You can't sell what you don't have

[EE_]

U.S. Treasury Says They Will Not Sell Gold As To Do So Would: “Undercut Confidence in the U.S.”
Posted on October 4, 2013 by Stacy Herbert — 4 Comments ↓

US Treasury Will Not Sell Any Gold in Event of Default

This week I asked them if they would consider selling some of the country’s gold reserves to pay the bills if the budget crisis escalates later this month.

Their response? Not a chance.

The Treasury has considered that option, among the many others, and rejected it. “Selling gold would undercut confidence in the U.S. both here and abroad,” a spokeswoman said, “and would be destabilizing to the world financial system.” She was quoting an official position laid out last year in a letter to Senator Orrin Hatch, but so far apparently little noticed on Wall Street.

The Treasury’s position is, in a word, extraordinary. We hear all this skepticism these days about gold. Yet the Treasury itself considers U.S. gold holdings to be a key element in maintaining confidence in the country’s soundness—and the stability of the international financial system.

Read more at http://www.maxkeiser.com/2013/10/u-s-treasury-says-they-will-not-sell-gold/#JTHwEddWUx7V9rXd.99

[mamboni]

But but but....Ben Shalom Bernanke said gold is not money and the bank only holds it out of tradition, like putting pumpkins out during halloween; in other words, a ritual without material meaning or import. Now, the Treasury says selling gold would destabilize the world financial system? I'm so confused!

[madfranks]

Yeah, Bernanke really effed up when he said that they hold gold out of "tradition". That one's gonna be quoted for a long, long time.

[Twisted Titan]

Yeah, Bernanke really effed up when he said that they hold gold out of "tradition". That one's gonna be quoted for a long, long time.

Who is going to remember?

Sheep have the collective memory of Goldfish.

[mamboni]

Maybe the Treasury is afraid that people will be reminded of how underpriced gold is vis-a-vis the US money supply and federal budget. For example, assuming the Treasury possesses the 8000 tons of gold that it claims, if it sold the entire horde at todays' spot price, it would raise enough cash to pay the operating costs of the US government for one month! Also, Bernanke monetizes the equivalent amount in dollars ... wait for it..... in 4 months.

BTW, I for one believe that they don't have all the phjysical gold they claim. And most of the physical they do have is encumbered by swap and hedge deals with select banks (JP Morgue) and miners.

[Ponce]

Change our petro-dollar to the gold-dollar, or at least lets make our own currency, and tell the Fed to get FUCK......they are buying our country (uffffffffff gringo Ponce) with the funny dollars that they have been putting out for the last fifty years.

V

[Libertytree]

Sure you can sell what you don't have! When its somebody elses! That you have the power to steal from them.

[madfranks]

Who is going to remember?

Sheep have the collective memory of Goldfish.

True, true. My wife's grandma still thinks the dollar is backed by gold. She missed it when Nixon de-linked it in '71 and never thought about it since.