This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
41% Of Belgian Central Bank Gold Has Been Lent Out
Some very disturbing revelations from CLSA's Chris Wood who in his latest Greed and Fear note discusses an event that may be all to prevalent within the central banking community: the less than overt lending out of central bank gold to "other entities" in return for picking up nickels in front of a steamroller. In this case, the central bank of governmentless Belgium, which had 41% of its gold out at the end of 2010 on loan. Naturally, the lent out gold is being used by some other key entity, potentially to mask its own inventory deficit, in exchange for the paltry sum of 0.3% on the total loan. Wood's conclusion: "This is a reminder that the paper gold market is significantly larger
than the physical market. Just like a run on a bank in a fractional
banking system, GREED & fear suspects it will be very hard to settle
all the paper claims to gold physically in a real scramble for the
metal. This is why in a parabolic spike physical gold is likely to trade
at a significant premium to paper claims." We couldn't have said it better ourselves.
From CLSA's Greed and Fear:
Belgian central bank Vice Governor Francoise Masai reportedly told shareholders that about 41% of the central bank’s 216 metric tons of gold was on loan at the end of last year, and that the central bank earned a 0.3% return on its loans of physical gold to commercial banks last year. There are two points to note about this. The first is the puny annualised return earned on the gold leasing market. The second is the significant percentage of the central bank’s gold lent out. This is a reminder that the paper gold market is significantly larger than the physical market. Just like a run on a bank in a fractional banking system, GREED & fear suspects it will be very hard to settle all the paper claims to gold physically in a real scramble for the metal. This is why in a parabolic spike physical gold is likely to trade at a significant premium to paper claims. On this point GREED & fear should make it clear that the 25% of the global portfolio for a US dollar-denominated pension fund allocated to gold bullion is in physical gold.
Meanwhile, it is an interesting note that more than a dozen state legislators in America have now seen bills introduced that would make gold and silver coins legal tender in the respective states. Thus, gold and silver coins minted by the US government are now considered legal tender in Utah. Much of this activism is coming from Tea Party supporters. Financial sophisticates will scoff. But to GREED & fear it is a healthy sign that some people in America are thinking. For more on this popular movement to return to the monetary role of gold read an article published last week by the Los Angeles Times (“Pushing for a return to the gold standard”, 3 June 2011 by Nathaniel Popper).
h/t Mike Krieger
»
- 23398 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Yay, Belgium!
Always good to see our nice little country at the top of the news.
Lending out a little Belgian gold for a few extra euros ... no big deal. Ha!
Not the first time her gold has been shipped away either.
http://www.nbbmuseum.be/2010/03/belgische-goud.htm
it's probably paper lent and paper sold
Haha
They'll lend out their gold....but not their chocolate
A friend of mine was visiting with his children. We had sent their 5 year old a treasure map, patch, sword and stuffed parrot, in anticipation of their visit, as she was mad about pirates. We bought a $2.00 treasure chest and buried it on one of our off-shore islands full of those gold foil wrapped chocolate coins.
We set to sea and fought imaginary pirates off and landed on the right beach. It had a little cave that we had secreted the box in and upon discovery, she broke open the chest and immediately (as a test of authenticity) bit into one of the coins. To our delight she announced to her mother, "Mom. It's real chocolate"!
Can't fool kids.
You are now officially the funnest person I know.
I would have LOVED that as a kid.
She was stoked, as were we. She is 16 now and still has the map.
Cool Story....thanks for sharing.
Gives me great ideas for the future when 'I has me some' little munchkins and leprechauns interested in a treasure hunt!
awesome, what island was that again?
Castaway Is, Cave of Horrors, Blaggard's Beach.
bought 10 lbs
of those gold foil covered chocolate coins..
put them in the food storage ..
peculiar sense of humor...
Cute! :)
~Misstrial
The Golden Fleecing... no doubt.
Now we know Belgium on Bernanke's Auto-Bailout list, at least until gold goes parabolic or they get the gold back from the commercial banks its on loan to.
