Ever have a suspicion this country's gold has been spent?

[dixiegrrrrl]

I found a couple ariticles this am, will share with no comment.

From the Market Impode site:

ECB Saves COMEX From Gold Default With Hail-Mary Play

http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2009-04-02_ECBSavesCOMEXFromGoldDefaultWithHailMaryPlay.html

and

OTC derivatives were the weapon (surprised??).
impode site will link to an analysis site of how banks used gold to play the market.

http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2009-04-02_JPMorganBehindQ408LiquidationInGoldAndSilver.html

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. GOLD?

there is not enough gold in the world to support a week of our global economy. The limitations of gold are the reason why we no longer use the silly gold standard. Brenton Woods was an effort to modernize the global economy . Unfortunately, it has dents and tatters, and needs an overhaul, but going back to an ancient, silly, pointless system.

Gold is a useful commodity that has some great conductivity and other uses. But to base a internationally active currency on it is just plain foolish.

As a commodity, it can be traded, sold, and dealt in a futures market. So I must ask: what is the point of this post?

[Mojorabbit]

3. It worked fine for over a hundred years

I don't think it would be foolish to bring it back into the mix.

[elehhhhna]

5. so did the ox cart.

[Po_d Mainiac]

7. And they are making a comeback!

The power plants taste a bit better than a Chevy too

[ChairmanAgnostic]

11. LOL, although

I never tasted fried oil pan.

[Po_d Mainiac]

14. Never tasted fried oil pan? It's kinda like grits n/t

[ixion]

4. no, foolish is the fiat currency model that got us into this mess

using a commodity standard like gold may be ancient, but there's a reason it has been around so long: it works.

How do fiat currencies work? Ask Rome. Oh, that's right. You can't. It fell. Just like we're getting ready to do because we allowed fiat currencies to bankrupt the system.

Great idea, that. :eyes:

[trotsky]

6. Strange but true, there are gold bugs on DU.

No serious economist considers the gold standard to be anything but a laughable idea, but it's got a sizable loyal following right here.

[FlyingTiger]

15. You realize that...

...if we put all the "value" of the world's currencies into gold, its own value would be adjusted accordingly so "all the gold in the world" WOULD represent all the world's economies, right?

[FreakinDJ]

2. The Doom sayers spread that rumor every couple of years

Right now it is politically expedient for the GOP to be banging the drum of Doom and Gloom so they can press their agenda of taking from the Poor and giving to the Rich once again

[Double T]

8. Fort Knox is storing our stacks of IOUs.

[azul]

9. No, fort Knox is the safe bunker for bunco bankers

in the banker protection program.

IOU's are rather worthless and need little protection, in fact they are better off lost.

[terisan]

10. Yes.

[soothsayer]

12. Not spent so much as stolen. First the govt ripped it off from the people (give us your gold, dammit

) and then the powers that be somehow moved it out of storage (blatantly ripping it off from the 911 site) and voila, oops, gold, what gold?

[marketcrazy1]

13. I think i read

somewhere that there is more gold stored in the vaults of the federal reserve bank of new york than there is in fort Knox... of course that gold belongs to other countries.....

[Art_from_Ark]

16. OK, in the 1940s the United States made millions of dollars worth

of gold coins for... Saudi Arabia... to pay for Saudi oil. Where did that gold come from?

In 1971, more than a decade after the last official audit of Ft. Knox, Richard Nixon removed the last vestiges of the Gold Standard because the United States was no longer able to pay its (foreign) debts in gold.

In 1982, the United States started minting gold coins, or rather, gold coin-like medals, for sale to collectors and investors. After this idea flopped, the US struck its first gold commemorative (the $10 Los Angeles Olympics coin) since the 1920s. In 1986, the US Mint launched the American Eagle gold bullion coin program, and has been minting and selling these coins, as well as regular gold commemorative coins, since that time. And, most recently, Golden Buffalo bullion coins as well. Where did/does that gold come from?

And now, sales of some gold coins have been suspended, because the US Mint is unable to meet demand.

And no one is allowed to view the gold that may be, or may not be, stored at Ft. Knox.

So it is not surprising that some people question whether there is, in fact, any gold at Ft. Knox.