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Germany Has Recovered A Paltry 5 Tons Of Gold From The NY Fed After One Year
On December 24, we posted an update on Germany's gold repatriation process: a year after the Bundesbank announced its stunning decision, driven by Zero Hedge revelations, to repatriate 674 tons of gold from the New York Fed and the French Central Bank, it had managed to transfer a paltry 37 tons. This amount represents just 5% of the stated target, and was well below the 84 tons that the Bundesbank would need to transport each year to collect the 674 tons ratably over the 8 year interval between 2013 and 2020. The release of these numbers promptly angered Germans, and led to the rise of numerous allegations that the reason why the transfer is taking so long is that the gold simply is not in the possession of the offshore custodians, having been leased, or worse, sold without any formal or informal announcement. However, what will certainly not help mute "conspiracy theorists" is today's update from today's edition of Die Welt, in which we learn that only a tiny 5 tons of gold were sent from the NY Fed. The rest came from Paris.
As Welt states, "Konnten die Amerikaner nicht mehr liefern, weil sie die bei der Federal Reserve of New York eingelagerten gut 1500 Tonnen längst verscherbelt haben?" Or, in English, did the US sell Germany's gold? Maybe. The official explanation was as follows: "The Bundesbank explained [the low amount of US gold] by saying that the transports from Paris are simpler and therefore were able to start quickly." Additionally, the Bundesbank had the "support" of the BIS "which has organized more gold shifts already for other central banks and has appropriate experience - only after months of preparation and safety could transports start with truck and plane." That would be the same BIS that in 2011 lent out a record 632 tons of gold...
Going back to the main explanation, we wonder: how exactly is a gold transport "simpler" because it originates in Paris and not in New York? Or does the NY Fed gold travel by car along the bottom of the Atlantic, and is French gold transported by a Vespa scooter out of the country?
Supposedly, there was another reason: "The bullion stored in Paris already has the elongated shape with beveled edges of the "London Good Delivery" standard. The bars in the basement of the Fed on the other hand have a previously common form. They will need to be remelted [to LGD standard]. And the capacity of smelters are just limited."
So... New York Fed-held gold is not London Good Delivery, and there is a bottleneck in remelting capacity? You don't say...
Furthermore, Welt goes on to "debunk" various "conspiracy websites" that the reason why the gold is being melted is not to cover up some shortage (and to scrap serial numbers), but that the gold is exactly the same gold as before. Finally, to silences all skeptics, the Bundesbank says that "there is no reason for complaint - the weight and purity of the gold bars were consistent with the books match." In conclusion, Welt reports that in 2014 "larger transport volumes" can be expected from New York: between 30 and 50 tons.
Here we would be remiss to not point out that the reason why the German people and the Bundesbank have every reason to be skeptical is that as Zero Hedge reported exclusively in November 2012, before the Buba's shocking repatriation announcement and was the reason for the escalation in lack of faith between central banks, it was the Fed and the Bank of England who in 1968 knowingly sent Germany "bad delivery" gold. Which is why we have a feeling that the pace of gold transportation will certainly not accelerate until such time as the German people much more vocally demand an immediate transit of all their gold held at the New York Fed: after all, it's there right - surely the Bundesbank can be trusted to melt the gold (if any exists of course) into London Good Delivery or whatever format it wants.
Unless of course, the gold isn't there...
Bank Of England To The Fed: "No Indication Should, Of Course, Be Given To The Bundesbank..."
Over the past several years, the German people, for a variety of justified reasons, have expressed a pressing desire to have their central bank perform a test, verification, validation or any other assay, of the official German gold inventory, which at 3,395 tonnes is the second highest in the world, second only to the US. We have italicized the word official because this representation is merely on paper: the problem arises because no member of the general population, or even elected individuals, have been given access to observe this gold. The problem is exacerbated when one considers that a majority of the German gold is held offshore, primarily in the vaults of the New York Fed, and at the Bank of England - the two historic centers of central banking activity in the post World War 2 world.
