when the decision was taken by President Nixon on the 15th August 1971 to suspend the direct convertibility of dollars into gold, the keystone of the financial system created in July 1944 (the Bretton Woods Agreement). On the 1st October 1971 the general assembly of the IMF asked the board of trustees to study and propose a comprehensive reform. This would be adopted by member States during a meeting held in Kingston (Jamaica) on the 7th and 8th January 1976, and included a set of provisions which put an end to the reign of gold. The US money supply in 1971 was $776 billion and quickly became an upward curve which rose dramatically over the last decade where the US money supply doubled from below $7 trillion to $14.3 trillion indicating that spending is out of control.

The US National debt is now greater than this!

The US though still likes to play the rich kid on the block and bizarrely gives aid to those supporting its debt as a report in the Daily Mail of London illustrates:
The U.S. is providing hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid to some of the world’s richest countries – while at the same time borrowing billions back, according to report seen by Congress.

The Congressional Research Service released the report last month which shows that in 2010 the U.S. handed out a total of $1.4bn to 16 foreign countries that held at least $10bn in Treasury securities.

Four countries in the world’s top 10 richest received foreign aid last year with China receiving $27.2m, India $126.6m, Brazil $25m, and Russia $71.5m. Mexico also received $316.7m and Egypt $255.7m.

And yet despite the massive outgoings in foreign aid, the receiving countries hold trillions of dollars in U.S. Treasury bonds.

China is the largest holder with $1.1trillion as of March, according to the Treasury Department.

Brazil held $193.5bn, Russia $127.8bn, India $39.8bn, Mexico $28.1bn and Egypt had $15.3bn.
Maybe it’s just additional interest on the debt to keep them sweet!

Greece figures predominantly in the spotlight and unrest is growing – will the Government have to mortgage the Acropolis and Parthenon or even sell them off to pay their debts?
Clearly they can never work their way out of this debt because they would have to increase GDP by 12% a year for 30 years in order to grow their way out of debt.
The Sovereign Debt crisis is well and truly out of control and the only solution will be to default on the debts and devalue currencies.

As discussed in the example of Belarus, chaos ensues when currencies collapse and regular folk suffer badly as they don’t see it coming or refuse to believe it could happen to them.

Be warned: A currency collapse is coming near you.
Be prepared: don’t put faith in bits of paper which have no inherent value.
Protect yourself: Invest in tangible assets that hold real value at all times, especially during a crisis.
Remember: Real money has inherent value, it is worth something because of what it is not because of what is written on it.
Now you know why people buy gold to protect themselves from crisis – it always holds value and is the only real money.

In summary:
• Currency is not money and its value can be changed by monetary policy makers
• Currency can be created and printed at will with no substance to support it
• Currency depreciation in value is accelerating with subsequent loss of purchasing power
• National debt is increasing to disastrous levels with threat of sovereign debt default
• Confidence in the USD is waning and its use as a reserve currency is under threat
• Countries and investors are shedding their dollar assets
• Central Banks are diversifying into gold and out of dollar assets
• Smart investors are diversifying their portfolios with a proportion of gold
• The value of gold has been consistent in retaining its purchasing power
• Gold is insurance for your wealth
• Gold is the only real money

I rest my case!

I am sure it will not come as a shock to learn that there is an on-going investigation into a host of « big banks » who are accused of fixing their inter-bank lending rate (LIBOR) to effectively disguise and downgrade their indebtedness. The period involved reveals this was taking place pre-2008 crisis.

The investigation is well under way and involves the major Financial Service Regulators of the US and UK amongst others.
The scale is breath-taking and the accusations extremely serious as indicated by the issuing of subpoenas to retrieve sensitive documents for the prosecutor’s evidence.

Here are the details as reported by C Powell of GATA following a report in the Financial Times:

Regulators in the United States, Japan, and UK are investigating whether some of the biggest banks conspired to “manipulate” the benchmark interest rate used to calculate the cost of billions of dollars of debt.

The investigation centres on the panel of 16 banks that help the British Bankers’ Association set the London interbank offered rate, or Libor — the estimated cost of borrowing for banks between each other.

