Donald Trump apparently disagrees with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that gold is not money

Donald Trump apparently disagrees with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that gold is not money. The prominent real estate investor’s Trump Organization announced that it will accept three 32 ounce gold bars as a security deposit from tenant Apmex at 40 Wall Street in New York City.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump commented that “It’s a sad day when a large property owner starts accepting gold instead of the dollar. The economy is bad, and Obama’s not protecting the dollar at all….If I do this, other people are going to start doing it, and maybe we’ll see some changes.”

Apmex, which is renting office space on the 50th floor of the building, is a precious metals dealer. CEO Michael Haynes stated that “I figured, Trump is a smart guy, and he’ll realize that taking gold is a better idea than taking cash.”

With financial markets across Europe continuing to be pressured by speculation of a Greek sovereign debt default, the chorus of investors and businesspeople calling for a default has increased considerably. The gold price moved marginally lower Thursday morning, slipping $11.89 to $1,821.81 per ounce. The price of gold bounced back after disappointing retail sales data. The U.S. dollar weakened versus the euro and the yen while oil and copper prices declined 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively. Silver held near unchanged at $40.98 per ounce.