Here's a question: How much gold would it take to back a new Ecuadorean currency?

that's a good question. first they would have to build a mine to produce the gold. but for a country as small as ecuador (gdp less than $100 billion) i think they could manage it. they would have to revalue gold upward substantially, perphaps to $3-5,000/oz. but if the government bought the entire production of fruta del norte for the life of the mine, i think that would be enough to back the currency with gold. depending on recovery rates and whatever other discoveries they find, fruta del norte should produce 15 million ounces, and that should be enough for a country the size of ecuador.

but then this erstwhile banana republic would have the strongest currency in the world, and everyone would want to buy ecuadorian goverment bonds, even though they would be paying less than 1% interest. of course this outcome would require better leadership than correa is providing.

also ebear - i responded to you in the 300 club in the off-topic area so as not to clutter up the main forum.