In particular, the investigation was looking at how Libor was set for US dollars during 2006 to 2008, immediately before and during the financial crisis, people familiar with the probes said.

The probe came to light on Tuesday when the Swiss bank UBS disclosed in its annual report that it had received subpoenas from three US agencies and an information demand from the Japanese Financial Supervisory Agency.
The bank said the regulators were focusing on “whether there were improper attempts by UBS, either acting on its own or together with others, to manipulate Libor rates at certain times.”
All the panel members are believed to have received at least an informal request for information — an earlier stage in an investigative process before a subpoena.

Witnesses had been interviewed by investigators from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, and the UK’s Financial Services Authority, people familiar with the probe said.

The inquiry has been under way for some months. At least one bank received its initial request for information in October, people familiar with the matter said.

The BBA produces Libor rates for 10 currencies using eight to 20 contributor banks. The contributors submit the rates at which they think they could borrow on the open market. Outlying submissions are tossed out and the reported rate is the mean of the middle values.

Critics of the process for setting Libor — which is used as a reference rate for about $350,000 Billion in financial products — have long claimed it is antiquated and lacking in transparency. Commentators complained bitterly during the financial crisis that the rates were distorted because they believed weaker banks were unwilling to admit higher borrowing costs.

UBS declined to comment beyond its disclosure. The regulators declined to comment. The other banks on the panel at the time covered by the probe either declined to comment or spokesmen could not be reached.

They are: Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds, Rabobank, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Norinchukin Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, and West LB.

HBOS, which has since merged with Lloyds, was also a member.

The BBA said: “We are committed to retaining the reputation and integrity of BBA Libor, which continues to be the authoritative benchmark of the wholesale money market. It has a straightforward and unambiguous calculation method, which excludes any rates which are significant outliers. It is fully transparent — all of the data inputted by the contributor banks is publicly available, as is our methodology.”
(By Brooke Masters, Patrick Jenkins, and Justin Baer , Financial Times)

Banks outside the law?

This type of activity is typical of the banking sector who operate amongst themselves as if they are untouchable and above law and regulation.
They believe in their own importance because of their size and apparent power which disregards national boundaries because of their global clout. They play by their own rules and we know where that leads us.

Even then, when they cause misery, mayhem and crisis for the whole world by their own greedy practices and mistakes they still come begging for more money to play with – and the worse thing is that incompetent governments full of over-educated, posh, millionaires who have absolutely no notion of the real world because of a privileged, sheltered, upbringing give them our taxes. I believe this should also be investigated as it stinks of incestuous, undeclared interests by senators and ministers who post politics suddenly appear on boards of directors doing nothing (consultants) for some enormous salary.

Do you trust your bank?

Do you know what they do with your money?

If there’s another crisis where will your money be?

If your bank gets into trouble will they have enough money to pay back all their customers?

Who do you think they will pay first? You? Yeah right!

If you’re not part of the Politocrat & Banking club you’ve got no chance.

I believe that Bankers should be personally responsible for their actions, decisions, judgements and huge mistakes they make and personally bankrupted to repay some of the missing funds. It should be in their contracts and not some huge retirement pay off for complete incompetence like Fred Goodwin (RBS).

Let’s face it they’re quick enough to give themselves performance related bonuses (when there’s the slightest positive news) so why doesn’t it work both ways? When a bank underperforms they should be responsible and pay for it just as they like to cream off their “rewards” for guessing right.

Stop bailing out incompetence – Let them fail!

I also believe that Banks that get themselves into a mess should get themselves out of it or let them go bust like any other business that fails – after all that’s why we have the word Bankrupt isn’t it?

It is two words combined – Bank & Corrupt! That about explains it!

The increasing problems of disasters and political unrest are putting further strains on all these large institutions that are exceptionally nervous because they know they are exposed and overstretched as pre-2008. Another feature is they never learn by experience!
In 2011 we will witness an economic crisis on a scale not yet seen.

