Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin visited Fort Knox on August 21.
He tweeted “Glad
gold is safe!” He told an audience in Louisville, “I assume the gold is
still there.”
The Fort Knox Gold was last audited in the 1950s. Secretary Mnuchin’s
statements were not helpful.
Questions:
- The gold is safe, but where is it? Has most or all Fort
Knox gold been shipped to Asia?
- How much gold is safe? A few bars? Hundreds of bars in a
locked and dimly lit room visible only through a small window? Was it
gold or gold plated tungsten?
- Does his assurance reduce suspicions of “missing gold”
or encourage those speculations?
- To whom does it matter if the gold is safe? Total value
at current prices for the Fort Knox gold supposedly vaulted is about
$200 billion. The annual U.S. government deficit is several times that
amount. The official national debt is 100 times larger. Yes, it is
important if the gold is vaulted, as claimed, or missing. The truth
should be reported.
- Will the truth be more unsettling than the suspicions of
“missing gold?”
- When will an independent and comprehensive audit be
conducted?
- Assuming a “cover-up” exists, what information besides
“missing gold” has been concealed?
*******
From an article posted April 5, 2016:
Fort Knox Paradox
Officially the Fort Knox Bullion Depository contains 147.3 million ounces
of gold. However, the last audit was performed over 60 years ago. According
to reliable sources “audits” since then have been incomplete and inadequate.
Second
Thoughts on US Gold Reserve Audits
Hiding
the Elephant: Fort Knox’s Vanishing Act
Doubts
about America’s Gold Holdings
Question: If the Bullion Depository contains over 147 million ounces of
gold, why not audit it, prove the existence of the gold, and eliminate
speculation? The US government spends over $70 billion on “food stamps” every
year and nearly one $ Trillion per year on “defense,” so cost is not the
issue.
Current policy seems to be “don’t ask, don’t tell” because the answer
might be disconcerting, might destroy the narrative that the US gold exists,
and the revelation of missing gold might encourage other embarrassing
questions …
Speculation and possible scenarios:
Scenario One: Fort Knox Bullion Depository contains 147
million ounces of gold, as claimed, but the Department of the Treasury
ignores calls for a comprehensive audit.
- “Trust but verify” apparently applies to the nuclear
weapons in other countries but not our gold. Why?
- Why refuse to perform a comprehensive audit? Cover-up?
- If an audit proved that 147 million ounces of gold were
safely stored inside the vaults, it would be a political victory. Why
would the Bush or Obama administration, such as in 2008 or 2016, NOT
want a political victory when their credibility was weakening?
- The implication is that an audit would fail and no
political victory was possible.
Scenario Two: Fort Knox Bullion Depository is essentially
empty – say it contains less than ten million ounces of gold.
- That begs the questions: Where did the gold go? Who
should be indicted? Why have politicians for the past 50 years lied
about it?
- Under scenario two the Department of Treasury cannot do
an audit and desperately wants to avoid the scandal of missing gold.
- The only viable option is “stonewall.” Maintain that an
audit is unnecessary, too expensive, or already has been done.
Scenario Three: Fort Knox Bullion Depository is
essentially empty of real gold – say it contains less than ten million ounces
of gold but also contains perhaps 140 million ounces of gold plated tungsten.
- A comprehensive audit would easily detect the fake gold.
- The same questions from scenario two would plague the
Department of the Treasury, the President, and the Federal Reserve.
- The only viable option is “stonewall.” Maintain that an
audit is unnecessary, too expensive, or already has been done.
CONCLUSIONS:
- If the Fort Knox Bullion Depository gold exists, as
claimed, there is little reason to refuse a comprehensive audit.
- Since all requests for a comprehensive audit have been
rejected, it seems likely that a “cover-up” continues.
- If an unpopular President wanted a political victory, he
would have ordered an audit of the Fort Knox gold if an audit had been a
viable option. Since no audit was initiated, it seems likely that a gold
audit would have produced problematic results with unanswerable
questions.
- Gold “leasing” has been documented. Gold leased by a
bullion bank from a central bank can be sold in the international
market, yet is still officially listed in the vaults of the central bank.
Official gold can exist in two (or more) places at once …
- It is possible that most sovereign and central bank gold
in the United States, including the Fort Knox gold, the United Kingdom
gold, and German gold is no longer stored in western vaults, and has
been melted down and converted to the one kilo bars preferred in Russia,
India and China.
- An honest and credible audit would confirm or deny such
speculation. Further “stonewalling” encourages such speculation. What is
the rest of the story?