Recently, the topic of German gold resurfaced following the disclosure that early on in the Eurozone creation process, the Bundesbank secretly withdrew two-thirds of its gold, or 940 tons, from London in 2000, leaving just 500 tons with the Bank of England. As we made it very clear, what was most odd about this event, is that the Bundesbank did something it had every right to do fully in the open: i.e., repatriate what belongs to it for any number of its own reasons - after all the German central bank is only accountable to its people (or so the myth goes), in deep secrecy. The question was why it opted for this stealthy transfer.
This immediately prompted rampant speculation within various media outlets, the most fanciful of which, of course, being that the Bundesbank never had any gold to begin with and has been masking the absence all along. The problem with such speculation is that, while it may be 100% correct and accurate, there has been not a shred of hard evidence to prove it. As a result, it is merely relegated to the echo chamber periphery of "serious media" whose inhabitants are already by and large convinced that all gold in the world is tungsten, lack of actual evidence to validate such a claim be damned (just like a chart of gold spiking or plunging is not evidence that a central bank signed the trade ticket, ordering said move), and in the process delegitimizing any fact-based investigations that attempt to debunk, using hard evidence, the traditional central banker narrative that the gold is there and accounted for.
And hard evidence, or better yet a paper trail of inconsistencies, is absolutely paramount when juxtaposing the two most powerful forces of our times: i) the central banking-led status quo (which is de facto the banker-led oligarchy whose primary purpose in the past several centuries has been to accumulate as much as possible of the hard asset-based fruits of people's labor, who toil in exchange for "money" created out of thin air - a process which could be described as not quite voluntary slavery, but the phrase would certainly suffice), and ii) "everyone else", especially when "everyone else" still believes in the supremacy of democratic forces, accountability, and an impartial legal system (three pillars of modern society which over the past 4 years we have experienced time and again have been nothing but mirages). Because without hard evidence, not only is the case of the people against central bankers non-existent, even if conducted in a kangaroo court co-opted by the banker-controlled status quo, it becomes laughable with every iteration of progressively more unsubstantiated accusations against the central banking cartels.
Finally, when it comes to cold, hard facts, which expose central banks in misdeed, even the great central banks have to be silent silent, as otherwise the overt perversion of justice will blow up the mirage that modern society lives in a democratic, laws-based world will be torn upside down.
And while others engage in click-baiting using grotesque hypotheses of grandure without any actual investigation, reporting or error and proof-checking to build up hype and speculation, which promptly fizzles and in the process desensitizes the general public and those actually undecided and/or on the fences about what truly goes on behind the scenes, Zero Hedge travelled (metaphorically) in space - to London, or specifically the Bank of England Archives - and in time, to May 1968 to be precise.
While there we dug up a certain memo, coded C43/323 in the BOE archives, official title "GOLD AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE OFFICE FILE: FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK (FRBNY) - MISCELLANEOUS", dated May 31, 1968, written by a certain Mr. Robeson addressed to the BOE's Roy Bridge as well as its Chief Cashier, and whose ultimate recipient is Charles Coombs who at the time was the manager of the open market account at the Fed, responsible for Fed operations in the gold and FX markets.
This memo, more than any of the other spurious and speculative accusation about Buba's golden hoard, should disturb German citizens, and of course the Bundesbank (assuming it was not already aware of its contents), as the memo lays out, without any shadow of doubt, that the BOE and the Fed, effectively conspired to feed the Bundesbank due gold bars that were of substantially subpar quality on at least one occasion in the period during the Bretton-Woods semi-gold standard (which ended with Nixon in August 1971).
