Every now and then conspiracy theories come up on social media and web chat boards concerning the gold in Fort Knox. In response to official data, america of America has the most important gold reserves by a protracted shot. No different nation even comes shut.
In the present day, questions are swirling across the Web once more about our nation’s gold reserves. So we dig into a number of the details to allow you to resolve what you assume.
There may be fascinating historical past round Fort Knox in Kentucky—probably the most safe and secret locations in America. In spite of everything, in line with official data, Fort Knox shops an unimaginable 147.3 million ounces of our nation’s gold, greater than half of our complete gold reserves.
The federal government values that gold at a so-called “e-book worth” of gold totaling $6.22 billion. That e-book worth quantity is nicely beneath precise market worth—as it’s primarily based on a hard and fast gold worth that authorities officers set in 1973 at $42.22 per ounce.
In the present day’s Market Costs of Fort Knox Gold
At as we speak’s spot gold worth, that 147.3 million ounces of gold is price over $338 billion. Listed below are different places that our nation shops gold.
High 3 U.S. Deep Storage Gold Holdings
Supply: Treasury.gov
Conspiracy Theories Level Out That No One Has Seen This Gold Currently
The Concept: The gold should be lacking as a result of the federal government gained’t let anybody into Fort Knox to test on it. Listed below are a number of the theories behind the lacking gold:
- The U.S. authorities moved our nation’s gold someplace else.
- The U.S. bought our gold to China.
- The gold bars in Fort Knox have been changed with fakes crammed with tungsten.
- The U.S. authorities secretly bought off our gold and changed it with metallic bars which can be solely painted gold.
- Aliens took it.
FDR Solely President to Go to
It’s true that not many U.S. presidents have traveled to Fort Knox to see the gold. It was President Franklin Roosevelt who licensed the development of the U.S. Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, and he was the one president to ever go to. Fort Knox opened in 1936. The following yr, the power obtained its first cargo of gold from the Philadelphia Mint and New York Assay Workplace. The bullion was shipped by prepare through the U.S. mail.
In the present day Fort Knox Is Closed to the Public
If you wish to go into Fort Knox, you’re out of luck. The final time there was an official go to was in August 2017. Then U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin paid a uncommon official go to to Fort Knox. He was the primary Treasury Secretary to go to the U.S. Bullion Depository in 69 years.
Throughout that go to, then-Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell accompanied Mnuchin. The 2017 go to was the primary time Fort Knox opened its vaults to outsiders since 1975. A delegation totaling 12 congressmen and about 100 reporters got admittance to view the gold.
The 1974 Audit
After the 1974 Congressional go to, an inspection of the gold was really useful and accomplished by a workforce of auditors from the U.S. Basic Accounting Workplace and the Division of the Treasury. In February 1975, the Workplace of the Comptroller Basic launched a report stating the full quantity of gold documented as being within the Fort Knox vault as of June 30, 1974, was nonetheless there.
Gold Saved In Sealed Drums
The gold in Fort Knox is saved in sealed drums, with signatures and dates stating once they have been sealed. The drums are saved within the vault and, in line with the audit, the seals are usually not damaged.
See official authorities data for your self right here.
Gold Is the Final Cash
When former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was requested as soon as why the federal government continues to carry its large gold reserve: Greenspan reportedly replied: “Simply in case we’d like it. You maintain onto it as a result of it’s the final word in cash.” That begs a query we’ve requested earlier than: Do you personal sufficient gold?
So what do you consider the gold in Fort Knox? Go away a remark beneath.
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