"or they get the gold back from the commercial banks its on loan to."
Nasal coffee ejection! +1541.53
No different than with paper money, the banks lend it out as soon as it's deposited, that's why there are always withdrawl limits. Money in a mattress, folks.
governmentless... too much. thats what keeps me glued to zh.
This sounds like a sweetheart deal for the commercial banks. Must be quid pro quo as no one in their right mind would lend their physical at .3%.
Good observation
The speech was to the "shareholders" of the central bank. I wonder who the shareholders are?
Oh really ?
Who woulda thunk ?
Remember ?
Merkel visiting New York and the FRBNY,
requesting to see Germany's 3400 t of gold stored there.
Her souvenir T-shirt reads:
"I came to New York and all I got are these lousy gold claim securities."
Thanks Bill Dudley.
Thanks Timmy G.
Thanks Robert Rubin.
Am re-reading ¨"The Gold Wars" by Ferdinand Lips, the private Swiss banker who details the systematic the destruction of the gold standard bythe American and European political and banking establishment. A must read.
ALSO A MUST READ. And I never shout.
http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2011/05/return-to-honest-money.html
+ $1539
It must be nice to consider monetary policy in a vacuum and assume that "freegold" is the answer to all of our problems.
So we need a division between store of value "money" and medium of exchange "money", eh? So after hyperinflation, gold floats freely in the economists' perfect market whereby an equilibrium price is established and people use the inevitable paper derivative as a medium of exchange and convert salary or whatever portion of it they want to carry into the future as physical savings at the prevailing market price for gold? Brilliant! (If you ignore history, politics, the legal system, and most importantly, the integrity of central banks).
First of all, I love how the Austrian school of economics is now viewed as de facto correct because it identified the absurdity of Keynes' ideas. The uncomforting truth that must be realized is that all economics is pseudo science. It's all bunk, based on rational behavior, which doesn't truly exist. Basic micro supply and demand is still useful but the economics profession has been a joke for a long time now, wholly complicit in the current fraud. Just like bankers, economists should go out of the governing business.
"Gary wants to divvy up the gold and then inflict Freegold. If you cannot see the disaster that this is, I don't know what to say to you. All to take power away from the central banks? This is the mistake. It is not their fault. As Greyfox said, “We have met the enemy and it is us.” We are at fault, for saving in promises. We give THEM power."
This is the dumbest thing I have ever read. It ignores the fact that the money changers have captured the entire financial, political, legal, regulatory and media structure of the western world. Central banks and the governments they control have suppressed the price of gold for years now, and it is unbelievably naive to think that "freegold" would somehow stop them from coming up with a plan to manipulate the price via the supply of gold again in the future. That idea is slightly less absurd than Ron Paul's "competing currencies" idea. FOFOA thinks, with social disorder accomanying hyperinflations, that freegold will be possible? I'm curious, how does the Patriot Act or matial law factor into this theory?
Honestly, I find all the debate between hyperinflation/deflation and gold standard/freegold to be ludicrously pointless. To me, it seems like most involved just want to be able to look back and say "look how smart I am, I told you so." Regardless of who ends up being more semantically accurate, one thing is certain: bankruptcy of the debt-based western economic system is coming to a nation state near you. Buy some physical silver and gold to protect your purchasing power and hold physical cash for the coming global liquidity crisis that will precede the greatest depression of all, the end of the keynesian exponential growth model and implosion of an 80 year debt-bubble. Absent a revolution in the USA nothing is going to change this outcome.
As we all know, the power resides with those who control the money supply. Private central banks must be eliminated. Debt-free money issued by the government is the only viable solution to true medium of exchange "money", and if FOFOA had any patriotic bones in their bodies, they would spend their time examining that issue rather than convincing people that some magical freegold inevitability will solve the world's monetary problems. If the central banks control the currency, even if it’s gold, it will be subverted, guaranteed.
