Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Market intelligence analyst James G. Rickards of research firm Omnis Inc. made a long presentation to the "Rethinking the Future International Security Environment" conference held Dec. 7 in Washington by the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. The second half of Rickards' presentation elaborated on his recent incisive observations about gold, as expressed at King World News and elsewhere.

Rickards told the Johns Hopkins conference that he considers gold to be the secret economic weapon of the U.S. government, and he noted that devaluing currencies against gold in times of economic distress has been done frequently throughout history.

He said he expects the United States to avert the dollar's collapse by returning it to a gold standard or even to avert the collapse of currencies worldwide by sponsoring a new gold-backed international currency, with gold revalued to perhaps $4,000 per ounce under either scenario. During the question period at the end of his presentation Rickards asserted that the paper gold markets in New York and London have sold claims to far more gold than the sellers possess or likely can obtain and that those markets will crash and resort to cash settlement if enough buyers ever try to take delivery. Of course that has been one of GATA's main arguments lately.

In regard to devaluation against gold, it may be time again to note the study published in 2006 by the British economist Peter Millar, "The Relevance and Importance of Gold in the World Monetary System." Millar argued as Rickards does while predicting gold's revaluation at a somewhat higher price. Millar's study can be found at GATA's Internet site here:

>http://outerdnn.outer.jhuapl.edu/rethinking/VideoArchives/MrJamesGRickar...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

http://news.goldseek.com/GATA/1292595937.php

(contains an abbreviated link)