The facts:
At least two central banks have conspired on at least one occasion to provide the Bundesbank with what both banks knew was "bad delivery" gold - the convertible reserve currency under the Bretton Woods system, or in other words, to defraud - amounting to 172 bars. The "bad delivery" occured even as official gold refiners had warned that the quality of gold emanating from the US Assay Office was consistently below standard, and which both the BOE and the Fed were aware of. Instead of addressing the issue of declining gold quality and purity, the banks merely covered up the refiners' complaints
It is this that the Bundesbank, the German government, and the German people should be focusing on. If in the process this means completely ridiculing the Buba's "she doth protest too much" defense strategy that what is happening in the media is a "phantom debate" as per Andreas Dobret's recent words, so be it. In fact, one may be well advised to ignore anything Buba has said on this matter, because in attempting to hyperbolize the matter out of irrelevancy, the Buba is now cornered and will have no choice now but to explain just what the true gold content of the gold even in its possession is, let alone that which is allocated to the Buba account 50 feet below sea level, underneath the infamous building on Liberty 33.
Full May 1968 memo from the BOE to the NY Fed: highlights ours:
MR. BRIDGE
THE CHIEF CASHIER
U.S. Assay Office Gold Bars
1. We have from time to time had occasion to draw the Americans’ attention of the poor standards of finish of U.S. Assay Office bars. In addition in 1961 we passed on to them comments from Johnson Matthey to the effect that spectrographic examination did not support the claimed assay on one bar they had so tested (although they would not by normal processes have challenged the assay) and that impurities in the bar included iron which caused some material to be retained on the sides of crucible after pouring.
2. Recently, Johnson Matthey have put 172 “bad delivery” U.S. Assay Office bars into good delivery form for account of the Deutsche Bundesbank. These bars formed part of recent shipments by the Federal Reserve Bank to provide gold in London in repayment of swaps with the Bundesbank. The out-turn of the re-melting showed a loss in fine ounces terms four times greater than the gross weight loss. Asked to comment Johnson Matthey have indicated verbally that:-
(a) the mixing of “melt” bars of differing assays in one “pot” could produce a result which might be a contributing factor to a heavier loss in fine weight but they did not think this would be substantial ;
(b) a variation of .0001 in assay between different assayers is an extremely common phenomenon;
(c) over a long period of years they had had experience of unsatisfactory U.S. assays
3. It is not, however, possible to say that the U.S. assays were at fault because Johnson Matthey did not test any of the individual bars before putting them into the pot.
4. The Federal Reserve Bank have informed the Bundesbank that adjustments for differences in weight and refining charges will be reimbursed by the U.S.Treasury.
5. No indication should, of course, be given to the Bundesbank, or any other central bank holder of U.S. bars, as to the refiner’s views on them. The peculiarity of the out-turn will be known to the Bundesbank: it has so far occasioned no comment.
6. We should draw the attention of the Federal to the discrepancy in this (and any similar subsequent such) result and add simply that the refiners have made no formal comment but have indicate that, although very small differences in assay are not uncommon, their experience with U.S. Assay Office bars has not been satisfactory.
7. We hold 3,909 U.S. Assay Office bars for H.M.T. in London (in addition to the New York holding of 8,630 bars). After the London gold market was reopened in 1954 we test assayed the bars of certain assayers to ensure that pre-war standards were being maintained. It might be premature to set up arrangements now for sample test assays of U.S. Assay Office bars but if it appeared likely that the present discontent of the refiners might crystalise into formal complain we should certainly need to do this. In the meantime I would recommend no further action.
31st May 1968
P.W.R.R.
To summarize: Bank of England discovers discrepancies with US Assay Office gold bars, notifies the NY Fed that its gold bars have major "bad delivery" issues, but, and this is the punchline, on this occasion, we'll keep it quiet, because the Bundesbank got these bars. This is merely one documented assay occasion: one can imagine that of the hundreds of thousands of gold bars in official circulation, the "good delivery" quality of bars outside of the US, and perhaps BOE, official holdings has progressively declined over the decades of Bretton Woods. One can also only imagine what has happened to all those "good delivery" bars currently held by the Fed as custodian at the NY Fed. Literally: imagine. Because there is no way to check what the real gold consistency of these gold bars is, and whether the refiners found ongoing future inconsistencies with "good delivery" standards of bars handed off to other "non-core" central banks. And, yes, without further evidence the above is merely speculation.