FOFOA's thinking is obviously much more elegant than mine, though, so I probably shouldn't have even bothered with reading and trying to comprehend its genius. Get real! By all means, we should all have some gold for the reasons stated in this post. Just spare me the freegold standard gibberish, as well as the argument that it will be any different than any other gold standard throughout human history.
“If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold”
-William Jennings Bryan
Hey Croweater,
FOFOA never says freegold is a solution to our problems, he just states that freegold is coming because that's what the PTB's want. Big difference there. The Titanic sinking wasn't a solution, it was just the outcome of hitting the iceberg (or getting blown up), just like freegold is the outcome of a debt based monetary system. He is agnostic towards what is best. He just states what he thinks is coming based on his information and assumptions.
Sure, he can say that he is agnostic, but his insinuations imply otherwise. Think of it this way: replace the word "freegold" with "SDR Gold Standard". FOFOA's arguments could just as easily come out as a working paper of the IMF or World Bank.
To my way of thinking, all you can do now is take action to preserve your own wealth as we roll onward into this brave new world.
It's one thing to buy some gold to preserve wealth for this reason. I did it. But if the scenario plays out after collapse where the powers that be are touting the implementation of a new gold standard, I will do everything in my tiny little power to prevent it. In other words I haven't given up yet. On the contrary, FOFOA has provided the ammunition to convince people that "this time will be different".
As the new Freegold system of natural, pristine balance emerges, the fiat monetary authority will find its wisest move is to keep the money supply under control. And with a "wise" CB, gradually the "t" value will shift back to the right, little by little.
A wise central bank? No economic market or incentive can stop a private central bank from manipulating the money supply. Governments respond to power, and people do not have the power with a private central bank. The FED has all the power because Congress needs it to pay for everything. This dynamic will not change with "freegold".
I could be all ZH and say something like, "STFU monket", buy why bother, its too funny watching you go full retard.
hocoodanode those middle school teachers waxing on about reading comprehension were onto something....
oh well, few things are more depressing than the tired laments for an opportunity long lost.
Don't forget your helmet on the way outta the house tommorrow!!!
I could be all ZH and say something like, "STFU monkeyboy", buy why bother, its too funny watching you go full retard.
hocoodanode those middle school teachers waxing on about reading comprehension were onto something....
oh well, few things are more depressing than the tired laments of opportunities long lost.
Don't forget your helmet on the way outta the house tommorrow!!!
Perhaps you could impart some of your infinite, non-monkeyboy wisdom and counter even a single point I raised? Oh right, that would be pointless, because if you are critical of freegold and FOFOA, it de facto means you don't understand it, correct? That kind of intellectual arrogance is both absurd and laughable. I have an open mind about a lot of things, but not when it comes to the evil of central banks. There is no gold theory, however "elegant" or "pristine" it claims to be, that can overcome this parasitic institution's manipulation thereof. But go ahead, I implore you, try and make a case otherwise.
Misc thoughts I've accumulated on gold:
[quote]In fact, the decision was the turning point of the Depression, the beginning of recovery. And every monetary economist knows it. Which means that the first thing any future gold-standard government would do in the event of recession would be to jettison gold. And every market trader knows that too.[/quote]
So in essence, the US Govt. snowed everyone into putting their faith in paper currency, the world saw the advantages of lying to the populace and now, no one will, or should ever believe any Govt. that promises monetary discipline.
I would far rather have the US Govt. (and every Govt for that matter), "Nailed to a Cross of Gold", so that everyone could see and MEASURE just how much money they truly have at any point in time.
Also, it's usually a Govt's fault whenever there's a crisis such as the one we're currently experiencing in the economy right now, why do people have any faith in the Govt at all when they create and/or exacerbate monetary crises in the first place??
The US Govt. has been spending way beyond it's means for decades, so why should it surprise you to see calls for the monetary restraint that the Gold standard imposed?
