What surprised me was Italy. An absolute economic basket case, but ranks 4th in the world according to the map. Us poor Aussies, well as someone said we rank 34th, but apparently we can blame Mr. Costello for that. Vaguely remember when that happened.
Our currency is no longer based on the gold standard, but if you watch the financial markets you will notice that when the stock market crashes, gold heads to heaven. Anyone who says gold is not worth storing, including Mr. Costello, is crazy. Guarantee that there would be few if any people in the world who would knock back payment in real gold.
It will always remain that mystical, often very hard to find, gem. Why is it then that when we go fossicking, we never pass up the smallest piece of gold we come across? No way, every little piece goes into our little bottle. They all add up, and when the price of gold is around $1,750 an troy ounce, there is no way you will leave the tinniest bit behind.
Just image if we sold that 6.5 million troy ounces today. Somewhere around 11,414 million dollars. Think our budget deficit would disappear quick. Sorry I don't know how to say that number in trillions or whatever, but it would have been a lot of money.