Is gold a barbarous relic? The US Treasury has just stated that they would rather default on the US debt than part with any of their gold. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-uncle-sam-is-hoarding-gold-2013-10-04?link=MW_popular
I'd love to see Rand Paul, Ted Cruz etc. squirm as bits of gold were sold off. Not a lot, mind you, just enough to cover some of the shortfall as we limped along.
Published: September 26, 1903 (110 years ago) Copyright © The New York Times Nation's Sound Currency Treasures Roberts Points to Huge Gold Holdings This is the Strength of Its Financial System - No Cause for Alarm Except in Inflated Credit Certain timid souls look upon our real money as a Samson whose locks at some time may be shorn by a Phillistine Delilah and its strength clipped away. Now this Delilah takes the form of a rush to the Treasury of the United States notes. Again she appears in the garb of a Secretary of the Treasury using silver for official payments. And finally she becomes Congress indulging in wild legislation. If mathematics is good for anything it proves that greenbacks cannot be procured in volume enough to be more than spray beating on Gibraltar. ... But - and there is a but - credit is based upon our gold, and it is possible to inflate and exploit it to a dangerous degree. Recent chronicles are not without illustrations. This process of attenuation and its rapidity and extent present the real problem of the situation. Wisdom cries aloud, and will be heard sooner or later, and better soon than late, that it is not safe to lift credit so mountain high that flying machines will be needed to operate in its thin atmosphere. In the meanwhile, and I believe for a long time, the Nation's prosperity rests on a sure and steadfast foundation. Then along came helicopter Ben... Source: http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F1EFE3B5D16738DDDAF0A94D1405B838CF1D3
I would not be surprised if there were some hidden executive order stating that US gold reserves will never be sold, traded, swapped, transferred..etc etc. Fiat currency has a shelf life. And we would be really, REALLY fucking stupid to unload Fort Knox gold to pay off fiat debt.
Let's Be Honest About Gold: It's a Pet Rock." - WSJ, 7/17/15 %Returns since... $GLD: +3% $SPY: -11% $IWM: -22%