The foundations of Countries economic policies and Financial Institutions “Good Practice” have not been prepared for the shock that is gathering strength and they will not withstand the shock and its magnitude.

Can you afford for them to go down with all your savings?

Should you wait until it starts and it’s on the Tele before you do something?

Should you buy fire insurance before or after a fire?
Act now and preserve some of your wealth by investing in tangible assets that will survive a crisis.

Act now to put your money into something that you own, that is not linked to a failing or devalued currency that will be a means of survival when you need it most.

Put your wealth into gold which has been the universal “currency” throughout history.

Don’t invest in “paper promises”.

Get Physical!

Own gold and gold coins.

People survived wars, crises, recession and depression because they owned Gold.

People also perished – because they didn’t!

What would you rather do? Survive or Perish?

Make your choice!

There are many potential investors wondering what all the fuss is about concerning Gold because for the longest time it has been viewed as a past time for millionaires and Countries. The Gold we refer to here is “allocated” gold i.e. a specific, referenced, visible piece of gold bullion or a gold coin that is allocated to and owned by one person. It does not necessarily include quantities of gold held as anonymous parts of anonymous bars in anonymous vaults (“unallocated”) because this type of gold cannot be repatriated to the owners if the need arose as no-one knows which bits of which bar belong to each investor.

1. It is an investment that you own, it is your property and it cannot be lent out to a third party or used to form credit.
2. It has increased in value over 600% in the last 10 years and has shown a healthy return on investment year on year.
3. It is not a paper asset vulnerable to to the performance, viability, stability or existence of an intermediary.
4. It is not an investment in a Bank which cares little about paying you interest and a return on investment because it is preoccupied making money for itself.
5. Historically it is the only “currency” to maintain a real value in purchasing power throughout centuries.
6. It is a debt free investment, not linked to the worldwide black hole of sovereign debt and spiralling deficits.
7. It is THE safe haven for wealth and used by Countries and the largest Private fortunes on the planet as a protection against inflation, currency devaluation, economic instability and ultimately pending crisis.
8. Economic and financial experts the world over recognise and advise that Gold should form part of every investment portfolio.
9. The price of gold has been suppressed and controlled for decades by those who seek to control global finance. Since 2008 the rules have changed and control has been lost. If the gold price was corrected by the same factors as fuel, food and currency it would be worth at least $2100 an ounce today.
10. It is a precious metal available in a finite quantity that is constantly in demand the world over.It is always a good time to invest in gold because demand is extremely high and supply is dwindling. Prices will fluctuate but in the end Gold will continue to rise because it is irreplaceable, a precious metal with unique properties and it cannot be manufactured or printed.

There may well be more good reasons to invest in gold so feel free to leave a comment and add yours because there can never be too many.

The financial elite have guarded the control of Gold for far too long and would prefer that it remained their sole property.

However, in a current day climate of democratic rebellion by the masses against authoritarian elitist control of wealth it is time for everybody to share in the prosperity of gold investment.

After all, your wealth in gold is a lot safer than your wealth in the Banks!

Regular readers may remember our recent article on “Gold, an alternative Currency of Confidence?”
We discussed that alternative currencies are not a new phenomenon and have taken various forms in countries such as Canada, Australia, USA and the UK.

A common theme for their introduction was that they were local currencies introduced to stimulate local economies by encouraging customers to shop close to home and support local businesses. They were also the product of peoples’ dissatisfaction with Globalisation and its’ impact or even control of National economics and policies.

Alternative currencies reflect the frustration of being “controlled” by Goliath and is”David” saying “I’m taking back control because I don’t trust you, your policies, your strategies, your empty promises, your ability to manage the economy, your concern for regular citizens or your failing, devalued, paper money”.

This is exactly the case in the state of Utah where a proposal in the Legislature has been submitted that would require government agencies to accept gold in transactions. This would effectively create a parallel monetary policy that would fix “currency” values directly to the price of gold for business carried out within the state. It would equate to the introduction of a state-wide Gold Standard.

