Over the weekend GATA reported that Lars Schall has had correspondence with the Bundesbank regarding Germany’s planned repatriation of gold. As you know, Germany has reported that 37.5 tons were delivered last year which is about 50 tons shy of what was the announced plan last January and was expected to be delivered over the course of 2013. Peter Boehringer (the equivalent of GATA’s Chris Powell here in the States) asked many questions of the Bundesbank, the most central being why was this gold “recast” before being returned?
As there has not been an audit of Ft. Knox since the 1950’s, nor bar list made public since this German gold was claimed to have been deposited with the NY Fed back in the 1950’s and 60’s. This is a can of worms that has already been opened and any “answer” will only lead to more questions. So why exactly “would” the gold need to be recast before sending it back? Never mind the obvious question that we’ve already asked, why will it take up to 8 years to send them their gold? You see, gold has a “fingerprint.” Once it is refined down to “99.999” pure…the fingerprint is erased. For example, the “coin melt” that came from the 1934 confiscation has a fingerprint of 90% purity. The gold that the Soviet Union was selling back in 1990 was 89% and had the Czar’s stamp on it which was a dead giveaway that they were out of gold (money), they collapsed within 6 months and it was foretold by this “fingerprinted gold.”
For these 37.5 tons to be recast brings up the question of where did it come from. Was this the original gold that was safe kept? Or was the German gold leased out 100 times over and is this gold from another source? Is this like the bank employee or even retail cashier who stole from the register with the intent of replacing it before anyone found out? This is a very legitimate question because we know for a fact that demand has outstripped supply for 20 years or more…and the supply had to come from somewhere, right?
If the gold was held on an “allocated” basis then the bars should at most need a feather duster to clean them up before shipment…unless they are not the same bars. There is no other explanation to this, the NY Fed would have absolutely zero incentive to go through the process of recasting (refining?) even 1 ounce if they were shipping what was originally stored. Germany would not, should not expect their gold back in any form other than how it was originally delivered to the NY Fed in the first place.
I call “monkey business” on this one because there are just too many questions. The questions collectively ALL have the same obvious answers. All of these obvious answers point to the same conclusion. The German gold that is being delivered is not the same gold that was supposedly deposited over 50 years ago. The fact that their 300+ tons (20% of the supposed total) will take over 8 years to deliver means that it’s not just sitting in a corner collecting dust and waiting patiently to be delivered…it has already been mobilized and “used” years ago. The conspiracy wackos who used to be laughed at with their (our) farfetched questions and claims had merit after all…and all along the way!
Please remember that even though this gold that has been delivered no longer has any fingerprint left to it, foreigners can (will) eventually come to the obvious conclusion. The process may take longer and be far more complex and obfuscated than the Soviets delivering gold with the Czar’s stamp on it…the result will be the same. We live in an era where everything is supported by confidence, how “confident” will anyone be if (when) it is known that “the gold is long gone?” This is a very serious question and is the very core reason I have been screaming “buy” gold for over 15 years no matter what the price has been. Any price between $252 and $1,920 over the last 15 years has been too low by orders of magnitude. You could in my opinion add a “0” to the price of gold and silver…and still possibly not be the correct price to truly clear the market.
We will not know exactly how much “monkey business” has already gone on until the music stops. Whatever levels that gold and silver do finally settle out to when the dust clears will be an indicator as to exactly “how much.” All you need to do is read the questions that are being asked and then use your own common sense. Any and all questions speak to one thing, there has been fraud. Gold and silver in their physical forms are “anti-fraud” and will be priced accordingly after the revelation.
There is so much we do not know and so much GloomPorn out there.
I just listened to John Williams latest interview. He claims we have a 90% chance of hyperinflation beginning this year. Rumors of Global Currency Reset abound. And, rampant fraud, perpetrated by so many in regards to our financial system. How much of this gloomporn is worth taking seriously? Who knows? Better at least have some gold just in case someone is telling the truth.
G
I remember John Williams predicting hyperinflation was imminent back in 2011. Every year he says the same thing. I don’t disagree that it will happen, but I think Williams relies too much on fundamental analysis and the markets are ruled by anything but right now. I would agree with the gold bugs that the end will come one day when there is no more gold left and TPTB realize that the game’s up, and switch sides, and then you wake up one morning and it’s thousands higher. They will not let the end happen slowly enough for people to react and get out of harm’s way. I am sure they already have a plan in place for how this is going down; they more than anyone else know how much longer the gold will last. Let the Dark Ages 2.0 begin.
John Williams has been saying 2014 for the last 2 years…..I was originally LATER, but he revised it based on the 2008 crisis causing the extreme ramp in money printing.
As far as I know he has been consistent for several years calling for hyperinflation by or in 2014…we’ll see.
Bill, this piece hints at something I have wondered for a long time: how much of an inside club is the world of global central banking? Isn’t it all under the umbrella of the IMF? I mean, cold it REALLY be that the Bundesbank actually had no clue if its gold was still there at the Fed? I’m sure the western central bankers all get together for lunch at Chuck e Cheese on a regular basis and are fully aware of each country’s gold situation. Would there really be such a degree of deceit within the IMF system?
How much are the eastern central banks like China and Russia in bed with the IMF? I think it was you who presumed that China probably talks on a daily basis with the Fed about how much gold is left.
I think it’s US (us as in “we”, not the “USA”) vs. THEM, i.e. almost everyone on the planet (except the Chinese), versus the upper echelons of the world’s central bankers and elite manipulators. I have a hard time believing it’s the Fed vs. the Bundesbank.
Would the Bundesbank have really made a public statement that it had asked for its gold back but was refused, and instead given this 8 year excuse? I have a really hard time taking that story seriously, as if the bank somehow did not know and then out of shock went to the media to tell on the Fed.
