Ding Dong
If $1,000 gold and Bear Stearns aren't enough of a wake up call for the dollar, try the latest news out of Communist Vietnam, where the dong, like many other national currencies, is soaring as the greenback falls. Nearly 35 years after the Communist conquest, Vietnam's currency is getting more respect than the dollar.
The Vietnamese try to maintain a de facto peg to the dollar. The regime in Hanoi is committed to keeping its currency cheap in relation to the dollar because America is the most important market for Vietnamese exports. But the comrades loosened the dollar peg, or widened the range in which the two currencies are allowed to trade.
The move sparked a loss of confidence not in the dong, but in the scrip being issued by Chairman Bernanke and Secretary Paulson. Now the Wall Street Journal is reporting, "Ordinary savers are draining dollar accounts to make dong deposits instead, while others are turning to gold as a safe harbor."
