Does the Federal Reserve actually have a Gold reserve?

Question

We all know the Fed is a privately owned bank that sells the US it's own money with interest when congress could actually print it's own money free of interest. So why would we pay a big bank for money we can make on our own with legitimate back-up?

Answer 1

Uh, we do all know that the federal reserve is a privately owned bank? I think you're the only person who "knows" that.

You need to do a little reading

http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/faq/faqfrs.htm#1

Answer 2

Believe it or not, Yes, the Fed does have a gold reserve.

Check out the Federal Reserve balance sheet and you'll see they have about $11B in gold stock. (Ref: http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/ ).

As a side note, the Federal Reserve bank of New York reportedly has the largest gold repository in the world, even more than Fort Knox. It holds approximately 5000 tons of gold. However, they are just caretakers of this gold for other countries(Ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Bank_of_New_York )

- The statement that the Fed is privately owned is not wholly correct.The Federal Reserve System is organized with a government agency at the top (the Board of Governors), and branches beneath them that resemble private corporations. (http://www.federalreserveeducation.org/fed101/structure/ )

The Board of Governors are all appointed for 14-year terms by the president and confirmed by congress. It operates per it's charter and laws set by congress. it is overseen by congress. There is no structure or mechanism for private ownership at this level. Board members are forbidden by law to have any economic interest in a private bank.

The 12 branches, however, are organized similar to private corporations.

- Also, at the end of the year, the Federal Reserve gives all profit (after expenses) to the Treasury. All that interest they get from T-Bills? Most of it is returned.

Answer 3

printing money devalues the currency. every dollar is a debt for the reserve and they sell bonds to raise or lower the interest rate to keep inflation (a tax currency puts on itself) at a constant. and no our dollar is not backed by gold. it is backed by the the full faith and power of the us economy, the only thing our money is tied to is a weak link to oil being traded in dollars per barrel instead of a foreign currency

Answer 4

Nope!

We are no longer on the gold standard.

Try to imagine a congress in control of all our money. TRY!

Answer 5

We have some gold, even though we are not on the gold standard, the USMINT still turns out Gold Coins.If you doubt me, go to www.usmint.gov.

Answer 6

no