As to the remaining relevant facts: the US ran out of good delivery gold in March 1968 and only had coin bars remaining. Which is why it closed the gold pool and went to a two-tier price system. The Bundesbank went on to cover some of the outstanding gold debts of the Fed to the gold pool. Subsequently, the US then did several deals with the BOC to get a substantial amount of gold to pay back the Bundesbank which was sent over to England from March until June 1968. One can, again, only speculate on the quality of said gold. The Fed then created unsettled accounts to account for these transfers between itself and the Buba.
In light of the above facts and evidence, one can see why the Buba is doing all in its power to avoid the spotlight being shone on the purity of its gold inventory: after all the last thing the German central banks would want is someone to go through the publicly available archived literature, to put two and two together, and figure out that it does not take one massive "rehypothecation" (see "to Corzine") event for German gold credibility to be impaired: all it takes is death from a thousand micro dilutions over the decades to get the same end result. Because chipping away one ounce here, one ounce there for years and years and years, ultimately adds up to a lot.
We eagerly look forward to the Buba's next iteration of self-defense. We can only hope that this one does not include a reference to a "phantom debate", to "East German terrorist Simon Gruber" or to Goldfinger, as it will merely further destroy any remaining credibility the Bundesbank may have left in this, or any other, matter.
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Not a bitcoin troll. You won't respond to anything I say other than to remind me of golld's longevity and tradition. Never mind. We will just have to see how this unfolds.
Fiat paper will either die, or it will be backed by gold. Out of any other country, China is most likely to do this.
All of your semantics aside... PMs save/maintain your wealth. There is no other place to go.
Better buy some now while it's on sale.
That's your perception and opinion on how this plays out. Mine is a little different though I know at ZH I am up against people that keep telling themselves how brilliant they are.
I agree fiat will die. I am aware that backing one's currency by PMs can make sense. I already stated that PMs store value though I don't worship PMs. Some countries are so far behind in this perceived race to stack that in my view they will have to pursue other options or shall we say allow other options to take control.
My focus is on the development of an entirely new financial system and infrastructure. Backing say the yuan by gold still relies on humans telling you how much fiat will exist and how much gold supports it. Nobody can prove to me how much gold exists and who owns it. Something like bitcoin provides a platform whose features are not spoon fed to us by TPTB.
At the end of the day, why does gold have value?
So I take a piece of paper and write $100 on it with a green crayon......how much is it worth?
At the end of the day, why does gold have value?
a very interesting question, unfortunately one that very few are willing to consider, for the answer might take one back to what most people think is the dawn of human civilization.
When the US dollar dies it will destroy TRUST and CONFIDENCE in ALL FIAT CURRENCIES.
How many people in the World have Bitcoin?
How many people in Africa have Internet Access? (EXTREMELY FEW.) What is the population of Africa? Does it number in the Billions?
There are over 7 Billion people on the Planet. The USA, numbering 325 Million, has roughly 5% of the World's Population a vast MINORITY. Add in Europe and we are maybe writing about 20%-25% of the total...still a minority
The vast majority of the World's Population understand what Gold is and the purpose which it serves. Gold is MONEY to the vast majority.
Try trading to Africa, India, and China with Bitcoins. Good luck. They will not trust it. Try trading with South America using Bitcoins after the US Dollar collapse. Good luck.
On the otherhand they will have little problem with accepting Gold.
You can deny the relevance of Gold all that you want but it will not change the reality.
Reality, hmmmm. Ok, what about how many people on Earth DO have mobile internet access but DO NOT have access to legitimate banking/financial services??? I suppose there is no gap there (hint it's in the billions). So I suppose they will aspire to a life of carrying around sacks of gold coins rather than using something like Bitcoin for financial services.
almost none.
Almost everyone on EARTH who has access to a mobile phone already has access to banking services more stable & legitimate than bitcoin.
