Aren't we sitting on a gold mine?

[Bradley in DC]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy.../11/06/AR2009110604799.html?hpid=sec-business

 

[Cowlesy]

I always wondered why they didn't mark all that gold to market.

And the assertion that they couldn't find willing buyers, even for $288 billion worth...I'm not too sure about that.

 

[Dr.3D]

If they are even telling the truth as to how much gold the U.S. really has. My guess is they have more paper gold than they do physical gold. Perhaps I am incorrect, but has there really been a recent audit of the physical gold supposedly held by the government?

 

[ctiger2]

All that gold is gone already. This is just propaganda.

 

[Dr.3D]

I always wondered why they didn't mark all that gold to market.

And the assertion that they couldn't find willing buyers, even for $288 billion worth...I'm not too sure about that.

Heck, India just bought $6.7 billion worth from the IMF and there is talk about them buying even more.
http://www.gata.org/node/7971
http://www.gata.org/node/7972

 

[tmosley]

I'll buy it for $42/ounce. I bet I could raise the money to buy the whole stash (even if were all still there) at that price.

 

[Bruno]

"For starters, marking the Treasury's gold to market would create a huge headache of an ever-fluctuating balance sheet as the price of gold rises and falls, pointed out Dimitri Papadimitriou, president of the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College. Plus, if gold tumbled, we'd lose our hypothetical wealth as quickly as we'd accrued it. "

This is a ridiculous argument. You have a set number of ounces of gold. Insert new gold price, hit enter.

 

[specsaregood]

Ignoring the evidence that all that gold has already been leased out years ago....

There are certainly people, such as Rutgers University economics professor Michael Bordo, who think the United States should unload some of its stash, on the grounds that the gold standard doesn't work and that by holding on to the metal we're clinging to a de facto version of an antiquated policy. Some research papers argue that the wealth we keep locked up in gold coins and bullion would be better utilized if injected into the economy.

So begins people arguing for us to start unloading our only remaining assets...

 

[LibForestPaul]

IMF gold reserves refers to 3,017 tonnes of gold held by the International Monetary Fund. It is currently priced at $42 a troy ounce

t the end of 2004, central banks and official organizations held 19% of all above-ground gold as a reserve asset.

SPDR Gold Trust 1,104 tons

Which "non-governmental" organization hold gold? How much?

 

[tmosley]

I thought the IMF only had an overhang of 403 tons of gold, half of which was recently sold to India...

 

[RideTheDirt]

All that gold is gone already. This is just propaganda.

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