Once the wave of FRN's that the Govt spent on "Cash for Clunkers" and first-time home buyers dries up, this so-called recovery will dry up and blow away too, unless a miracle happens (I hope I'm wrong!)
[quote]They would demand to trade their dollars for gold at the fixed price of $20.67 to the ounce. Under the rules of the gold standard, the U.S. government would be obliged to sell.[/quote]
The entire argument is true only if the price of Gold is FIXED. A lot of people are snowed by the $50 denomination on the current Gold Eagle coin (1 Troy ounce of 24karat Gold), whereas in reality, Gold is trading at the price of $1,530/ounce (more or less).
If the Hoover administration had been forced to redeem gold certificates for real Gold, they would have soon found the fallacy in FIXING the price of gold to around $20/ounce, and they would have been forced into acknowledging reality and raising or lowering the exchange rate until the paper currency reflected the true price of an ounce of gold.
[quote]All interest is usury. Goldbugs, you're dreaming if you think there'll ever be another gold standard of any real meaning. There's simply not enough gold on the planet to support our ridiculously inflated figures. Imagine trying to pay off the notional value of all outstanding derivatives in the world - estimated at $1.144 QUADRILLION dollars - in gold. You'd be hard pressed to come up with even $1 trillion of the stuff at today's market rates.
Get rid of interest, especially that incurred to float the American monetary supply. Outlaw the charging of interest, sale of derivatives, and for-profit banking and many of our economic problems will disappear.[/quote]
If gold were still being used as dollars, everyone could see (or they could with a microscope!), just how much a dollar is truly worth by the size of the gold dollar coin. Gold holds it value precisely because it's virtually impossible for Govt's to make more of it to cover their excessive borrowing.
First, the Great Implosion™, then let's discuss what "Real" money is...
I recall the part where Paul Volker threatened Swiss bankers with working with the Nazi's if they did not de-peg the Swiss Franc from it's gold backing. When they said all claims had been settled, Volker stated not in the eyes of the US public when they shamed the Swiss for their work with the Third Reich.
The "US public"? You mean: Stuart Eiszenstadt + US Dept. of Commerce, via issuance/non-issuance of export/import licenses.
Dutch gold too. part is here. part is elsewhere.
interesting times.
watershed: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/european-gold-confiscation-sceme-unfold...
Seeking enlightenment. What is/was Deutschland's gold doing in Jew York in the 1st place? Something to do with outcome of WW II? Or some prior imbroglio, like Rothschild BOE (Montagu Norman) financing 3rd Reich. Or what?
Germany is an occupied country. Their leadership does what they're told.
If you still are here: prior imbroglio. The gold is stored there because the Soviets could steal it if there was a conventional war in Europe.
Third point is: he has not confirmed, that this leasing ended and gold was delivered back.
So we may assume, they just roll over making "gains" in paper gold.
Not actually 'delivered', the gold never left the Belgium CB vault, only from one side of the balance sheet to the other, and then back again.
All happily stored away by your friendly neighborhood JPMo...oh shit.
And that's what actually matters, isn’t it? (Who the actual "owner" and "possessor" is).
HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!
Not really. All CBs loan their gold out, and I would not be surprised if many of the other CBs had loans at a higher leverage.
Ron Paul needs to find out how much of the US Govt's gold is lent out. He's now in a position to do so. Get on with it Ron.
The Federal Reserve's balance sheet is public knowledge. They may have all, or almost all, of their gold on loan, considering that gold is reserved as an asset, not a liability.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/h41.htm
I feel confident we get a superior rent on our tungsten. Top dollar.
België is een klein voetballand, maar groot in de financiële wereld...
Niet te verwonderen dat het steeds in de spotlights van zerohedge staat...
Cheers and beers!!!
"The road will seem so straight and fair to travel that you will kick yourself for stumbling through the brambles for so long, and wonder at your neighbors who still can't see the path, though it is truly a freeway." (by Aristotle, courtesy of FOFOA)
++
FOFOA's root is from Belgium!!!!
