Currency depreciation could be caused by inflation, but it can also be caused by many other reasons... including that our economy is doing better. If our economy is growing faster than the European economy, then we have more money to spend and will be more imports. (Marginal propensity to buy imports)
Currency depreciation also helps US manufacturers ability to compete, and has stemmed the tide of offshoring.
I would not want to be Bernanke. He has a one trick pony—short term interest rates—to fight a double trick war—value of the dollar and the health of the economy.
I do agree though that Bernanke is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The market punishes stupidity and it's not for Bernanke to save them.
Presently gold is going for 680/oz; ignoring numismatic value one ounce of gold is a working man’s salary—$35,000 or $17 per hour.
Gold does fluctuate, but it also mirrors changes in the dollar.
The dollar depreciation, then and now, determines inflation more than anything else. Before he was famous, and when he was a young acolyte of Ayn Rand, Fed Greenspan wrote a paper proving this point and indicating the failure to maintain the value of the currency robbed bond investors first but eventually all investors. Of course, Greenspan changed his tune when he came into power as chairman of the Fed.