A Comeback for Gold-Backed Money?

``... it's quite telling that opinions that gold can be incorporated into a modern economy are becoming numerous, and actually making it onto the legislative agenda in various jurisdictions. Last November, clearing house ICE Europe began accepting gold bullion as initial margin for crude oil and natural gas futures. This year, JPMorgan Chase announced that it would accept physical gold as collateral for a number of transactions. According to the Wall Street Journal, stock exchanges in New York, Chicago and Europe recently agreed to accept gold as collateral for certain trades, too. The World Gold Council is gaining traction in its push to have the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision accept the precious metals as a Tier-1 asset for banks, along with government bonds and currencies. Private and public institutions alike are clearly rethinking their attitude toward gold. Perhaps most telling of all, the world’s central banks were net buyers of gold in 2010and in 2009, after being net sellers for the previous 20 years.''