A “trust-building” measure after an enormous hullabaloo.
“In 2016, we brought back again substantially more gold to Germany than initially planned; by now, nearly half of the gold reserves are in Germany,” Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann told the German tabloid Bild in what has become an annual Christmas interview about gold – to soothe the nerves of his compatriots.
Because they’d been frazzled, apparently, by this whole saga.
The German Bundesbank, which is in charge of managing Germany’s gold hoard of 3,381 metric tons, the second largest in the world behind the US, got into hot water in 2012 when rumors were circulating that some or much of its 2,000 tons of gold stored in New York, London, and Paris might not be there anymore, that it might have been melted down, leased, or sold.
The ensuing hullabaloo left some folks at the Bundesbank red-faced. Then the Rechnungshof (the federal government’s independent office of financial control) told the Bundesbank to rethink its overseas gold hoard. So the Bundesbank got to work. And in January 2013, it promised that by 2020 it would bring back all 374 tons of its gold that it kept at the Banque de France in Paris and 300 tons of its gold at the New York Fed.
Bundesbank Executive Board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele told the German daily Handelsblatt at the time that these moves were a “trust-building” measure, and he tried vigorously to put the rumors about the missing gold to rest.
The idea was to restore confidence. But it’s not easy. Central banks don’t often move tons of physical things around. They’re more into moving things digitally. And maybe they had trouble rounding up enough gold. So at the end of 2013, Weidmann proudly told the Bild in his Christmas interview that 37 tons had been repatriated to Frankfurt from New York and Paris.
It had been a “big logistical challenge” he said at the time, transporting those paltry 37 tons of gold back to Frankfurt.
This caused an even greater hullabaloo. Rumors ran wild that the gold was really gone, and that the Bundesbank had one heck of a time trying to round it up. About 45% of Germany’s gold was held at the New York Fed, and that’s where a lot of fingers were pointing.
So the Bundesbank got with the program. In February 2015, it published a video, explaining “how Germany’s gold reserves came into being and the reasons behind the relocation.” I don’t think it went viral. And the Bundesbank got serious about hauling Germany’s gold back to Germany.
On January 27, 2016, it announced that much progress had been made: “In 2015, 210 tons of gold were transferred to Frankfurt am Main from storage locations abroad: around 110 tons from Paris and just under 100 tons from New York.”
By then 1,403 tons of gold were in the vaults in Frankfurt, making it “our largest storage location, ahead of New York, since the end of last year,” Thiele said. The transfers were going “smoothly,” and “operations are running very much according to schedule.”
So now Weidmann tells the Bild, that there are 1,600 tons of gold in the vaults in Frankfurt at the end of 2016, out of Germany’s total hoard of 3,381 tons. Originally it was planned to have 1,700 tons back in Germany by 2020, he said, but the Bundesbank will “have finished the planned move sooner.”
Perhaps someone else will end up with the missing gold. But Germans breathed a sigh of relief. The message that 1,600 tons of their gold was safely back in Germany came just in time for Christmas.
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“Perhaps someone else will end up with the missing gold.”
Or perhaps someone else will end up missing the gold.
1219 tons of gold missing ??’
THAT’s a really Big Bucket … ‘;]
‘1781’ tons ….. ugh !
haven’t had my ‘Christmas Coffee’ yet …
A coincidence to do with year 1781?
March 1 – The United States Continental Congress implements the Articles of Confederation, forming its Perpetual Union as the United States in Congress Assembled.
A lot of the gold Germany got came from Libya, and some from Ukraine.
Only powerful nations dare to keep gold at the moment.
Perhaps the missing gold is being shared or leased out even though its missing?
Better check for tungsten centers
Don’t believe bankers. Get an independent audit done.
Exactly, KL…neither we nor the German people, to whom the sovereign gold should belong, can know that this is anything more than more Fedspeak, only from the German banksters (ScheisseBankierssprechen?), meaning of course that any and all lies of any size that further their plans or purposes are completely acceptable. What do you think, Germans?…do you actually believe your (lying scum) banksters any more than we do ours? I certainly hope not.