They will indeed aspire to having gold & silver coin - that will be the new reality - not bitcoin.
Albeit a more creative bitcoin troll.
Something like bitcoin provides a platform whose features are not spoon fed to us by TPTB.
maybe, maybe not. it all depends upon the incorruptibility of that blockchain and the resources required to maintain that incorruptibility.
Not really.
You have no idea who's the biggest holders of bitcoin nor the biggest miners. Given the computing power required it looks like it IS THE POWERS THAT BE doing it.
considering I have no way to get back value for bitcoins if I send them & nothing comes to me; and no way to get value back if I hold them but they become -99% while I'm holding them; ya, bitcoin is worthless vs gold to use as a trading unit of any sort.
"At the end of the day, why does gold have value? What purpose does it serve? what can you do with it?"
Yeah well work out why a painting somehow has a value of $250m? The Card Players, Paul Cézanne. Oh yeah, you can charge people to look at it and perhaps in a year or two you might get close to 1% of that cost back.
#1 nano-gold catalysts. This is proven to work but not yet in full commercial use.
#2 teeth. I have 4 & I will get another soon (root canal, crown is recommended)
#3 all phones, computers, displays have gold & silver
#4 money, gold is money so trading it is a small package with big purchasing power even in tiny 0.1 oz coins.
#5 I don't use jewelry at all. Some do & gold serves that purpose too.
#6 radiation shielding: gold is an alpha particle deflector.
The list is huge.
You'd be a fool to think there are no uses for gold outside money.
Given all those values of gold the only thing adjusting the fiat price of it is the fraud, the supply of fiat to buy gold & the supply of gold someone's willing to sell, which appears to be getting smaller.
"- watch as the world laughs at China's attempt because nobody believes anything the Chineses say or do especially when it comes to money"
While we're supposed to trust the US? HA HA HA, what provoked the demise of the US "empire" is not debt, it's this vain feeling of superiority that pervaded each of your decisions.
I never said it was a choice between trusting China or the U.S. We all know we can't trust either of them. That's the point. Some countries may opt to allow the adoption of Bitcoin because it does not rely on human decision making much less the motive of politicians. This is not complicated.
wtf? Bitcoin relies completely on human decisions.
Humans decide if the source stays the same or bitcoin total goes up.
Humans decide if they will hold any btc or not.
Humans decide if they will transact on-the-spot for conversion of fiat-btc-fiat.
Humans decide if they will run trading fiat exchanges for btc.
humans decide if they will have tons of wallets and/or USB keys of bitcoins.
Humans decide if they will run server farms to produce more BTC.
Humans decide if they'll run server farms with virtual machines to fork the blockchain & the source and take over the btc realm.
None of what happens with bitcoin is decided WITHOUT humans.
That gold is gone.
Hey Germany, what made you think they even still had your gold?
You'll never get that gold back.
The gold doesn't matter really. The Germans will get it back by working for it. Can't say the same about America.
Maybe the US does have it but knows a big war is on the horizon and is just going to stick in their ass.
as tony soprano would say forget about it.
vass
forget about it
vee vont are gold cowboy
it's gone
just gone
whatayagonna do
helmut?
nuttin
ohh boy the way are friends in isra hell say they need a new compensation package for the hollow hoax cause.
Pathetic and scary. Fear and loathing is so rampant sovereigns are left dangling in the wind instead of any bankers.
I find that kinda funny actually.
Hello Boys and Girls,
Once upon a time there was a lot of gold in the vaults of the US banks and Fort Knox, and then the tooth fairy took it all.
The end.
Baloney! You obviously never read Terry Pratchetts "Hogfather". We will kidnapp the first tooth fairy who shows up, and then we will hold the world ransom for 100 Billion dollar! Wait ... that's not exactly a lot of money, nowadays ... so we will hold the world ransom for 100 quadrillion dollars!
The NY bankers long ago sold off Germany's gold.
