Posted on 09/30/2024 7:22:40 AM PDT by delta7
Inflation is pernicious and widespread – silently siphoning the purchasing power of the U.S. Federal Reserve note “dollar” from the savings of the American people year after year.
Meanwhile, central banks all over the globe – from Saudi Arabia to China to Egypt and beyond – are buying gold at breakneck pace. Some global banks, including the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), are even considering a non-dollar alternative to the Federal Reserve note for global trade settlement.
As geopolitical uncertainty increases, precious metals have gained renewed attention; savers, savvy investors, businesses, and even state treasurers are taking more steps toward protecting their savings from inflationary pressures by purchasing gold and other precious metals.
US Bullion Depository The U.S. Bullion Depository According to recent reports, the United States gold reserves presently total 8,133 metric tons, much of it stored in the United States Bullion Depository situated within Fort Knox, Kentucky. This vault, and the gold stored inside it, have long been a symbol of America’s monetary might and global status.
However, despite these claims, U.S. gold reserves haven’t received a credible inspection since 1974, shortly after America’s breach of the Bretton Woods agreement raised concerns about America’s gold holdings. In fact, audits conducted prior to 1974 were not credible either.
Today is the 50-year anniversary of this public relations stunt. The nagging question remains: Is all of America’s gold still there?
History of the United States Bullion Depository
Constructed in 1936 to support Executive Order 6102, a Roosevelt-imposed mandate on Americans to turn over their gold in exchange for unbacked paper money, the United States Bullion Depository, commonly referred to as Fort Knox, was introduced as the nation’s primary gold vault.
Located in Kentucky, the U.S. Bullion Depository is situated at the interior of the continent, intentionally far from any coastlines, to ensure the gold is safe in the case of any assaults or invasions.
New Money Metals Design Silver Bar - 1 Ounce .999 Pure Money Metals Design Silver Bar - 1 Ounce .999 Pure Price & Buy Equipped with a 21-inch vault door and 1,420 tons of steel, the security features of Fort Knox were specifically designed for storage of millions of ounces of gold (mostly in bar form, often created from melted coins) that had been extracted from U.S. citizens and institutions by President Roosevelt’s infamous order, and the massive amounts of gold that were imported into the U.S. to isolate it from war-torn Europe.
While the vault was touted to be impenetrable, Americans began to wonder about the gold supposedly held inside the depository’s secure chambers.
Theories circulated about the state, condition, and ownership of the metals, but one particular theory was from a Washington attorney in an interview with The National Tattler, claiming that 20 billion dollars’ worth of gold had suddenly gone missing from the depository. These rumors quickly spread to Congress.
Americans remained skeptical of the depository, speculating that the gold reserve had been depleted, used to pay debts, or shipped elsewhere over the years.
The “Show Audit” of Fort Knox Gold in 1974 Created More Questions
To ease these concerns, on September 23, 1974, the U.S. Treasury opened just one of its 15 Fort Knox vault compartments to politicians and reporters to view the gold and confirm its existence.
Hot 1 oz Gold Bar (Brand our Choice) 1 oz Gold Bar (Brand our Choice) Price & Buy For about two hours multiple film and camera crews and smiling politicians filed into a hallway for the chance to hold a gold bar and peek into a room full of gold stacked up to the ceiling.
On their way out, each visitor had to pass by a metal inspector to ensure that none of the gold bars were being snuck out in the process.
Notably, throughout the visit, none of the bars being passed around were matched to a serial number, assayed or tested for purity, or even verified as part of United States’ holdings. (Foreign countries have at times stored gold there as well.)
It seems the made-for-TV spectacle in 1974 was more of a pep-rally than any credible proof of what the amount of U.S. gold purported to be in those vaults.
Decades later, speculation continues. As the Federal Reserve note continues to falter and central banks all over the world continue to stockpile gold, Americans deserve to know the truth about America’s gold holdings.
In 2021, Congressman Alex Mooney (WV - R) introduced legislation to audit America’s gold holdings. The bill called for a full assay, inventory, and audit of all US gold holdings, along with a full accounting of all gold transactions in which the U.S. has engaged. (No action was been taken on this bill, but it may be reintroduced next year.) More…..
The Fed doesn't issue debt; the US Treasury issues debt.
which the USA borrows at interest,
The USA borrows debt? Dude!
then the USA could buy gold with it.
WOW!
Don’t spoil the story, Toddster.
Our political class prefers that the public remain in the dark about who is responsible for creating the national debt.
If they can make everyone mad at the Fed, or the Treasury, there’s little chance that they will figure out that Congress is the culprit.
Of course even if they do figure it out, there seems to be no way to keep Congress from constantly raising the debt limit.
I now tend to think that the now abandoned link of the dollar with gold did serve as a brake on the endless expansion of debt and the money supply. I hope my guess is wrong.
August 24 - Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, and Congressional representatives visit the vaults. The vaults open to non-authorized personnel for the first time since 1974
Same day as the solar eclipse.
The US dollar hasn’t had a link with gold since Nixon “suspended” Bretton Woods back in 1971.
No country can exchange their dollar holdings for gold right now. And you can’t go to a bank and insist on exchanging your dollars for gold. All you’ll get from the teller is a blank look.
As far as the value of the US dollar is currently concerned, Ft Knox is already empty.
If a future President decides to un-suspend Bretton Woods, and we return to an international gold-exchange standard, then the gold supply at Ft Knox will again be important. But unless that happens it’s irrelevant.
But there’s no reason that the gold supply at Knox would have been reduced in either case. It’s in the middle of an Army base and doesn’t cost much to protect.
“The BRICS nations are reportedly looking to create a new world reserve currency based on gold to replace the dollar.”
Making the US Dollar the world’s reserve currency was a mistake. It set us up for “the Triffin Dilemma”, which resulted in inflation and broke the link of gold to the dollar.
Foreign banks holding dollar reserves resulted in us having a shortage of dollars for our domestic economy. But if we expanded our domestic money supply, which we did, then we couldn’t defend the dollar’s value in gold. And the French, not being fools, began demanding gold in lieu of dollars and we were setting ourselves up for shipping our Ft Knox gold to Paris.
Research further, Ft Knox was once the US Army Armored Branch HQ, they moved it to Ft Benning and now Ft Knox is a “ Personnel Records “ facility- devoid of any meaningful active ground troops- which when it happened almost a decade ago sparked rumors there was no more gold in Ft Knox.
I am very, very familiar with this event.
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