It’s entirely possible that there is no gold at all, not in FRA nor JFK nor anywhere else and that all of this is simply theater. It’s possible there are no more actual bona fide elections either. None of us minions have a clue. We read blogs and watch “news” and read “articles”.
And we hope somehow it’s all gonna work out for us.
What is the point of the gold? When Britain was paying for ships and munitions before the US entered the war, it paid with gold, overseas colonies and the cavity magnetron (the key to effective radar and, later, the microwave oven). The Americans said the magnetron deal was the best they had ever done. A fix for global warming or cure for cancer or malaria, would be worth more than all the yellow metal on this planet
why does being a gold bug and conspiracy theorist seem to run hand and hand?
So the Germans have 1700 tons of gold in Frankfurt. And what? Why the heck would anyone care?
And Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, a joyous Winter Solstice, or Festivus for the rest of us to the posters here and the Wolfman.
People love simple explanation for complex problems. Gold is kinda simple explanation of macroeconomics for them, it’s their silver bullet haha And it shines!
Because intelligent people understand all too well that most socalled “conspiracy theories” are in fact the truth and they also understand the reason for banksters bashing “real money” Theres your answer troll Kent
Thanks, Frederick…truth is truth, and simple answers are the best.
Probably because the gold manipulation theory – https://www.amazon.com/dp/0986036269/ref=cm_sw_su_dp – was mocked for years, and is now proven true with several of the world’s largest banks admitting to it.
Thats true as well misterk but the bankster trolls will violently attack you for saying so as gold ruins their parasitic fiat money creation scheme that has worked so well for so long Expect them any minute
“…in charge of managing Germany’s gold hoard of 3,381 tons, the second largest in the world behind the US”
Sure thing.*
*of all of the fantastic claims made about Sovereign gold, that the U.S. still holds ~8k tons is probably the least credible.
Exactly the biggest “conspiracy theory” of all after 911 of course has to be that Fort Knox gold fable
What about isis? that must be up there?
Rob we all know who this group actually is except the sheeple who listen to Jake Tapper and Wolfy Blitzer(fake news)
8k tons, isnt that the amount trading volume of gold the day trump was elected. some reason that rings a bell.
That was the volume of PAPER/electronic gold dumped on the market in one day. It was done that way to get the best price for it of course, because that’s how one ALWAYS makes the most money on a trade: dump it all at once. Those silly conspiracy theorists think the purpose was to drive the price down…silly wabbits. That’s like saying one shoots a bullet through someone’s head to kill him! Silly wabbit, again…we all know it’s done only to give him some cranial ventilation, of course.
As much gold as is held by the country with the largest gold holdings in the world is dumped in one day, and that doesn’t top economic news? Now that is a conspiracy. That should make (sane) people tremble with fear.
To me it, seems that an urge to embrace traditional measures of value is part of the so-called “populist” trend.
“Stuff” is being acquired and fiat currencies are disdained.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is building a depository for gold and said he wants to repatriate $1 billion worth of it from the Federal Reserve of New York.
Dec 23, 2013 It’s A Wonderful Lie — 100 Years of the Federal Reserve
It’s a Wonderful Life is a seasonal classic reminding We the People of our ongoing engagement with a .01% class using the public as work animals (“cattle” in the story). The story’s protagonist, George Bailey, embraces spiritual insight to continue literal “good Faith” effort for his community to not become slum-renters to parasitic antagonist, Henry Potter.
https://youtu.be/rbejXMIFRMg
Gold has been historically important, so have Beer and the Wheel !
Beer and the Wheel
The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. Beer required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture.
Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That’s how villages were formed.
The wheel was invented to get man to the beer and vice versa. These two were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:
1. Liberals.
2. Conservatives.
Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to BBQ at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.
Other men who were less skilled at hunting (called ‘vegetarians’ which was an early human word meaning ‘bad hunter’) learned to live off the Conservatives by showing up for the nightly BBQ’s and doing the sewing, fetching, and hairdressing. This was the beginning of the liberal movement.
