Barbecue relish.............from Rico

I actually had a conversation with someone who said Gold was a barbecue relish.
- Obviously a registered Democrat (C) and an illiterate Keynesian who mis-remembered the 'party line' that Gold was a barbarous relic. Brainwashing is a wondrous thing, however, he DID accurately recall Ben Bernanke's statement that Gold was not money...he merely lacked the mental agility to ask "if it is NOT money, why does the US hold over 8,000 tons of the stuff, and WHY then do most of the World's Central Banks (the twenty biggest) hold Gold as reserves?"

And poor, poor China seems not to have gotten Benny's memo. So far in 2012 China has imported more Gold than the entire ECB's holdings of 502.1 tons. China already holds more Gold than Switzerland, Russia, or Japan, and a dozen other Central Bank Gold Reserves.
- My guess (since China has not reported its official Gold holdings since April 2009, when they started to aggressively accumulate the barbecue relish in earnest) is that they have surpassed France, Italy, and the IMF's Gold holdings...and perhaps even Germany's putting them in second place to the US.

So what? What's the 'big deal' about having mammoth Gold reserves?
- Look at the attached chart of World Reserve Currencies and consider that they have a definite life-span and do NOT last forever.

Now consider that the PBOC is positioning itself to make the Yuan the next World Reserve Currency [for Keynesians read: adios Dollar].
- Oh yes, he who holds the Gold does indeed make the rules...