Gold's decline from a nominal high of $1,216 an ounce in early December to $1,053 this morning is drawing a rising chorus among some distinguished bears that the nine-year bull market is over. Some pundits claim gold is in a bubble.

Terry Macalister of the Guardian reports 15% fall in share dividends leaves pensions exposed:

With today’s unexpected decline in December payrolls, the cry for more job-related stimulus will grow even louder. But the sad truth is that any new stimulus or jobs bills will ultimately swell the ranks of the unemployed, thereby raising calls for an even bigger federal effort. If we are not careful, government regulations, subsidies, and spending, all designed to fight unemployment, could push the labor market into a death spiral.

Thinking about currency and money creation in the past few days has lately caused me to make some thought experiments on world trade, and in particular, the recently proposed idea of a global currency. Now I don’t normally go about making these thought experiments, so please let me know if I am missing something, or making some lapse in causation. If anything, I think I’m beginning to get the arguments of Marshall Auerback.