BAD HARDWARE WEEK

In an essay published Monday, the head of China's central bank proposed a plan to displace the American dollar as the world's standard and replace it with a global reserve currency operated from the International Monetary Fund.
"Calling the use of the dollar as the world's benchmark currency 'a rare special case in history,' Zhou urged the 'creative reform of the existing international monetary system towards an international reserve currency.' Zhou said the reserve currency, managed by the IMF, should be 'disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run.'"

The IMF would operate such a currency via its "Special Drawing Right," created in 1969 with "the potential to act as a super-sovereign reserve currency," reported Times Online.
In remarks earlier Monday, one of Mr. Zhou's deputies, Hu Xiaolian, also said that the dollar's dominant position in international trade and investment is unlikely to change in the near future.