Viva Belgium!!!
Got gold, chocolate and beers?!?
My fav FOFOAism haha:
"There are four key aspects to Freegold. There are also many more, but these four are key. That's not to say they are all necessary. They are not. But it is to say that in order to understand Freegold you must at least understand the significance of these conditions:
1. The end of the dollar standard (the end of its timeline as the main global reserve currency)
2. The end of parity between paper gold price discovery and physical gold price discovery
3. The Euro-Freegold concept/project, (at least) 31 years in the making
4. The flow of oil "
H/T http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2010/12/freegold-in-proper-perspective.html
+ $1539 to you too, sir.
I remember Robo once pondering why goldbugs would want the market to collapse as it would bring down the value of precious metals. Yes, in the short term it probably would - until the paper shit literally hits the fan and the scramble for the physical collateral comes to pass. Bring it on....bring it on....
Wasn't there a rumor last year that a bunch of central banks were releasing a good part of their gold to persons unknown (with BIS as "intermediary") with the (rumored) purpose of helping the said unknown persons to manipulate gold prices? I can't find the link though but I remember a story somewhere and some conspiracy talk to that effect.
better watch out, that's getting into 'tin foil' territory.
If you find the link post it up, I'd like to read it.
So now we have an idea where part of the 346 tonnes (89 or so) that ended up with at The BIS. ;-)
I did some digging and found the stuff I was referring to. There was a lot of speculation about this in mid 2010. Here are a few links:
http://news.goldseek.com/GATA/1278519594.php
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/7884272/Secret-gold-swap-has-...
http://www.gata.org/node/8799
http://news.goldseek.com/GATA/1278618189.php
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3e659ed0-9b39-11df-baaf-00144feab49a.html#axzz...
Not disturbing at all.
What about our own Ft Knox? I expect it to either be brimming with Everyone's Gold from around the world earning storage fees to Uncle Sam. Or filled to the brim waiting for the day it will be sold for so much money that all of our National issues go away within minutes.
. . . or empty with some paper I.O.U.s littering the floor.
Gordon Brown was a genius. He, at least, got some money for the Brittish gold.
It takes a special kind of "genius" to turn a healthy, vibrant, competitive economy into a complete clusterfuck in 13 years.
A prudent one...
To be fair... The Services Economy ? And the rest of the country outside The City?
The UK like the US, has had fuckup after fuckup in government, It's certainly been going on all my life. Fewer fags from Eton and a little more common sense would make all the difference.
Gordon Brown was an evil turd. He, at least got some paper currencies for the gold money he sold. Repaired.
I am not againts the sale of gold by the CB. Why should they keep it? I do not know the history of gold in the UK CB. As far as us Federal reserve, I fully support a cash sale of all its gold, since is was stolen in the first place. Have the US Mint 1 oz gold eagles and allow cash sales at all post offices. Pay cash, the coins will be delivered by cert mail or by pick-up a the post office.
Would you let a thief keep a stolen T.V.? confiscate the stolen goods and sell back to the decendants of the rightful onwers at market value.
Guess they couldn’t find the other 59%
+1
My guess is the gold was lent out to cover claims at such entities as COMEX and LME. Or should I say, cover up.
What this data and Tyler's discoveries on silver reserves show is that physical has been levered so many times in paper claims and derivatives that there is a looming chance of true bank run. That would send the value of your gold to the moon. Enjoy the view.
Double post.
double post, sorry
See Dick Run....See Jane Run, on the Bank
Whomever was trying to buy that 41% is never going to lay hold of it. FRAUD.
The gold is on loan. It is not about buying it. They want the loan so to hedge against inflation/a rise in US rates. It obviously would be better if they bought, but finance has not worked that way yet.
And then there's the German "gold"..
http://www.gata.org/node/9349
Frank Veneroso believed, even years ago, that about half of the 32K tonnes of gold allegedly owned by central banks worldwide had been leased. It is unlikely to return.
