Where Is All The Gold?

[Mike]

WSJ's John Carney has a report out on a very important story. The plan of the Germans to audit and physically inspect all their gold.

Writes Carney:

A German federal court has said that country's central bank should conduct annual audits and physically inspect its gold reserves worldwide, including gold in the custody of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In addition to the FRBNY, Bundesbank gold is stored in London, Paris and Frankfurt.

For decades, the Bundesbank has relied on written confirmation of its gold holdings in London, Paris and New York. According to the report from the German audit court, the last time Bundesbank officials physically inspected the central banks gold holdings was, well, never.

This is big.

There has long been speculation that the New York Fed does not have anywhere near the gold in its vaults that it claims to hold for various countries. If other countries follow in Germany's path and demand accounting of their gold, with physical inspection, this could cause a major problem for the Fed, if it does not hold the gold reserves it claims to hold.

A stalling by the Fed of foreign audits would be a warning signal to foreign countries that the gold alleged to be on hand at the Fed may not be there. The wise foreign country treasurer, upon seeing delaying tactics, would surely consider pulling his country's gold out at that time, in the hope that he won't be stuck as the last man with a Fed receipt with no gold to back it.

Carney understands this:

f the gold isn't there, well, calamity could follow as trust in the central bank gold depositories evaporated instantly.

But there is a question to be raised as to how thorough of an audit will actually be able to be conducted given the sloppy methods the Fed uses in recording actual gold ownership . Carney writes:

In any event, it looks like Bundesbank officials will soon be visiting the Fed's vault, which is located 80 feet below street level and 50 feet below sea level. The vault is accessible only by elevators controlled by an operator in a remote location. I've been told by a source that the elevator operator is actually not in New York City at all, although I can't confirm this and the Fed won't discuss this sort of thing.

Down in the vault there are 122 compartments assigned to depositing countries and international organizations. Smaller gold depositing countries get shelves in shared library compartments.

The compartments do not have labels reading "Germany's gold" and so on. They are instead numbered, and only a few people at the Fed know what numbers correspond to which country. The Fed says it does this to protect the privacy of the depositors. But this also makes actual inspection less reliable. There's no way for Germany to know that the gold it is being shown is Germany's, as opposed to some other depositor's. In an extreme case—which I have no reason to believe is true—miscreants at the Fed could just show everyone who came to visit the same pile of gold.

But there is a long-term workaround to the US sloppy recording methods. The German auditorscould audit the gold and also mark the bars, say with "Property of the the Federal Republic of Germany" and a serial number for each bar. It is after all their gold!

This would make it much more difficult for the Fed to show this to other countries as gold belonging to them, instead of Germany. Especially, if auditors show up with short notice (as auditors are supposed to do!) and if this gold auditing catches on–as it should.

And speaking of gold audits. What about US gold held by the Treasury? I have long believed that an "Audit the Gold" campaign would be much more important than the "Audit the Fed" push.

Curiously, the gold of the United States of America has never been audited. And that leads to all kinds of speculation.Carney explains:

The gold of the United States government, which officials say is held in the United States Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, has been rumored—probably since the Depository's founding in 1937—to have been looted and replaced with gold-painted tungsten, for instance. The government treats this as nonsense—which it most likely is—but nonetheless it does conduct regularly scheduled audits of the gold in Fort Knox, including doing purity tests on a small sample of the gold.

If Senator Rand Paul wanted to take a step toward getting back in the good graces of libertarians, his promoting an Audit the Gold bill in Congress would be an excellent step.

Reprinted with permission from Economic Policy Journal.

 

[Mike]

American Parasites...................


https://www.rt.com/business/336405-germany-gold-reserves-return/

 

[Steve]

an interesting question is how (and where did Germany get all that gold?

In October last year Germany's gold reserves stood to around 3,384 tonnes, worth about €120 billion, which is the second largest in the world after the US.

seems to me that is alot of gold to accumulate in 71 years.

In 1953, a US-induced "haircut" for German external debt from the pre- and postwar era was agreed in London, while "considerations of claims arising out of the second world war" were "deferred until the final settlement of the problem"

Compensation for war damages were denied, supposedly on the grounds that only a reunified Germany could agree to make such payments, but it was an open secret that Germany's government actively tried to postpone the payment indefinitely- – even after reunification. In May 1990 the then foreign minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, moved quickly to supply various German embassies affected (including the one in Athens) with secret memos outlining how calls for reparations could be fended off.