I think we have no idea what’s going on amongst the central banks, all we can know is what the gold refinery numbers are and what some of the import / export numbers are, and from that we can come to the conclusion that the world is rapidly running out of gold. We know it’s going from west to east, and we know it’s getting shuffled around quite a bit as the elites prepare for the end. Anything else is speculation.
you mean the “BIS”, not IMF.
Right, of course. Too many acronyms.
???
It’s a big club and you ain’t in it. (George Carlin)
I recall reading that it was done because the demand from the German people had gotten to the point that something had to be done politically. I’m not saying that is the definite reason but offering perhaps the reason they went for it. When it comes to saving their behinds and job the politician will do what they have to.
As far as hyperinflation there cannot be hyperinflation until any PRINTED money gets borrowed from someone who is going to pour it into the economy. And until money starts changing hands at a faster rate inflation will be tough—never mind hyperinflation. Gold is not an inflation hedge. It is a loss of confidence in the system of things. Near the end of the monetary cycles inflation arrives and gold is entering its final stages of the bull market and thus it is taken as an inflation hedge. On a long term basis one can make the argument that it preserves purchasing power. As far as a lack of inflation in the gauges what is happening is the PURCHASING power is being eroded by corporate profits, increased taxation, increased license and permit fees and anything else the Government can get its hands on.
Thus it is not showing up in the measurements. Now if one wants to argue that the loss of purchasing power is inflation — then i won’t argue the senmantics. The price of commodities has been in a downtrend since the top in 2009. We are arriving however at a very important price point on the commodity charts where a major bottom may be coming into play. I would think that commodities have to at least turn up if gold is going to begin to sustain rallies and regain its bullish medium term trend.
Some thing stinks in Denmark to high heaven.
As the snake in the corner keeps striking at us, the time to cut off its head grows much closer.
Germany began pushing for their 1500 tonnes at the New York fed in 2007.
That weasel Geithner obfuscated and held em off.
Then they showed up in person and were turned back at the front desk.
They came again in 2011 and were shown a few bars.
This ludicrous 8 year deal came the day Geithner beat it out of Dodge. At this rate it would take 40 years for Germany to get whole. Not only did Uncle clearly steal the gold they cannot even meet the first years commitment. The Germans got righteously and quite properly pissed off, had their national Auditors Order them to repatriate,,, in your dreams its in Beijing … perhaps some was used for price suppression too.
Germany went public. Unusually.
They then went to their 1000 tons under the Bank of England. Same bat channel. Also stolen.
The Queen of England (are you serious) appears under the Bof E inspecting somebodys gold bars in a transparent photo op…. aka guilt driven overkill.
She is rarely amused at 87 , but she is clearly less so than usual, I know, I met her in 1952.
The next day she appears in Parliament, the first British Royalty to so do in 170 years. Its panic stations. Guilt driven overkill.
Geithner and the comical 8 year deal came on a Friday.
150 countries have about 9000 tons sefekept at the NY Fed … Or thought so.
The Fed switchboard lit up a hair that following Monday
Conclusion, the United States is a criminal Country.
How did they dare?
Because normally the attrition factor was a steady 2 percent tops.
The game is over, its on fumes, angry fumes.
Buy physical, take possession, this ends, perhaps momentarily.
The United States is a criminal enterprise. Govern oneself accordingly.
The U. S. is an occupied country by the Puppet Masters , thru the Fractural Banking System and it’s ” Tribe ! “
We are in what one would expect – under normal circumstances – to be deflationary economic conditions, i.e., high unemployment and a general downturn in business activity, but, at the same time we have the Fed pumping liquidity into the system like never before. As Bill has pointed out, all that’s lacking is velocity.
In the end, since the Fed can create all the “money” it wants out of thin air, inflation will “win the day” (of course using the word “win” here is suspect). But whatever, inflation will be the end result, if for no other reason that the United States Government cannot pay its bills without using “funny money” to do so. Consider the number of dollars that are going to be required just to keep up with the United States Government’s financial obligations… Those payments alone guarantee that eventually these dollars out-of-thin-air will make it into circulation. In the final analysis inflation simply amounts to more dollars chasing the same goods. There are many ways these dollars can be injected into the economy. I note that the banks (that are given these dollars) are now offering no interest for 12 to 18 months on credit card purchases… and as interest rates rise they will be even more motivated to lend out the dollars they have been sitting on.
As an aside on John Williams, while I personally don’t follow the man all that closely, I do recall reading that he said, about a year-and-a-half ago, that he believed hyperinflation would begin to take hold sometime in mid 2014.
I’m just a regular working stiff so how economists measure inflation for me is on some other planet. What I do know is food on average is up no less than 50 percent in the last two years. I have to eat. I don’t eat laptops, Ipads or other gizmos that keep the consumer price index lower than reality.
The amount of dollars for gas, food and shelter reflect a dollar getting hammered and no concurrent increase in wages.
To me the US government or various of it’s entities including the shadow FED (Goldman Sachs) struck a deal with the Chinese to export Western gold stocks at depressed prices in exchange for the Chinese not dumping their US gov’t securities. We all know what would have happened if they bailed. This way the Chinese exchange fiat currency for gold. But then wiser heads may have another explanation.
wiser heads? You got this one right all on your own.
Given the above off schedule deliveries is it fair to say that the US will now need aproximately seventeen years+ to return Germany’s bullion equivalent?
That said will availability get easier, I doubt it, so at some point I suspect the Germans to be US$ settled and told to swivel.
Bill,
Looks like you hit the hornets nest today. Seems like a lot of your fans finally are provoked to the point they want answers. As this plays out answers will come exceedingly fast.
when it begins it very well could be overnight.