A man who tried to enter B.C. from the United States with about $1 million worth of gold coins and cash may face criminal charges, Canadian border officials say.

FT interviews Soros on the banksters post-dollar plans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOjckJWqb0A

Turkey is switching to national currencies in trade with Iran and China, ending dependence on the U.S. dollar and the euro for about 20% of its commodity turnover, local media reported on Wednesday.

Turkey has already switched to settlements in national currencies with Russia amid weakening confidence in the greenback as the world's major reserve currency. The move was initiated by Turkish President Abdullah Gul during his visit to Moscow in February.

LONDON -- The dramatic decline of the U.S. dollar is aiding the American economic recovery but setting off alarm bells overseas, with corporate executives, politicians and pundits calling it among the biggest threats to the rebounds underway in Europe and Japan.

Mounting concern abroad over the shrinking dollar underscores how exchange rates have emerged as a growing source of friction, with many countries jockeying for the weakest currency to boost exports and protect their markets from foreign competition.

The U.S. dollar has taken a steep tumble -- down 18 percent against the euro in the past 12 months, and more than 40 percent against the South African rand and Australian dollar -- as U.S. officials have effectively diluted its value, printing money and adopting near-zero interest rates, to jump-start the economy.
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The weak dollar is becoming a source of international tension, particularly in U.S.-European relations. Officials in the 16 countries that use the euro warn a continued slide of the dollar may pose long-term structural problems for Europe, forcing down wages and hurting employment in the months and years ahead. This week, a top aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the value of the dollar "a disaster" for Europe, warning of dire consequences to the global economy if it remains at its current levels. In some circles, the dollar's decline is seen as a protectionist move by the United States -- something U.S. officials have strongly denied.

"If the dollar is going down this way, it is because that is what the Americans want," economic commentator Yves de Kerdrel wrote in the French newspaper Le Figaro this week. "In a globalized economy where national egoisms persist but where customs barriers have almost disappeared, the best protection consists in playing on exchange rates."

Yet analysts say the fall of the dollar reflects a basic economic truth: the U.S. financial situation is no longer as solid as it once was. Rather than being undervalued, many argue that the dollar has room to fall further.

Anyone else here think recent rise in the stockmarket has a lot to do with the falling dollar (ie it takes more dollars that are worth less to buy the same amount of stocks)?

Anyone else here think recent rise in the stockmarket has a lot to do with the falling dollar (ie it takes more dollars that are worth less to buy the same amount of stocks)?

The International Monetary Fund said it is selling 200 metric tons of gold to the Reserve Bank of India for about $6.7 billion, its first sale of the precious metal in nine years.

Isn't QE storing up an inflationary problem? Some more excitable commentators brand the policy as wholly irresponsible, associating it with Zimbabwe or the Weimar Republic, and talking of wheelbarrows of money. This is where use of the "printing money" term and a lack of familiarity with, or a loss of memory with regard to, Sayers and Keynes can readily lead to exaggeration and hyperbole.

Sri Lanka's central bank on Saturday said it has been buying gold to diversify its reserves amid volatile currency markets, days after India announced it had purchased 200 tonnes of the precious metal.

Central Bank assistant governor Nandalal Weerasinghe declined to confirm analysts' estimates that the tropical island nation had purchased around five tonnes of gold.

"We have been observing that prices of gold have been going up so we have been strategically buying gold over the past several months as part of a reserve management process of diversifying our portfolio," he told AFP.

China hopes that the United States will keep its deficit to an appropriate size to ensure basic stability in the U.S. dollar exchange rate, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday.

"We have seen some signs of recovery in the U.S. economy ... I hope that as the largest economy in the world and an issuing country of a major reserve currency, the United States will effectively discharge its responsibilities," Wen told a news conference in Egypt.

"Most importantly, we hope the United States will keep an appropriate size to its deficit so that there will be basic stability in the exchange rate, and that is conducive to stability and the recovery of the global economy," he added.

The premier had expressed concern in March that massive U.S. deficit spending and near-zero interest rates would erode the value of China's huge U.S. bond holdings.

China sent its clearest signal yet that it was ready to allow yuan appreciation after an 18-month hiatus, saying on Wednesday it would consider major currencies, not just the dollar, in guiding the exchange rate.

Vietnam will resume gold imports for the first time since June 2008 to try to curb speculation and soaring prices in the domestic market.

Importers will be permitted to buy the metal to stop prices from rising excessively, the central bank said in a statement on its Web site today. Five or six companies will be allowed to bring in unlimited amounts of gold, online news service VnExpress reported, citing governor Nguyen Van Giau.