THINK OF WHAT WASHINGTON COULD DO WITH $51B CACHE

John Crudele

June 12, 2008 -- THERE'S a curious $51 billion pile of money sitting at the US Treasury in Washington that the American public ought to know about.

That $51 billion is what would be used if the Bush administration tries to rescue the dollar. And while that's an enormous amount of dough, it's a pittance for this particular task. The volume of foreign exchange traded every day is estimated at $3 trillion.

Think about a deer standing on the tracks trying to convince the engineer to slow down his locomotive. Now you understand the chances of the US improving the value of the dollar by intervening in the currency market.

There's another way for the dollar to be saved. But it's not one you will likely hear in a presidential election year. (contd)