Some of these liberal men evolved into women. Others became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that Conservatives provided.
Over the years Conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass for obvious reasons.
Modern Liberals like lite beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: many liberal women have higher testosterone levels than their men.
Most college professors, social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, film makers in Hollywood, group therapists and community organizers are liberals. Liberals meddled in our national pastime and invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn’t fair to make the pitcher also bat.
Conservatives drink real beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are members of the military, big game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, engineers, corporate executives, athletes, airline pilots, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other Conservatives who want to work for a living.
Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when Conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.
Here ends today’s lesson in world history. It should be noted that a liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to this post.
A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be shared immediately to other true believers and to just piss-off more liberals.
And there you have it. Let your next action reveal your true self, I’m going to grab a few beers and grill some steaks!
This is hilarious!
Thanks
This is a Christmas gift. Merry Christmas to all.
…and sing “God Save the Queen”… no doubt. Peace on earth, goodwill to all men.
Never a truer word spoken!
Aww gee all that university education I got and it said nothing like that??
Really good teaching Lars thank you:-)
Lars is SO right
Gold is often a good “fear trade” and it looks like we’re headed in that direction. But the USD is indicating that’s it’s the first choice among all choices. So in the near term, it will probably go up against gold before gold will go up against it.
A good example of fake news and a quasi- religious piece of nonsense being refuted.
Gold enthusiasts have to make up their minds- if gold IS to be a way of settling large debts between countries- there HAS to be a central depository.
A bank using digital accounting uses computers to move ‘amounts’ back and forth between customer accounts. There is no physical location of the clients’ money- it can be paid anywhere in a fraction of a second.
But if the settlements are to be in physical gold, as happens in the London and other repositories, an arduous amount of wheeling pallets back and forth has to happen.
But if everyone around the globe wants to have physical possession of their own gold, routine gold settlements become completely impractical.
BTW: note that as soon as the gold IS back in Germany the conspiracy theory morphs to: what if THEY are also lying- or even in on it with the US?
Auditors? What if ……ad infinitum
A simplistic approach…
So… imagine that in 1935 one of your more thoughtful ancestors had buried (and bequeathed to you) 100 troy oz 0.9999 gold together with its equivalent value – USD$3,500, in cash.
Having recently recovered the cache, you might well wonder: What is the difference between the purchasing power of the gold – and that of the dollar bills?
You would find that the gold had held it’s value rather well… 100 oz of gold, at today’s ~$1,150/oz would exchange for ~$115,000.
Your $3,500 cash, on the other hand, well… oh well.
True, and I have a small portion of my portfolio in gold and silver.
However, imagine that your ancestor had that $3,500 earning a compound 4% interest rate for the 82 years. It would be worth $93,015.
The current $20T national debt is getting carried for a very low interest rate, for now, but how long will that last?
You have to pay taxes on interest income. While its true that gold is classified as a ‘collectible’ and carries a 28% capital gain tax on profits from its sale the problem for a government is they can’t easily determine the ‘basis’ on 100 year old gold coins. You can sell them privately to collectors or, in extremis, bribe a government official with them and neither the private collector or the bribed government official is going to notify the IRS!
Had you just kept 100 gold double eagles you would have done far better than just owning bullion too. The further you go back in time the greater a gold coins value becomes. I saw a 1st century Roman gold coin about the size of a $5 gold piece being auctioned. $15,000 was the estimated value.
Government’s mismanagement of their gold exceeds even the mismanagement of their currency. That is why the public is so suspicious about ‘gold’ reserves. They belong to the nation not the current government but try telling that to a sitting president or prime minister. They’ll sell the nation’s gold as quickly and easily as they’d pawn your great grandmother’s antiques and squander a century of saving to fund the government for a few months.
