at considerable premiums. It isn't any harder to catch than a century ago. There isn't a lack of supply. But demand and the price customers will pay for a lobster has risen in sync with its popularity and perception of it as a delicacy. Thus today, within the Seafood economy, a $25 lobster is valued more than $5 hunk of Salmon. yankeexv7 - sure, value of monies and commodities are relative ... and US $$ have had a past record justifying their status. However, the difference between currencies and actual commodities is that the former are much more manipulatable than the latter. The US can print $2 trillion more by fiat ... it cannot create 2 million tons of gold out of thin air. That's why backing currency with a tangible substance (gold, silver, platinum, whatever) is a powerful concept ... it forces nations to live within their means. Now, for most of the history of the US, we were a gold nation ... that's how the faith in $$ that we've enjoyed was built. Over the past 30+ years since Nixon fully began the fiat $$ era, we've lived off past glories. This can (and indeed must) end and the world must move on. We've shown by our recent actions that we are extremely irresponsible and value our powerful (bankers and Wallstreeters) far more than the health of our currency. Bye bye dollar hegemony, though not for a while yet. Bizarre. If the Chinese stop buying overpriced dollars then