[FirstClassSkeptic]

Who was that guy in the British House of Lords that said organization X had contacted him and said that they had enough gold to bail out Britain? It was three times more gold than had ever been mined.

I suppose there could be more gold than what anyone knows about.

[FirstClassSkeptic]

The US dollar has lost 97% of its value in the last 97 years—since the foundation of the Federal Reserve (see most watched video in the world on gold bullion so far in 2011 - here). The debasement has accelerated since the U.S. came off the Gold Standard in 1971.

If Ron Paul’s reasonable requests lead to an audit that establishes that the U.S. gold reserves are substantially less than the over 8,100 tons that they are meant to be, the dollar will be at risk of falling the last 3% in a shorter time frame.

https://www.zerohedge.com/article/fort-k ... ul-pressur

[rerevisionist]

Total volume of gold ever mined---
A Wikipedia article estimates the total amount of gold mined at about 142,000 metric tonnes - a metric ton being 1,000 kilogrammes. It quotes the U.S. Geological Survey; one presumes it's about right - though these days who knows.

The density of gold is about 19.3 gm/cc - about 19 times denser than water, which sounds right. So a cubic metre weighs 19.3 x 100^3 gms, which is 19.3x10^3 kilograms, or 19,300 kilograms. (I'm spelling this out to be careful...)

Thus the total gold mined is 142,000,000 kg where 19,300 kg takes up one cubic metre.

So it would fit a cube of side about 19.44 metres, about 63 feet. If we take a rather poky British bedroom of say 14 by 10 by 9 feet, 200 such rooms would be filled. (The floors would give way though!)

[FirstClassSkeptic]

Case against Strauss Kahn is falling apart:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ators.html

[FirstClassSkeptic]

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/things-ma ... old-cartel

[rerevisionist]

Thanks for those links, FCS. There's a whole world of gold producers, dealers, traders, speculators, jewellery manufacturers, secure vault designers and builders, and people selling bonds for small people to hug assuming they are real gold, out there. The second of your links ('Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/21/2011') has these bullet points---

To sum up:
*** It is common practice for most Central Banks to hold part of their gold reserves overseas in ‘gold trading centres’ (read London and New York)
*** One of those Central Banks - that of Venezuela - wants its gold back
*** That means that a group of banks (mainly in the UK and the USA) who are supposed to have that gold in their vaults need to GIVE it back...
*** ...which in turn could potentially trigger a race to repatriate national gold holdings
*** Neither Fort Knox nor the Federal Reserve (the world’s two biggest gold depositories) have been independently audited in recent times
*** The status of the gold held in the Bundesbank (home to the world’s third-largest hoard) is somewhat unclear
*** The practice of leasing gold by Central Banks has been going on so long that it even predates the time when Alan Greenspan advocated sound money
*** The gold ‘physical market’ is approximately 100 times the size of the amount of actual underlying metal by which it is purportedly backed
*** The top four bullion banks, or ‘commercials’ on the COMEX continue to run what we shall politely call ‘significant’ short positions (chart above)

In the three trading sessions since Chavez made his announcement on August 17th, gold has added almost $100, coming within a whisker of $1,900 before settling back at another record weekly close.

There's quite a good comment, by 'Popo' which I'd say is a half-truth:---

To say that the dollar is backed by "nothing" is really just ignorance. The US petrodollar empire is based on control of the oil trade (among other markets) which in turn is defended by: the most powerful military in the history of the world, an intricate network of military bases (not coincidentally clustered in the oil producing region of the world) and various well-armed proxy states. (Also non-coincidentally located in the oil producing region of the world).

The dollar is a measurement of power. And that power is used to control the world's energy supply. (It's amazing that most people don't know this... as if 3 simultaneous wars aren't enough evidence). The power of the US *is* unquestionably in decline. And it is most definitely being challenged, slowly but surely by rising powers. But to suggest that the petrodollar empire is dead, or is nothing but a paper-tiger would be idiotic.

And by the way -- THE REAL REASON CHAVEZ IS BRINGING HIS GOLD HOME is not because he's worried about the banking system. He's worried that he's the next Libya. As US power wanes, the US will become increasingly militarized in an effort to seize all the world's oil. Chavez watched in horror as Qadaffi's international accounts were cut off. Qadaffi *could* have held off indefinitely if he'd had the capital to arm himself well. (He could have made the US and Europe pay an *extremely* high price for their aggression). But because Qadaffi's financial capacity was kneecapped -- Qadaffi is going to lose. [NB - I've heard Libya had huge gold stores - so Popo's account may not be accurate - rerev.]

Chavez will not make the same mistake.

The Venezuelan re-patriation of gold has nothing to do with this "Is there any gold in Fort Knox" silliness, and everything to do with the fact that Chavez knows he's next.

It's true that paper money is sounder than the erratic and accidental and theft-prone system of gold - PROVIDED the backing is reliable and trustworthy. Popo sees US bases etc - but assessing military power isn't that simple. The fact they have relied on the myth of nukes, and the fact they continually lie, and the fact that prolonged wars continue, and the fact that quasi-military strategies like forced immigration exist, etc suggest military power has severe limitations. And also Popo is ignoring the possibility of printing unlimited 'money' - and if a system is insecure, it may well think it has nothing to lose by risking its own currency.

[FirstClassSkeptic]

Now Kahn has been arrested in France for a prostitution ring.

https://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/fe ... estigation

[Cowan Bellarmino]

Per Mullins' "The Secrets of the Federal Reserve," international gold movements have been exercised regularly throughout modern times. Earlier in the 20th century, gold movements were intiated to move gold outside of the US in order to spark the Great Depression and progress the banking cartel's control of the US money system in the guise of the Fed. One could write a great book on world history if accurate records on these gold shipments could be discovered. Perhaps one has already been done, I don't know - did Niall Ferguson's "History of Money" delve into this at all?

Perhaps Kahn was advised of the absence of gold from Ft Knox. It wouldn't surprise me. The US' low interest rates and high volume sales of securities means that the Fed is promoting gold movements, so as to increase the "velocity of circulation." I also don't trust much of what comes from the IMF. They are a part of the World Bank, which was initiated by the Federal Reserve. The IMF started out as the "Stabalization Fund," a play on words as it infers their efforts are directed outward. I'd say it's rather inward, in that they want to stabalize their own fortunes at the expense of the plebes. Both the WB and the IMF usurp national sovereignty, which is a main goal of the cartel.

[FirstClassSkeptic]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8YdlJMQy-8