By the early 90s, German politicians' most common argument against reparations was the lapse of time – even though Germany had been forced by the German-allied court of arbitration to pay DM47m in compensation in 1974 for first world war damages 60 years after the start of the war.

In the case of Germany there also were 16 billion marks of debts from the 1920s which had defaulted in the 1930s, but which Germany decided to repay to restore its reputation. This money was owed to government and private banks in the U.S., France and Britain. Another 16 billion marks represented postwar loans by the U.S. Under the London Debts Agreement of 1953, the repayable amount was reduced by 50% to about 15 billion marks and stretched out over 30 years, and compared to the fast-growing German economy were of minor impact

I am not sure how much WW2 cost,.. and how much the rebuilding and later re-unification cost US and other countries..

but it was alot and most of it was in grants and forgiven loans... if they are so bloody rich now,.. maybe they should first think about re-paying all that gold and blood that was spent on them..

 

[Steve]

from a year ago

US still holds $54 billion of Germany's gold

in contrast THIS is much BIGGER...

The Inspector General analysts wrote that in inflation-adjusted dollars, the United States had spent $103 billion on the Marshall Plan

and Communist china is another country that OWES US a boat load of money...

I would hope Donald tells them ALL it is time to pay back some of that wealth before they get all worked up about "their" gold...

 

[Steve]

During the years of the Marshall Plan, the size of the U.S. economy was in the neighborhood of $310 billion (in dollars at that time). So, with total spending of $10.3 billion on European reconstruction, the Marshall Plan represented about 4.3 percent of average GDP.

1% of the US GDP (US$ 19.26800 trillion) =
192.68 billion U.S. dollars

so it looks like Germany owes US $828.524 billion U.S. dollars plus interest..

 

[Steve]

During the years of the Marshall Plan, the size of the U.S. economy was in the neighborhood of $310 billion (in dollars at that time). So, with total spending of $10.3 billion on European reconstruction, the Marshall Plan represented about 4.3 percent of average GDP.

1% of the US GDP (US$ 19.26800 trillion) =
192.68 billion U.S. dollars

so it looks like Germany owes US $828.524 billion U.S. dollars plus interest..

I think on this issue I would rather have Trump look into it then Rand Paul... :lol:

 

[Steve]

Metric tonne
$41,461,412.00
The Value Of Gold

United States Gold reserves in Metric tons 8133.5

 

[Steve]

American Parasites...................


https://www.rt.com/business/336405-germany-gold-reserves-return/

considering all the lives and treasure we have sacrificed for this world,.. calling US Parasites seems a bit disloyal.. if not outright obnoxious and vulgar..

who's side are you on?

 

[Steve]

If Senator Rand Paul wanted to take a step toward getting back in the good graces of libertarians, his promoting an Audit the Gold bill in Congress would be an excellent step.

:cry2:

Rand Paul lost,.. and the libertarians are not a viable party, and would only hand the election to Hillery.

Maybe you should research how Trump would handle the Germans... :lol:

 

[Mike]

Of course I'm on our side. But with some evidence of our banking system's corruption in maybe stealing other's gold, why would Russia not call us parasites and think less of us? Have we set a good example of honesty and decency?

Why wouldn't we take an audit, subtract what we think they owe us, and send it to them annually?

Are you one of those who thinks bankers are the honest ones?

 

[Mike]

The Marshall Plan wasn't exactly a gift either: The Marshall plan, consisted of aid both in the form of grants and in the form of loans.Out of the total, 1.2 billion USD were loan-aid.

Ireland which received 146.2 million USD through the Marshall plan, received 128.2 million USD as loans, and the remaining 18 million USD as grants.By 1969 the Irish Marshall plan debt, which was still being repaid, amounted to 31 million pounds, out of a total Irish foreign debt of 50 million pounds.

The UK received 385 million USD of its Marshall plan aid in the form of loans.[84] Unconnected to the Marshall plan the UK also received direct loans from the US amounting to 4.6 billion USD. The proportion of Marshall plan loans versus Marshall plan grants was roughly 15% to 85% for both the UK and France.

