Some opinions originated in the western hemisphere recently called for the rebuilding of the “New Bretton Woods System” that involved fixed exchange rates with the US dollar as the key currency, a return of the gold standard. Some US political figures and scholars gave enormous publicity to the idea during their visit to Europe, and they seemed to have won over part of the market.

As the US presidential campaign drew to an end, media also jumped on board the “gold standard” band wagon. An article by Walker Todd, research fellow for the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) on the website Christian Science Monitor called for a return of “gold standard” in the US as means to tackle the financial crisis.