In fact if the current draft legislation succeeds it would mean that residents of Utah could mint their own gold coins. The logistics required to secure these would include the governor arming and calling on the Utah Defence Force to police stock movements and storage vaults.

The proposal was brought to the attention of Republican John Dougall who opened the bill and he commented “I think it has merit”. He added “Fundamentally, what it comes down to is people’s concern about the fundamentally reckless policies at the federal reserve and what it does long-term to the financial standing of the country and giving folks another choice of monetary tools for their financial transactions”.

Will US Debt and Quantitative Easing see the Dollar fail?

People are genuinely concerned that the soaring National debt, now over $14 Trillion, and the printing of more dollars to buy up the debt, will eventually devalue the dollar too far. Therefore they would like to have an option if things do go pear-shaped.

There is no intention of making this compulsory but at least it provides citizens with a choice to pay their taxes in gold. It seems rather strange that a country whose Government forcibly confiscated gold back in the thirties may now be forced to accept it as payment for taxes. It is also curious that regular people like Larry Hilton, an attorney and insurance salesman who drafted the proposal “Utah Sound Money Act”, are taking the lead in looking to the benefits of gold. Surely Governments should take a lead in restoring confidence for their own currency?

It would appear that “Goliath” is behest of ideas and resigned to fail whereas “David” has an eye on the future and wants to preserve and protect his personal wealth.

It proves that you don’t have to be a financial expert or big city hot-shot to understand the value of gold. Gold’s value has transcended the ages and it always keeps its purchasing power and better than any currency ever created. You can buy a cow today for the same 2 ounces of Gold you needed 300 years ago! No fiat currency can compete with that.

There are of course certain practicalities to address before any new coins are introduced, such as an agreed exchange rate, denominations and how change would be given. Any private minting of coins would be governed by regulatory standards.

However, if the legislation is passed it does mean that one day soon folk could pop down to McDonalds and pay for their hamburger with their own gold coins – then that would bring a whole new meaning to the “Golden Arches” and “McNuggets”!!!

A gold reserve is the gold held by a central bank or nation intended as a store of value and as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g., paper money), or trading peers, or to secure a currency. Today, gold reserves are almost exclusively, albeit rarely, used in the settlement of international transactions

The Chinese, Indian and Russian and other central banks are buying gold. The Indian Government recently bought 200 tonnes from the IMF to support international commitments. This new trend for buying gold by the Asian, Brazilian and Middle Eastern central banks (who still have very little gold compared to their reserves in dollars) is a supporting factor for gold prices.  As for Occidental central banks, they are less and less inclined to get rid of a metal which could become part of a new world reserve currency as desired by Russia and China.

The table below shows the proportion of gold in the foreign exchange reserves of central banks and not the gold reserves ratio of the currency.  As the FED has very little foreign currency in its reserves, its gold stock seems considerable, but this stock of gold is only 1.6% of  the quantity of dollars in the money supply.

National Reserves December 2009

Potential candidates for large gold purchases over the next few years are in the order they appear on the list: Japan, China, Russia, India  and Taiwan.

Astonishingly, in March, a European bank signed agreements with Washington II (with a sales quota of 500t per year) to buy gold! This is astonishing because since the beginning of the 1980’s, central European banks have not stopped liquidating their gold stocks which has had a heavy impact on the price of gold which dropped from $850 in 1980 to $256 in 2001.  Between 1999 and 2002 Gordon Brown then, Chancellor of the Exchequer, sold off 395 tonnes, 60% of the UK’s gold reserves, at rock bottom prices averaging $280 per ounce, about a quarter of its current value.

As for the USA, their gold reserves have remained virtually unchanged since 1980 and today are 8133 tonnes.  But doubts remain about the proportion of physical gold that would be available to control gold prices, as the gold may not longer physically exist in the reserves but is in paper form.