Frank has seldom been wrong about anything. Ignore at your peril.
I saw Veneroso around ten years ago at the Cambridge House Resource Conference in Vancouver, BC when he first laid all that out. Aside from GATA and a few others, very few people took him seriously. It was all considered Tin Foil conspiracy in those days. (but the Tech Bubble was all legit, LOL).
Pretty clear from evidence like this that much of the CB gold is encumbered, either lent or swapped out. I believe Greenspan, Rubin and Summers plundered the US gold horde in the mid 90's onward. I guess time will tell if they did in fact do that.
Here's one of his articles from back then, (from 2002)
http://www.gata.org/node/4249
Meet the GATA gang...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GdKV7nQQVg
So demand is high for gold loans, and due to the loans, there is a supply constraint. A little glimpse into history shows that when gold leverage was maxed out it created a liquidity crunch, and so either the price of gold will have to be loaned out at a much higher price, or the assets spun off of the loans will have to depreciate further. Bob Chapman wrote last week that it will be massive deflation, or hyperinflation. Good call by Bob, sounds like he agrees with me.
Who gets what when Belgium ceases to exist as a nation? If it were up to Homer Simpson, I guess stupid Flanders would get stuck with the paper contracts.
Why all the concern? Don't the Keynsians all say that gold is just a barbaric relic?
Yeah, and how dumb do you have to be to actually pay valuable currency just to borrow a barbarous relic with no industrial use?
Group 11 "Bits-Sez"!
It's gonna make and break alot of people before it's all over
posession bichez...
I wonder how much it will cost to get it returned...?
There is no desire from the CB to have it returned. It is gone forever.
only 41%??
these guys are pikers compared to the crooks here in the US.
I'm betting there will never be an audit of Ft.Knox because, if the truth be known, there isn't any gold left here in the US. The crooks have lent it out, spent it, and/or just plain stolen it.
Possibly, but nobody actually moves the stuff these days and posession is nine tenths of the law.
So you get the benefit of people paying you for it, then paying you to hold it and when the shit hits the fan, you give them the finger and say come get it if you dare.
and all of the fucktarded conspiracy bashers can go fuck themselves....there is no gold in belgium...the only gold in ft knox - contrary to that propaganda piece just broadcast by the history channel, the mouthpiece for the cia, is enveloping tungsten....
the time has come to perform a complete and full assay of every brick in that shithouse....
After shallow research I found out that the History Channel is owned by none other than GE. I had my reservations while watching the Ft. Knox gold story. I went to basic training at Ft. Knox. It is nothing but an educational base with fresh recruits now. The History Channel tried to pass it as some solid fortress around the gold reserve. Also, I noticed how the History Channel has been trying to pass the major religions as all believing in the same principals....NOT. One World Agenda B.S. for sure. We have NO gold!
Tony,
Unless they agree to do a full and independent audit (likely never going to happen), that gold is gone/lent/swapped/owned by someone else.
The trust factor some have on this issue is remarkable considering the level of corruption and utter bullshit being uncovered these days.
Would it be too much to ask who owns and possesses all the investment-grade silver and gold bullion? It's not as if we're going to trust the bankers any less....
Sources ?
I heard somewhere , Bank of England has issued 40x paper gold as it has physical. Much of it
held by wealthy Arab nations.
Fractional reserve gold trading. Its only an issue in the event of a bank run, and in the event of a bank run, close the doors until further notice. These are the periles of paperholding. It should not be a surprise to anyone.
This documentary may interest you
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U-sNn28dJk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zXiGQU64SY
Hey ZH, I suggest that this thread needs more tags than just "Belgium."
Audit the Fed !
Audit Fort Knox !
ASAP !
Ron Paul 2012
Yeehaw !
To whom it may concern - may I please borrow a few tons of your gold? I will keep it safe and pay you a very handsome .3% annual premium. Thank you.
Sure....that's probably what the keepers of the vaults under the WTC buildings said as well.
