Ron Paul worries Fort Knox gold is gone (not from The Onion)...

[madinmaryland]

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- With the price of gold at record highs, presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul wants to make sure the U.S. gold bars at Fort Knox are really there.

Paul called a congressional hearing Thursday to grill federal officials about his bill to audit and inventory all of the gold reserves at Fort Knox, Ky., West Point, N.Y., and Denver, even though Treasury officials insist that the gold is audited annually and is all there.

During the hearing, Paul suggested that the Federal Reserve of New York, which has 5% of the U.S. gold reserves, has the ability to secretly sell or swap gold with other countries without anyone knowing.

"The Fed is pretty secret, you know," said Paul, who leans Libertarian. "Congress doesn't have much say on what's going on over there. They do a lot of hiding."

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/24/news/economy/ron_paul_gold_audit/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2

[Ian David]

1. He thinks Goldfinger stole it. n/t

[apnu]

2. This has been a Libertarian theory for some time. I know a few Libs its all they talk about. (nt)

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. It's all been swapped out..

...for gold-plated bars, or some of it was alloyed with some other dense metal, to make it look good and the gold is gone.

This story's been making the rounds for years. I remember it from the early '70's when Nixon finally shut what was left of the gold window.

[nichomachus]

3. Ron Paul, crazier than a shithouse rat

[hifiguy]

4. Like Abe Simpson and McGrumpy, he is just a

crazy old man who screams at the clouds. :crazy:

[truebrit71]

5. Simple solution, fly his ass down there, give him a clipboard and a pen...

...and tell him to start counting...

[NNN0LHI]

31. Better check his pockets when he leaves

[mysuzuki2]

6. no, it's not gone.

Sean Connery saved it from Goldfinger. Didn't Ron Paul see the movie?

[Brother Buzz]

13. Goldfinger NEVER intended to steal the gold

His plan was to nuke the gold to take it out of play and drive the market price up. Perhaps Paul needs to suit-up and sniff around the vaults with a Geiger® counter.

[Kablooie]

8. Johnny Knoxville says it's still there and I trust him because of his name.

[John Paul Jones]

9. Well, they looted the Social Security trust fund, didn't they?

[damntexdem]

10. Wouldn't that make it Ft. Not?

Hey, if it's gone, I'd check Glen Beck's safety deposit box first. ;-)

[pinboy3niner]

23. It's hidden where they did the 'moon landing'--Studio B

:tinfoilhat: :crazy:

[neverforget]

11. I have 2 friends who think Ron Paul is going to win the Presidency next year

:crazy:

[HopeHoops]

30. "Friends"?

You might want to think about that.

[neverforget]

32. They're good guys who unfortunately have fallen for simple solutions

to complex problems. We disagree on politics and that's it.

[BeFree]

12. Sell it all, erase the debt....

And give all us poor people $1,000 dollars a month forevermore.

If Ron Paul would just promise that I'd think about him as president.

[DesMoinesDem]

15. Only a couple hundred billion dollars worth at Fort Knox.

Nowhere close to erasing the deficit, let alone the debt. Though I saw an article recently about selling the gold to pay down the debt. I think it was probably Paul proposing it.

[BeFree]

17. Really

You know this how?

What I heard was that at today's market rate, there is trillions there.
Maybe that discounted figure is why Paul has his doubts?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

20. not even close to $1trillion

http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/fun_facts/?action=fun_facts13

Amount of present gold holdings: 147.3 million ounces. At $1500/oz it is $220,950,000,000.00...


sP

[theophilus]

21. I think I saw like a couple trillion. Of course once the government started selling the

price would plummet. Go figure....

[ProdigalJunkMail]

22. nope...a couple hundred billion...barely enough to make a dent... n/t

[kestrel91316]

14. This crackpot theory was being promoted on George Noory's Coast-to-Coast

on RW talk radio recently. Guess that's where Rep. Paul gets his news.

(snort)

[Motown_Johnny]

16. With that much more gold on the market, wouldn't the price be dropping?

Just Republican paranoid delusions again

[roamer65]

34. The Chinese and Indians would buy it all.

[benld74]

18. Was sold to the 'We Buy Gold' sign guy!!!!

[theophilus]

19. Hey, I wouldn't be surprised. I would like some proof, just for fun. Sometimes

I even think that some in government don't have the best interests of average Americans in mind. I guess I'm a cynic.

[some guy]

24. me too.

Cynical, and wouldn't be surprised.

It wouldn't surprise me if that's the reason Nixon took the US off the gold standard; once the last of the gold was gone, the standard couldn't be maintained.

[IScreamSundays]

25. I wouldn't be surprised if it has been looted like everything else in this countryand replaced by

gold plated tungsten. Put me in amongst the grassy knoll believers on this one.

[Glassunion]

26. So what? Even if it was all gone and you caught the guy that did it

they would only give him 55 months in jail and when he got out he would get to keep it.

But that fucker who stole 100 bucks from a bank and returned it the next day... 15 years ass hole!!!

[Gin]

27. does it even matter anymore? there was a time our currency was backed

by the gold...now if the fed needs money...they print it.

[Glassunion]

29. So I guess I should brush up on my Chinese?

[sarcasmo]

28. Dr Evil has the gold.

[roamer65]

33. Most of it is 90% gold, from the 1937 coin melt.

Rumor has it most of it is from the 1937 coin melt, where the gov't melted most gold coins it had withdrawn or confiscated.

Many Saint Gaudens $20 double eagles are very, very rare today becuase of that coin melt.

FDR was one of the great presidents, but the decision to melt the old US gold coins was pretty stupid.

If they simply had left them as coins, the government could have a made a fortune selling them to collectors in the future.