The resilient dollar

摘要

In Britain, where earnestness is a sin and drollery a virtue, dismay about the global financial crisis is best masked with humour. The British reaction to bank failures is to josh that the best place to store money is under the mattress-or in an Irish bank. When America's $700 billion rescue package stalled in Congress, Willem Buiter, an economics professor, prolific blogger and honorary Brit, joked that his "remaining financial wealth is now kept in a (small) old sock in an undisclosed location."rnA worried saver, such as Mr Buiter, shunning banks for the safety of hosiery, still faces a choice about what store of value to use as stocking filler. Gold is for the really scared. Its price has risen by about one-fifth in the space of three weeks. Makers of gold bars are struggling to keep up with demand. Even central banks now seem less keen to swap gold for paper currencies. European ones agreed in 1999 to limit their combined gold sales to 500 tonnes a year. In the 12 months to September, they sold just 343 tonnes, the lowest total since their pact was forged.