You could have bought a Picasso in 1935 for $3,500, value now might be $100M. Even farm land purchased on Long Island then for $3500 would now be more than $115K, especially oceanfront.
ahhhh, but of course, the challenge is in which artist’s work do you speculate and in real estate, what location? not to mention preserving the art for eighty years and paying taxes on the real estate.
and obviously, not everyone has access to purchase a Picasso, even having the foresight to recognize its potential, nor is another Long Island readily available for the masses to purchase. maybe buying a piece of property in 1930’s Detroit would seem a good investment… until 2016 when the city has the least population, thus demand, since 1850. maybe not so good.
on the other hand, gold and silver are readily available–for now–and will most likely be in higher demand 85 years from now, especially with projected global cost-effective recoverable reserves currently estimated to be under a decade for silver and slightly longer for gold.
In 1935 anyone looking to invest $3500 would have been financially sophisticated, it was a lot of money. Any Parisian modern artist of the day would have appreciated more than gold. Most productive farmland would have as well, with the taxes payable through the cultivation of the land. And those are only two examples.
You could have bought a Picasso in 1935 for $3,500, value now might be $100M. Even farm land purchased on Long Island then for $3500 would now be more than $115K, especially oceanfront.
Yup…..highly provenced Art and collectibles trump everything.
I have a friend who collects Indian Relics from the Hopewell culture..,Relics that he procured 30 years ago have increased in value as much as four-thousand percent in that time period.
I have over 700 pre-33 20 dollar gold coins and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
9 and 10 people in the US have never even held a real gold coin in their hands….Once you have it in your hands and feel the weight, and hear the noise it makes when it falls flat on the counter top…..you realize that’s the sound of quality – You don’t hear that sound too often now with the products we make and purchase.
i hear ya… holding a gold or silver coin is one of life’s simple pleasures. remarkable, really. the heft, warmth, brilliance, solid klinking sound. it’s easy to understand the attraction of precious metals if you’ve ever experienced ownership.
Schroedinger’s Vault.
Exactly – however in my case it’s a thought experiment with a definitive answer – neither the gold nor cash exists. Perhaps in some parallel universe,
In German, that spelling would be pronounced “Schroedinger’s Fault.”
I’m going to study some good bank robbery films, Gold heist films, etc.
Anyone else want in…… Taking names Getting a team together……… Maybe I should go about this
“Thomas Crown Affair” style…..
How much gold fits in a ford station-wagon…?
.
The fact that it is taking so long for Germany to get its gold moved into its own vaults says that something fishy is going on far beyond a (BS) shipping problem. I don’t know how it ended up in New York and Paris in the first place; I do know that for sure I would never store my gold in my neighbor’s garage.
Having to send the gold to Switzerland to be purified and recast also sounds very suspicious.
The gold ended up in New York and Paris, because Germany was an occupied nation
They lost the war remember and were evidently “persuaded” to store it abroad by some lovely caring bankers Isnt it obvious If I were them Id check for tungsten immediately
Germans, gold, missing… does anyone know where the Gruber brothers are, I mean Hans and Simon.
If they are unsure, I am certain that we can get Mr. McClaine to look for them.
The Chinese buy thousands tones of physical gold from the west every year; I can’t see why it is so difficult to transport several hundred tones of gold from the US to Germany, unless the gold is no longer there.
agreed. and it may physically be there but already sold/leased hundreds of times to which determining the actual owner may prove impossible. unless of course, possession remains 9/10s the law.
Its obviously too expensive and if they cut the price more may become available?
On the contrary if the price skyrockets more will become available(physical that is) because at a lower price holders of physical will certainly NOT be selling not for fiat currency anyway
Its a free market, so they are free to set the price at whatever the ptb thinks are most appropriate to rip off the rest of us.
A banker, a scientist and a conservative stand in front of an empty house. A family of 3 walks in.
After a while, 4 people walk out again.
Conservative: oh sure, it’s procreation. They had a baby.
Scientist: this measurement is all messed up. We need to redo the experiment until it fits our expectation.
Banker: well… I guess if we return one of these people to their rightful owners, the house will be empty again.