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Posted on 02/11/2026 9:10:59 AM PST by thegagline
With all the recent attention on the remarkable price moves in gold and silver, it is surprising that the question of a comprehensive audit of the U.S. government’s gold reserves, a headline issue last year, has been conveniently memory-holed.
For a time in early 2025, both President Trump and Elon Musk, in his semi-official capacity as head of DOGE (the so-called Department of Government Efficiency), were vocal advocates of a comprehensive accounting of U.S. gold reserves. President Trump announced plans to audit Fort Knox. Musk offered to video it. But then something happened. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave the public assurances that “all the gold is present and accounted for.” President Trump and Elon Musk suddenly stopped talking about it. The squirrel-like memory of the media grew tired of the subject. Soon they and the equally attention -deprived public forgot about it.
Yet the question remains important for the United States’ credibility among its creditors, both foreign and domestic, and for our country’s place in the international currency and monetary competition. Not to mention the right of Americans for government transparency.
*** Since the mid-1970s, the U.S. gold reserve has been reported stable at 8,133 tons. The gold currently held by the U.S. Treasury is fixed at the 1973 statutory price of $42.22. At the end of January 2026 with gold trading at around $5000/ounce, the accounting value of $11 billion had a market value of some $1.3 trillion, perhaps enough to give creditors some comfort. That is, if the gold is still there. This is not an unreasonable question about an asset that hasn’t been fully audited in over 70 years.
In 2025 Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced the “Gold Reserve Transparency Act.” His bill called for an independent comprehensive audit that would require physical assay and inventory of all U.S. gold reserves every five years. A similar bill in the Senate proposed an accounting of any transactions in the government’s gold reserves from over the past 50 years. An audit of U.S. gold reserves would not be easy.
*** Jim Rickards, a leading expert on gold and currency markets, offers another possible explanation. One of Rickards’ theories is that even if the gold is indeed there, some meaningful portion of it may be legally encumbered through contractual leases. Because these are paper agreements, the same physical gold may have been used as collateral for multiple contracts. This would mean that the gold is not “free and clear of liens,” and that a party other than the U.S. government may have a valid legal claim on it.
***
So, with the encouragement of the U.S. Treasury, President Nixon bit his thumb at the world and removed the gold backstop. The U.S. dollar would never again be supported by anything other than the “full faith and credit” of an increasingly indebted U.S. government.
After a period of currency instability and monetary disruption, all major currencies eventually floated against the U.S. dollar, which lost over one-third of its value in the 1970s. Rampant inflation ensued in the U.S. We have never really recovered. Today’s dollar is worth about 12.5 cents in 1971’s purchasing power. In other words, the dollar has lost 87.5 percent of its value since losing its convertibility into gold. Today, we’re in the middle—not the end—of another monetary inflation cycle akin to the one we saw in the 1970s.
The rapidly rising prices in metals indicate another fundamental shift, and Americans should pay attention. The rising price of gold is a warning that, notwithstanding what the Consumer Price Index may say, inflation and dollar debasement are coming. Central banks around the world are stacking gold and silver, not U.S. dollars or other fiat currencies, as reserves. Currency exchange rates and monetary pressure will once again point to a Great Power conflict between the U.S. and China.
In the midst of this environment, it would be a modest comfort to receive verifiable confirmation that the U.S. indeed still holds what it reports on paper.
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“You grew up hearing about Fort Knox. You can’t get in. You can’t even see it. Nobody sees it. You go there and the place is dry.” Trump, February 21, 2025.
And for those of you who remember the promise of DOGE, the last time a savings noted was 132 days ago.
Because D-Day is the PERFECT time to "raise concerns" about if the army is getting the best deal on parachute silk.
And just as curiously, why is the MSM which despises him, not calling him on that promise?
maybe the only gold in FtKnox is the guard’s wedding ring?
in which event, the audit was done with in about 30 seconds
/s
“And for those of you who remember the promise of DOGE, the last time a savings noted was 132 days ago.”
When DOGE was established it had a certain end day. That day has long since passed.
Germany stores a large amount of its gold in the US. Recently (for the third time, I believe), Germany requested the return of its gold. The US basically said “No”.
I don’t know where all the gold is, but I don’t think it’s where it is supposed to be. Maybe China has all of it.
Maybe the rumor about the king having no clothes has merit.
The gold is contaminated. Goldfinger was actually successful and got away. James Bond died from the explosion. The movie was sanitized fiction. :)
Why? It was a diversion.
“Why is Trump not keeping, or even addressing, that promise?”
*************
Despite the intense interest in the drone activity over New Jersey and statements from Trump that he was going to “find out what it was”, there was never any follow-up to explain it. Just a vague remark from Leavitt that the drones were “authorized to be flown by FAA for research and various other reasons”.
It will happen right after we get our DOGE dividend and tariff check. The problem with jangling keys to distract the baby is you have to keep coming up with new ways to distract.
Fact Check, False
Whatever happened to DOGE happened to that.
Remember the olden days when Alligator Alcatraz was talked about? It all just went “poof”!
I don’t think Trump himself ever made that promise. Many floated things that Trump never promised to do. Many of us took things others suggested and applied them to Trump.
Trump has floated things and Congress has poo pooed them even though we wanted it.
It was always a show. For one thing Ft Knox isn’t where most of the gold is stored, it’s just the one they talk about. So “auditing” Ft Knox would always have been pointless in the first place. Just more noise.
And for those of you who remember the promise of DOGE, the last time a savings noted was 132 days ago.>>> I don’t remember any real savings with DOGE. They reported a lot of money spent on ridiculous stuff, but i can’t recall an actual recission bill other than the 9B Rescissions Act of 2025.
Hold on now.
You mean Pussy Galore never existed?
So there was an end date?
This was all covered in Cleaning The Gold.
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