The monetary system is broken and gold knows why

Central banks have been buying bullion at a record clip because holding dollars has become a losing proposition

In the German writer Ernst Junger’s macabre vignette ‘Violet Endives’, a man walks into a gourmet shop where the salesman speaks in matter-of-fact fashion about the delicacies on display – human flesh – and embarks upon a long explanation about the art of preparation. The story is a commentary on a society that accepts the appalling with barely the blink of an eye.