John Dizard: US dollar-clearing rules make gold the new green

By John Dizard
Financial Times, London
Friday, July 11, 2014

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/feedf9cc-08e0-...feab7de.html...

Pecunia non olet. (Money has no smell.) -- Emperor Vespasian (69-79) to his son, Titus, when Titus protested a tax on urine.

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There is a fresh wind behind the dollar price of gold, which is also increasing the reported and unreported volumes of physical trading in the metal.

Thanks to what one (non-banker) friend of mine calls the "dangerously stupid" punitive actions and fines levied on banks using the international dollar clearing system by the US government, the world is finding ways to get along without the dollar.

It is a difficult and expensive process, as the transaction costs of the dollar system have been so low, liquidity so great, and the range of instruments so convenient. Alternatives, such as the euro or the Chinese renminbi, have been less universalistic and flexible. Also, investing or paying for the exchange of goods and services in euros, Swiss francs, sterling, or renminbi is accompanied by almost as many intrusive compliance rules and oversight as one finds in the dollar world.