Well, I think Ron would be more useful if you looked into those derivatives markets for example CDO, CDS etc. Counting gold brick is kind of ancient, Reminds me of Middle Ages. Don't you think? http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/international-banking-system-linkages/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBigPicture+%28The+Big+Picture%29