Wonder what happened to all that gold? Didn't they only find like 25% of it?
And Rudy "Swami-ani" proclaimed an early success when a portion was recovered.
Goldmember has it all.
I Love Gold!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr0gNJ090JA
Roop a Doop
Dupe
Portugal is awfully quiet about what happened to it's gold.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/05/04/559231/portugal-sell-your-gold/
Portugal is awfully quiet about what happened to it's gold.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/05/04/559231/portugal-sell-your-gold/
Buffet: "Gold has no utility"
Hedge Fund Analysts: "Gold generates no yield, and no income"
Mainstream Financial Analysts: "Gold is a speculative bubble"
and yet Gold is traded is daily volumes that approach global annual mine production. Paper claims to above ground supply run at 100x, meaning that in a panic, 90% of the claimants would never see their Gold again; which would be perfectly ok to them I guess since Warren has already alerted the world to the fact that Gold is irrelevant to head-scratching Martians.
Physical Gold, if nothing else, is simply rock-solid global financial collateral.
Seems the Belgians are expecting to be able to foreclose on their lent out Gold when TSHTF- which is also perfectly reasonable when you consider that the Belgian military is the best trained, most pwerful fighting force on Earth...
...oh, wait a minute...
The dutch central bank sold about 1000metric tons the past 2 decades. I very much doubt the rest(600-700 tons) is in our custody
"Lent out" their Gold?
Can I "lend out" my mortgage payment to them for a couple of years?
Does one of the decision makers in the Belgian government have a hot girlfriend I can "lend out" for a couple of weeks?
I won't tarnish her, I promise, and how much utility does she have anyways? You can't eat her (um...er...well...not that way anyway).
Unbeleviable.
We are already lending out our national parks in the U.S. for the Mexican drug cartels to grow pot; maybe this means we will close the Grand Canyon and "lend it out" to the Chinese for a couple of months?
Maybe that gold in Fort Knox has tungsten cores because we "lent out" the insides to jewelry and tooth crown fabricators?
What makes you think there is even gold coated tungsten in Fort Knox?
Good point. It's probably all holographic images, like our rights.
History repeats...
The jig was up for John Law who was printing French notes (btw 1715-1720) at a premium over gold coins under the Royal Charter. The ZH types of the time noticed that someone had trouble redeeming the notes back into gold coinage one day, so it began to unravel, slowly at first.
The ZHers of the day stealthily acquired gold, other items of value and got them oout of the country before the scam became widely known and it unraveled.
Sure enough, gold was suddenly banned, confiscated, and Royal agents were searching all traveler's bags leaving the country (TSA -- in 1720), but the gold confiscation didn't work and only lasted months.
It's amazing how the scam hasn't changed a bit in 300 years.
Me thinks this is really good news. For the bugs that is, myself included.
Note to Belgium: You'll never get your gold back.
On this point GREED & fear should make it clear that the 25% of the global portfolio for a US dollar-denominated pension fund allocated to gold bullion is in physical gold.
How is that not fraud? Oh, well I guess it's not any more fraudulent than the fractional reserve banking system.
0.3% annual return??
Is there any other reasonable explanation outside being a sweetheart deal to certain entities?
Yea, just like the article of them sending most of hte 600 tons of gold to the US and France. They won't get much of it back, trust me.
Let me see.
The return on fiat dollars in the past 10 years has been... what? Well, the dollar has lost 80% of its value in the past 10 years. Are we supposed to prefer that to gold, which holds it's value?
Hell, give me an honest 0% return in REAL VALUE and I'm tickled pink. Which is why I'm always 95% to 100% in real physical silver and gold. How much regret for holding gold? Absolute zero.
They still don't have a government....maybe that's a good way to govern?
Oh well, I guess we won't need our gold anymore anyway after our governtmentless non-country falls apart.
0.3% LOL awesome negotiation skills.
no doubt this has something to do with the massive loans provided by the fed to a particular belgian bank.