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Jason Stamper's Blog
Gold to hit $1,000 an ounce? Big deal
April 27, 2006
Lord William Rees-Mogg asks a perfectly valid question on his new blog: "Will gold go to $1,000 an ounce?" He notes that it has already risen to $624, and anticipates that it, "might well reach $1,000 an ounce by the end of the second term of President Bush in January 2009". Well it might.
But while I understand that the price of gold has serious implications for the world's economies - just like the prices of the Dollar, Yen and Pound - I find myself utterly incapable of worrying about how much a Krugerrand will set me back by 2009.
The day before yesterday was officially Africa Malaria Day, set aside by African governments "committed to rolling back malaria". Malaria kills more than a million people every year, and the vast majority are children under five.
Meanwhile every day, diarrhoeal diseases cause an estimated 5,483 deaths, mostly among children under five. Perhaps now that I have a child of my own I worry more about these figures, I don’t know. I am sure that as I do, Lord Rees-Mogg cares a lot more about these figures than the price of an ounce of gold, too.
Comments
To keep on the business context for a moment - things like this exercise the minds of many companies whose financial health impacts everyone. Think Wal-Mart and its predictive merchandising. Think Enron and its creation of very smart predictive anlaytics in things like the weather which has proven invaluable to insurers. All brought about with smart technology.
But attention changes. You've given a perfect example. In my case it's about finding houses wherre everything we need is on one floor (bungalows are scarce in Spain unless you want a nose bleed mortgage).
In your specific context, it's why Negroponte's $100 computer is so important.
Don't get me wrong - technology isn't a magic bullet. But if it delivers much needed access to educational resources in far flung places then I'm all for it.
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