Shaking our faith in money
From our UK edition
Addictive though the hacking inquiry is, the average Brit is probably more worried about the slow decimation of his spending power at a time when salaries are flat. Against this backdrop, the price of gold today has broken $1,600 an ounce. With inflation and the Fed's printing presses whirring, faith in paper money is taking a knock – and this is reflected in the price of gold. Fears of a debt crisis in Europe add to it too, with a disaster scenario all too easy to imagine. Over the last decade, the West blew a bubble fuelled by low interest rates and debt-financed consumption. The bubble burst. Solution: even lower interest rates, and even more debt-financed consumption – but this time, with added inflation.
