Word: yen
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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After the upheavals caused by Volcker's monetary policy moves, the international commodity and money markets last week were enjoying rare refreshing quiet; the dollar held its own in Europe and rose dramatically against the yen in Japan. At the same time, gold slipped moderately to end the week...
...Long ago, the entire species was like some modern aboriginal peoples (the Damara and some Hottentots in Africa, for example) who possess words only for numbers up to three, every larger quantity being simply expressed as "many." A fascination with the multiplicity of things, together with a quenchless scientific yen, pushed the main body of mankind, however, inevitably into its present plight-a time when so many stunning measurements are bandied about that numbers plunge in and out of the brain more like galaxies than pigeons...
Central banks and private holders are reluctant to accept any more dollars, whose value declines almost daily. OPEC countries in particular are attempting to put new oil earnings into marks, yen or gold. Says Washington Economic Consultant Harald Malmgren: "The Arabs have learned that they pump oil out of the sand, hold the dollars, and the dollars turn back to sand." Nervous central bankers also fear that dollar holders will suddenly try to move large funds into another currency or into gold. Warns Karl Otto Pohl, president-designate of the German Bundesbank: "If this mass of dollars ever begins...
...Bundesbank's Pohl sees the world "moving inexorably toward a multicurrency arrangement." The European Monetary System is anchored on the German mark, while the Japanese yen is developing an important role in Asia as a trading currency. The oil-backed Saudi Arabian riyal could be a new powerhouse, but the Saudis have been reluctant to let it play a role in international loans...
...making further and even steeper price increases virtually inevitable. Yet people are not about to change their attitudes until inflation itself is brought under effective control. If that does not happen, the nation may some day discover that "basket of currencies" does not mean merely francs, marks and yen but also, perhaps, bullion, baubles and condos...