"What goes around comes around"... Bitchez
Round about the time the German's ask for their gold back the "Correction/Bear Market in Gold" started to Track the Inverse of the Great Ponzi Stock Market Melt Up here in the USA. Round about now all of it is in Question, and the reversion to the mean will follow.
Its the "New Normal Cops and Robbers".... The Cops and the Robbers are on the same Team. Everyday is a Heist and they all laugh their way over to TBTF Banks to Wash the Proceeds. Its a Big Club and Apparently the Germans ain't in it.
Hugo knew what was a going on....
Yea it's pretty incredible that crazy Hugo led the pack in gold repatriation. Did GS get their grubby paws on it yet? If not who knows where it is now. Maduro is an idiot. and probably cashed it all in for fiat.
Good thing nothing bad happened to Chavez right after getting delivery.
... oh wait....
......
The Boeing 747-8 freighter can lift a cargo of 148 tons, so getting 37 tons of Germany's gold back home shouldn't really be that complicated, yes?
By volume it's quite small actually.
Oh you metal bugs...
Show me a car that can run on gold, a factory, a farm. You think the world revolves around metal. It doesn't. It revolves around energy, specifically EROEI.
Half the people here on ZH will get that. Half won't. And for the other half. There is no hope. They will stockpile their metal like King Midas. Good luck filling your gas tank with it, or eating it.
Morons.
Oh you fiat kooks...
You don't have any gold... you'd better buy some now while it's still cheap.
question for you TBP: how many gallons of gas could a Zimbabwean buy back in the hyperinflation days with one of those $100Trillion bills? How many Big Macs?
Burning planet
Do you believe crude oil is in short supply, or is it plentiful? Just askin'
You think you're the only fossil fuelhead with an empty gas tank to ever take a lap around ZH? Molon Labe. We drink your milkshake.
damn fool. Energy is no good without machines to USE it with, and gold will be in many of those machines.
Along with many other things. Energy is important but alone it's useless. What will you do with a HAND full of gasoline? Burn yourself.
Huff it?
Those who have energy supplies sell them for a reason: they need something else & they will take non-energy, material goods, in trade for the oil or gas they sell.
For a good reason.
Maybe it just happened but at least the Germans fell off the Tunip Truck. There's a few countries/peoples still riding it.
5 tons of tungsten ought to be good for something
I figure 5 tons is barely one pallet. That means the Germans have 60+ pallets coming. They gotta be pissed at being suckers because Venezuela got their 250 tons of gold in just a few months.
'You cannot cheat an honest man,' goes the old saying. He may lose something if lured by cheats, but he won't lose everything because his honest intent will seek honesty, and bear the consequences.
This is Germany today, and its gold, and the immediate departure of DB from the LBMA daily gold fix once the German authorities were certain that cheats ruled the fix.
Germany wants its gold back from NY, London and Paris.
Other governments feel the same.
The biggest scandal in modern financial history will be exposed when the vaults are found to be empty - except for endlessly rehypothecated paper, claiming gold at 100 - 1; paper contracts many times more than physical gold.
The biggest heist in history.
I trust that the wealthy who were cheated will deliver justice to the cheats; rough justice if needs be. Don't let crime pay.
I'm sure there was a perfectly logical explanation for it.
They wanted to make sure it was all nice and shiney when they returned it. It was covered in so much dust they couldn't clean it in time. So they decided to melt it down and re-mint it. The People in New York could not mint it in time so they got france to do it. Same problem in France, it was dirty and had to re-mint it.
That's where Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild is located and probably has real dirty dungeon.
Germany, if you like your gold you can keep it.
GAME OVER Amerikana Kartel Swinehund!
So what happens now?
Kiss and Make Up!
You watch, there will be some swift diplomacy to solve this economic dilemna.
if german parliament calls the bluff the USD gonna be in free fall
Germany is not an indepentent country, it is a vassal state of the US.
There are still occupying forces in Germany.
German gold is (was?) held hostage by the US.
Not just Germany - UK too. Churchill was a member of both governments that handed British sovereignty to his mother's countrymen - Leonard Jerome would be so proud of his grandson
Paul Volker, are you out there? We await your comments.
BOC = Bank of China? In 1968? Nixon didn't go to China until 1972. Is this a misprint?
All your gold are belong to US.
Nine! Nine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you mean Nein ?
yeah, thats the German version lol
Obama probably told them 'if you like your gold, you can keep it'.....
Fed to Germany: what'cha gonna do...suckers?
Meanwhile, the natives are getting restless.
http://espreso.tv/
Check this out ZHers. Printed money containing gold.
http://beforeitsnews.com/gold-and-precious-metals/2014/01/a-new-way-to-hold-gold-right-alongside-the-bills-in-your-wallet-2573062.html
Or you can buy it here at twice the spot price.
http://www.valaurum.com/partners.html
VAPORIZED
Vap-au-rized(tm)
Now picture the Bernank running around in a Fed vault dressed as a leprechaun exclaiming "they're always after me locky charms!"
+ scotch. Trust me, this makes any day a little brighter.
5 tons is like a slap in the face.
If u like ur gold, u can keep ur gold,
The ‘barbaric relic’ and so on that has characterized those who think that gold has no value, perhaps a walk down memory lane. I digress, but in the 12th century when the Jurchen (the barbarians) were at Heaven’s Gate, the capitol, Kaifeng, they demanded 5 million bars of gold (50 ounces per bar) and 10 million bars of silver (50 ounces per bar) as ransom for sparing the population. The Song emperor was not able to comply fully from the Imperial treasury so they commandeered a general confiscation from the populace. The Jurchen gave credit for the palace women (deducting 607,700 oz of gold and 2.583.100 oz of silver for 11, 635 females). Countless bolts of silk, antiques, bronzes. art works, books and pharmaceuticals. It did not end well for the Song.
"If we want your gold, we can keep it!"
The Yank's have No Gold! Oh the Humanity...
I don't know WTF is going on here, except that fraud is involved and the bad actors are getting richer. I am reposting something from Harlequin001 because I found it interesting and likely that the gold was taken from European countries after WWII as collateral in the reconstruction loans, with the provision that the gold would NEVER be repatriated.
Harlequin001:
I've said this before and I'll say it again. Ask yourself this, if we live in a world where any central bank can print enough new money to buy all the worlds' gold, why isn't it constantly being shipped from one country to another at ever increasing prices? Why are China and Russia constrained to adding to their reserves FROM MINIMG SUPPLIES, and why will it take 7 years to repatriate one 10th of Germany's gold to the Bundesbank?
The answer is that gold is still, and has been for 50 years now the only 'commodity' that isn't for sale FOR ANY AMOUNT OF PAPER MONEY in the central banking system.
Why is that?
The answer is IMO because TPTB after WWII required collateral to make loans to rebuild a devastated Germany and Europe post war when there was no effective collateral other than gold, and that was in the US and UK. They needed to create new collateral to fund the rebuild, fast, and that collateral was debt. It was a requirement. They've done this before, they know how this ends, they knew how this would end back then. It ends in both inflation and default, and when it does the only countries with gold will still be the post WWII powers, i.e. England and the US. Every other country including Asia knows that when the default finally comes the asset side of their now somewhat T Bill bloated balance sheets will implode, counterparty risk will be 100% and they will have no gold for their currency.
Try as they might there is no way the Fed or the BoE will allow any central bank to take gold paid for in post war fiat hence China and Russia scrambling for mining supply and Germany's problem in repatriating its gold. There remains not one central bank not capable of placing a 400 tonne long to counter the April 12th short if they needed gold to be stable for their reserves, yet they didn't and still don't. This is because they don't have any real gold despite what is supposedly stored by the Fed and BoE. The Central Bank Agreements on Gold were a paper exercise, which means that Asian and European economies continued existence is still dependent on the USD, and they know it. This ends in default. That's when the Fed and BoE take back their gold from JPM and HSBC et al and every body else gets to eat the $700 Trillion credit loss that no one can see coming. We already know how this ends. China and Russia have until then to accumulate as much phys as they can before it's too late, because central banks aren't selling it at any price in paper. If they don't mine it they have no choice but to keep the party going.
If you want to go invest in the stock market go knock yourself out, I'm sure when push comes to shove you will find plenty of very tall fiat paid for buildings to jump off, and remember freefalls's cool till it's not, as many stock markets are about to find out...
Harlequin001:
But where has the gold 'gone'?
Seems to me that it's still sitting in the same place it always was but now with a 'billion' paper claims to it, none of which will be honored when the derivatives collapse finally arrives.
It will all go back to where it should be will it not, back to the Fed and BoE, and goodbye JPM and HSBC et al?
And then we can start again, with the West lending 'collateral' to the rest of a world in which everyone else including Joe sixpack realises that the bond market blow up just cost them their pension, stock portfolio and house valuation. Real poverty will be upon us all and the bankers will ride to the rescue once again, but this time with an all new set of banks, all collateralised with real gold priced at much, much higher prices...
And at that point every gold bullion investor will discover that if you haven't got a very good tax plan you're fucked, but at least they saw it coming...
Harlequin001:
But that's my point, Germany amassed what 3,800 tonnes of gold, on paper anyway and Gordon Brown sold 200 tonnes of UK gold but where did it go? When did the Germans or anyone else ever take delivery?
They didn't, that is other than Venezuela, and Chavez is dead now for whatever reason. Venezuela is already running out of basic necessities despite being oil rich. I believe they were allowed to take delivery only because Chavez was belligerent and couldn't be bought off, and because it was a relatively small amount of gold needed to keep the great sham going. It too was a requirement.
So where is the rest of the gold? It's still within the grasp of the Fed and BoE. This is the great scam. Foreign central banks know they can buy it but can't ever take delivery of it and the Fed and BoE know they can sell it without ever losing control or ownership of it. When it all fails their claims will be settled first and everyone else will be stunned that they have only paper and no gold. It's why all central banks are still playing the game and no one complains at the volatility in the price of the only real asset they can 'own' but can't have. They have no gold. Only the Fed and BoE have any.
So where are the multi tonne longs on the Comex waiting for delivery to Asian central banks?
Even HSBC just bought silver from KGHM in Poland for delivery 'over years'. Why bother when you can buy it from the market if it's cheap? It seems that everybody is desperate to accumulate physical from anywhere BUT the market it seems because they are shit scared of pushing the price up when they do.
Nice point. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. If there is any gold left, the US certainly does not want to ship it out, and that could be another reason Germany will not see their gold. Will the US ponzi scheme and debt bubble survive 6 more years? If not, any gold in New York vaults belongs to the holder.
It's just a web of lies. I remember a Jim Rickards interview where he states that no one will question that the US has the 8000 tons of gold that it says it has when we move to some kind of gold backed currency for international trade settlement. (Individual nation states like the US, likely will be assigned another fiat currency, after our current one vaporizes.) How can you trust the auditors going in and weighing and verifying what China and the US has? US gold stockpiles sit behind a shroud of "National Security." Given the epidemic of corruption and the high stakes involved, I don't see how any kind of internationally standardized, honest system can emerge. Given the 100 million Americans who think that money is a plastic Electronic Benefits Transfer card, I doubt that the use of real gold and silver and copper in our pockets will gain much traction -- in the big cities at least.
so untrusting! I have a bridge for sale too. Discount price but you only get this piece of paper for ownership - you can't actually go visit or use the bridge.
Consistently, Jim Rickards has been saying the US will flat out claim any gold on its territory its own property at some point.
Perhaps this is the day & we just haven't been told.
Since the Iran sanctions we've learned one thing moves gold: oil.
Well, as it turns out, Hans Gruber has a second brother who actually boosted the German gold from the vaults underneath the WTC on 9-10-2001.
John McClane will take his ass out.