Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Gilded Angst

The traumatic effects of the 1923 hyperinflation linger in the German monetary psyche. This has been manifested in the overly-restrictive policies of the European Central Bank and now, in this:
Long attracted to the safety of solid gold, Germans will soon be able to sate their appetite for the yellow metal as easily as buying a chocolate bar after plans were announced on Tuesday to install gold vending machines in airports and railway stations across the country.

The venture by the TG-Gold-Super-Markt company, based near Stuttgart, aims to build on soaring retail interest in gold purchases after a loss in confidence in a range of other investments as a result of the financial crisis.

That comes to my attention via Yves Smith, who says "you cannot make this stuff up."

Update: More on this from the Times.

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