Or the great American universities without the flow of gold into their coffers?

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Newmont Mining, have dividend policies strictly tied to the ebb and flow of gold prices, which means low prices will necessitate lower dividends.

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Thanks to a massive stock of gold around the world relative to small annual new discoveries (flow), gold is the single best measure of money we have.

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While most logically identify global currency debasement as a primary cause, others say that gold is driven by: fear of economic uncertainty, central bank gold hording, international political conflict, or the ebb and flow of the Indian wedding season.

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But the news flow since has again pointed to the prospects of the country having to sell some of its gold to raise a portion of the cash needed for a financial rescue, Lusk said.

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Still, the weekend news flow itself would not explain the huge jump in gold prices, said Dave Meger, director of metals trading with Vision Financial Markets.

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The week that is about to conclude has once again been defined by the ebb and flow (more the former rather than the latter) of Fedspectations and by the absence of decent physical gold demand from key markets.

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