Germany, which up until the 1953 Debt agreement had to work on the assumption that all the Marshall plan aid was to be repaid, spent its funds very carefully. Payment for Marshall plan goods, "counterpart funds", were administered by the Reconstruction Credit Institute, which used the funds for loans inside Germany. In the 1953 Debt agreement the amount of Marshall plan aid that Germany was to repay was reduced to less than 1 billion USD.[88] This made the proportion of loans versus grants to Germany similar to that of France and the UK.[87] The final German loan repayment was made in 1971.Since Germany chose to repay the aid debt out of the German Federal budget, leaving the German ERP fund intact, the fund was able to continue its reconstruction work. By 1996 it had accumulated a value of 23 billion Deutsche Mark

 

[Nesikep]

What I'm wondering is where are the trillions in bailouts ending up? I'm thinking it's lined some pockets pretty deep...

Look at land/house prices.. You still believe the claims of 1.1% inflation per year? (Real estate is conveniently left out of the inflation index!.. Like welfare cases are omitted from unemployment statistics)

 

[Steve]

The Marshall Plan wasn't exactly a gift either:

Another 16 billion marks represented postwar loans by the U.S. Under the London Debts Agreement of 1953,
the repayable amount was reduced by 50%

it wasn't exactly a loan either...

I think GM was a loan as well...

the US is a really crappy banker and steward of our money...

we need a real independent federal reserve... but what we have is a banking system set up by the very wealthy and politicians who hope to be very wealthy..

 

[Steve]

What I'm wondering is where are the trillions in bailouts ending up? I'm thinking it's lined some pockets pretty deep...

Look at land/house prices.. You still believe the claims of 1.1% inflation per year? (Real estate is conveniently left out of the inflation index!.. Like welfare cases are omitted from unemployment statistics)

most of the bailout was wasted... money was lit on fire and thrown out the window..

locally we ended up with three over passes..

when I talked with our local congressman on the issue

I pointed out we already had two overpasses on that stretch of the parkway and one could be made a full interchange, eliminating one less then two miles away.

he thought that would be to much on an inconvenience for them to drive another mile and a half..

he was suddenly called away when I pointed out the existing overpass /interchange required someone wanting to go south bound on the highway to go 2 1/2 miles north to get on the parkway..


so at mile marker 4 we have a full overpass /interchange

at mile marker 6 we have another overpass /interchange

and a NEW one at mile marker 8

and another NEW one at mile marker 9

and another NEW one at mile marker 11

all paid for by the feds... (US) so that accounts for about $30 million...

I am not sure what happened to the rest of the trillion bank bailout and all the trillions spent since..

 

[Traveler]

Hope and Change

 

[Nesikep]

Yes, I know a lot of it was essentially lit on fire and burnt as far as it's effectiveness... but it still WENT SOMEWHERE, and for the most part it went into pockets that were already pretty well lined... My guess is it pretty much all went to the bankers and insurers, perhaps through a couple of intermediate hands... That money then has to go do something, essentially setting the stage for another sub-prime lending fiasco, or mega mergers of companies that are financed by these banks...
The thing that irks me is that the inflation takes longer to be realized than the speed at which the money changes hands.... So the trillions printed will take 10 or maybe even 20 years for it's full effect to be seen, but in the mean time REAL assets are bought with this pre-inflated money at pennies on the dollar... Around here it's railways, forests, mining interests, and every other mismanaged government corporation like BC ferries, Translink, BC Gas, and BC Hydro, so the taxpayer gets garbage money in exchange for a real asset.. Of course a private company then takes over, hikes the rates through the roof, and makes money hand over fist.

 

[Mike]

Hillary & Bill got $22 Million........................................

 

[Steve]

Hillary & Bill got $22 Million........................................

paupers..

pau·per
ˈpôpər/
noun
plural noun: paupers

a very poor person.
synonyms: poor person, indigent, down-and-out; informalhave-not
"the story of a lowly pauper who rises to the top of a major crime syndicate"
historical
a recipient of government relief or public charity.

 

[Steve]

after I posted the definition it struck me...

"the story of a lowly pauper who rises to the top of a major crime syndicate"

some irony there?

 

[Faster horses]

I think they used the Clintons to describe the word.