Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: edmund929
$16 Trillion? I think not. How much gold has been mined in the whole history of the world?

To get at some kind of estimate, let's figure that the world has been producing gold at 50 million ounces a year for 200 years. That number is probably a little high, but when you figure that the Aztecs and the Egyptians produced a fair amount of gold for a long time, it's probably not too far off. Fifty million ounces * 200 years = 10 billion ounces.

Paragraph above came from a Google.com search. 10 billion times $300 = $3 trillion. And not all of it is for sale.

33 posted on 07/24/2002 8:59:00 AM PDT by Procyon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies ]


To: Procyon
$16 Trillion? I think not.

JP Morgan has over $23 trillion in total derivative exposure. They are leveraged 700-1 against their equity. I'm not sure how much of that is gold, but their gold exposure is many times the value of the total amount of gold in existence in the world. That's the game they've been playing over the years, and it has caught up with them.

36 posted on 07/24/2002 9:02:05 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies ]

To: Procyon
I think leveraging can result in your having a debt that is much larger than corresponds to anything in reality. And a lot of derivatives are highly leveraged.
37 posted on 07/24/2002 9:02:46 AM PDT by aristeides
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies ]

To: Procyon
How much gold has been mined in the whole history of the world?

I've read that it would make a cube roughly 50 feet on a side.

89 posted on 07/24/2002 11:28:54 AM PDT by DuncanWaring
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies ]

To: Procyon
That is the notational value of the derivatives, not the value of the gold.

If you would take the time to understand what derivatives are and how they are leveraged against a commodity, you might begin to understand the dimensions of the problem.

LTCM almost broke the financial system of the world and their derivative exposure was magnitudes less than that of either JP Morgan, Citibank, and/or Bank of America all of whom have significantly higher derivative exposures.

120 posted on 07/24/2002 12:46:33 PM PDT by rollin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson