The charts in Exhibit 5.17 displaying price of rice in terms of gold and
rice in terms of wheat respectively show how the holders of hard currency in
developing nations—in this case, the U.S. dollar—feel the real level of prices
of such commodities. The users of wheat and rice in many of the developing
countries in Asia and Africa see the real escalation and prohibitive high
prices of the staple foods on which their lives depend because they use their
local currencies which are pegged or indexed to the dollar and not to the
gold. This is not the case in the developed economies because their curren-
cies and prices are tied to the value of gold.
It is sincerely hoped that this discussion will generate enough interest
among world leaders as well as international economists and traders to set
up a fair pricing system, using the RF commodity indexation principles in-
troduced in this book.
GOLD: THAT AMAZING METAL
Gold is an important metal that has been used over the years as a reference
currency and a store of value. This book is not promoting a return to the
gold standard; it means to familiarize the reader with the gold market and
EXHIBIT 5.16 Rice versus gold.
Money and Its Creation 121