Is there any gold left in Fort Knox? If so how much?

Question

Rumor has it that all the gold from Fort Know is in the privately controlled Federal Reserve. And what are the implications if there is no gold at Fort Knox to the true value of the US dollar?

Answer 1

The truth of this rumor won't be known until the US Government allows a public audit of Fort Knox (and the gold depository at West Point), which they haven't done since the 50s.

Remember that, when Nixon took the USA off of the gold standard, in the 1970s (effectively declaring that the USA was bankrupt), the reason that he did so was that foreign countries were exchanging their dollars for gold, and tons of gold were flowing out of the US stockpiles, headed overseas. The only way he could stop this situation and continue printing up more money than our gold stockpile allowed was to declare that the US dollar was no longer convertible to gold at the price of $32 an ounce. Anyway, the point is that we know that there is less gold in the US stockpile than there was, in the 1950s. But that's all we know, for sure.

In my opinion, if it were to turn out that the US stockpile of gold had been sold off, over the years, there would be a very unsettled feeling, at the least, on the part of US citizens and the rest of the world. Even though the USA has not backed its dollars with gold for 30 years, the knowledge that there is no "safety net" under the dollar might cause the dollar to lose value very quickly, similar to or worse than what happened in the 70s, after Nixon pulled his rabbit out of the hat.

By the way, you're right to say that the Federal Reserve is a privately-controlled corporation. It's not part of the Government, although the close working relationship that the Fed has, with the Government, often causes the lines of distinction to be ignored.

Answer 2

There is still a significant amount of gold in Fort Knox, but not nearly enough to cover the money circulating in even just the US.

The gold standard was created during the Roosevelt years by taking gold coins out of circulation and much of the gold collected since that time has remained where it was collected.

Your rumor statement appears to be a bit confused as the Federal Reserve is the arm of the government that regulates the money in circulation and the banking standards of the country.

The US Treasury controls Fort Knox and any other locations that gold may be stored.

The value of the dollar is not dependent on the amount of gold in any reserve. When there was enough gold to back up the amount of money in circulation, there was a belief in the stability of the dollar. Unfortunately, the amount of money in circulation has for quite some time well outweighed the amount of gold backing it up.

The value of the dollar depends on the world situation and the trading ability of the US. The dollar has lost a lot of value since NAFTA, because other countries are taking our jobs and our ability to trade. They now make our products and American consumers pay to import "American company made" products.

Take care,
Troy