Gold
Page 24
Drew hesitated to be drawn into a discussion of monetary reserves. He had a journalist’s working knowledge of how they functioned, but the economists’ view of central bank reserves was as subtle and impenetrable to him as scholastic theology.
“Doesn’t the situation in South Africa influence what role gold will have?” he asked.
“Yes and no,” Carol answered, smiling at herself for her easy slide into the traditional posture of economists. “The damage from the ALF offensive, the prospect of protracted guerrilla warfare, the operation of some Orange Free State mines by ALF— all that will make the supply of gold uncertain.
“But,” she said with emphasis, “demand is virtually infinite—gold is literally priceless.” The gold fixing still took place in London, but the current price of £5,000 on ounce meant nothing, for practically no gold was for sale. “And the Russians have told the Europeans discreetly that, although they will not attend the monetary conference or participate immediately in the new system, they will manage their gold sales in a way not to disrupt whatever role is established for gold.”
“How very considerate of them.” Drew said it lightly, but he was unable to keep an edge of hardness out of his voice.
“Is Abrassimov going to talk to you for your article?”
“He had better, or I’ll unmask him,” Drew joked. Although the journalist himself had been the subject of many stories and interviews in the aftermath of the Crash, he had not divulged the sources of the information that enabled him to break the hoax story. In the context of the U.S. action and the real sabotage of the ALF offensive, the exposure of the hoax had become a minor event.
But Drew knew that the effect was not minor. More than the impact of the story itself on the horrific day of the Crash, the exposure of the hoax bolstered the credibility of all news reporting. Drew’s story had demonstrated the tenaciousness of the truth.
“By the way, I’m fairly certain Commentator is going to offer me a job,” Drew said to Carol as she rose to return to her files. He had not waited for any reaction from Madison, but telexed his resignation from WCN on the day of the Crash itself. Commentator, a highly regarded British monthly, had called him the following week with his freelance assignment.
“In London?”
“I’d be the ‘roving economics correspondent.’” He paused. “It probably doesn’t matter where I hang my hat when I’m not roving.”
Carol smiled at him. “Maybe we should start looking for a bigger apartment.”
Table of Contents
GOLD
Foreword to the New Edition
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
Table of Contents
GOLD
Foreword to the New Edition
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE