All The Gold in The World

and..of course..the punch line to the joke is?

The 8,000+ tons has been 'loaned' to close allied nations and their central banks, who then turned around and either loaned it forward or sold it outright...but it still shows as part of our national inventory, since it was ever only "loaned" and we theoretically can call the loan back in gold at any time.

At least in the case of silver, they 0'ed the inventory and made it a clear thing when they sold it all off.

Pretty funny joke, when you consider ...if we sent England some tons, and we sent other nation some weight...they loaned us some on their books ..and of course, we didn't do the same with theirs in reciprocity which they did with our loaned gold. 'cause, ..well...just because. They say we don't do stuff like that.

That is exactly what has happened, AB, and we don't even need to float theories about it. It's a pretty clear statement of fact by what happened when Venezuela got their gold back in physical form.

Chavez Orders $11 Billion of Gold Home as Metal Hits Record (2011)

Ahh... 2011..What a distant time to recall, eh? So much has changed, and things seemed almost quaint to look back on. However, that was when they first 'requested' their gold be returned.

(Source Above)

As noted, it wasn't even all that MUCH gold. Well, not by the theory that central banks have real physical metal sitting on pallets and behind bars for security anyway. If we accept the reality that those valuts of imagination would actually hold one big envelope, containing the contract that amounts to a lengthy I.O.U.? Then what happened next makes perfect sense.

Fast Forward to 2012, and the operation was wrapping up....

Source

They made a big show and issue of it, with a virtual parade of security around armored trucks and everything else. Then again, how often does anyone in human history see that much, or get to move that much at once? Even Kings and Queens of historic importance rarely, if ever, saw or moved so much physical metal at once.

I guess I can understand their having fun ... still, the problem was getting it.

Source

The above it a piece of a larger article that does a fair job of laying out the problem and paradox with modern gold markets, where markers in place of the metal are traded and pledged as collateral THEMSELVES, after the actual gold left the building with the first go 'round.

As the last article notes....the Central Banks are or have been in a serious buy mode, to supply (or..as an odd coincidence, to hear them) the gold to nations following Venezuela. Others watched and learned, I guess. Gold on paper may or may not exist in reality, and in discussions of a NATIONAL wealth? Who cares what paper says if bullets and bombs start flying, or other major change event comes.

This is the precious metals chart I put together for my 2012 Budget thread at TOS:



It is only current to the source date I'd noted within it, but it was as accurate as I could determine by official sources at that time. That, was scary ..and that was a long time ago by the way events move right now.