A year ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that it would sell  off 403t from the 3217t that it had held for several years  in its reserves.  During the G20, the gold market was nervous due to speculation about possible additional sales by the IMF.  The IMF had simply stated that it would allocate the sale of these 403t of gold to help poor countries.  Subsequently the IMF sold 200 tonnes to India , 10 tonnes to Sri lank and 2 tonnes to Mauritius. That this announcement is part of a deliberate plan to curb the price of gold in these difficult times is clearly questionable.  But it will be impossible to counter market forces in the long term.  When the price of gold rose from $200 to $850 at the end of the 1970’s, the IMF sold 1600t of gold on the market without being able to stop the rise.  To these sales were added the sales of the USA who liquidated some of their gold stocks.

Today the central banks’ gold stocks are a lot lower and the state of the economy is in a lot more trouble than during the stagflation of the 1970’s.  The price of gold no longer has formidable adversaries who can curb its rise.  Instead it now has formidable allies in countries such as China and Russia!

Adapted from an article  by Léonard Sartoni first published in Q1 2009

Let’s imagine it’s 2018. The western world has gone through years of deflation then the flame returns as massive inflation repeating what happened in Germany in 1923.

John was still selling luxury yachts on the Côte d’Azur in 2008. Following the financial crash and the economic crisis that followed it, he now rears a few chickens on a farm on the outskirts of a small town in the Auvergne. In this article, he talks to us about his most recent discovery in a world where every day brings its new rules. He explains to us the characteristics of a good currency.

I arrive in the village square which is already full of people and a lay out my farm produce at my feet: pairs of chickens with their feet tied together and baskets of pats of butter wrapped in leaves, lying on a base of fresh and smooth eggs. I have some concerns because the Euros, which we usually use in the country, they have been refused by everyone since the State started issuing them willy-nilly. The screens where you enter the amount for a credit card transaction are no longer big enough to display the amounts that have to be paid for our everyday requirements. We are now a country without currency. What’s going to happen?

I have set up next to a pottery stall because I want a few of the multicoloured bowls that he has lined up on a wooden trestle. A neighbour joins us carrying shawls and scarves on his shoulders and I would like to choose one or two of them for my wife. We start talking. We realise that each of us wants something that the other owns. This is a good thing. However, after only a few moments of negotiation, we are completely engrossed on our butter-pottery, chicken-shawl, shawl-pottery, shawl-eggs, etc. exchanges that we don’t know where we are. It is at this point that I suggest we use an egg as a unit. Everything becomes clear: we agree on an estimated value for my butter, my chickens, their shawls and their bowls expressed in eggs. We negotiate a bit more but eventually the deals are struck.

My eggs have not been touched but they served as a common denominator as the retired London trader, who now rears snails, explained, they satisfied the first requirement of a currency: that of measuring value. They have become an accounting currency and I started looking at them differently.

An osteopath that I know comes by: he’s a good man and had quickly replaced my shoulder when it became dislocated the previous week. “I am not ungrateful” I said to him, “and every service merits its reward. Take something from my wares that you think is appropriate.” He thanks me but hesitates because he already has plenty of what I have available. “Give me some of your eggs anyway” he says, “Eggs can always be swapped for other things.” This means my eggs have now obtained a new quality, they have become a trading currency, they satisfy a second requirement of a currency: they are an instrument of exchange; They are really being honoured.

An hour later, as I left the Café du Commerce where I had ended the morning, I met the osteopath. “I’ve kept a dozen of your eggs” he told me, “I am going to use them to buy some pasta tomorrow; the store has sold out today.” My eggs are going to satisfy a third requirement of a currency, that of being a reserve of value, an investment instrument. They have become a true currency.

Would it not be helpful given this if I gave my eggs a higher value than I had up until now? Does this flattering choice not justify that I increase their price? They have acquired a monetary value that is in addition to their commercial value and I am delighted. However, two days later, my neighbour visits me and inadvertently provides the answers to the questions I have been asking myself: “I have heard that the osteopath, even though a careful man, has tripped on a stone and fallen, his basket overturned and his eggs have become an omelette – to the great pleasure of the children who were watching all of this.” I concluded from this that my arguments are correct for a good currency but unfortunately eggs are not a good currency and all their glory disappears before my eyes…

I think I will get the old Sovereigns out from their hiding place behind the bookcase, tomorrow…