U S GOLD RESERVES

Think About It
There is more gold in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York vault than there is in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Unfortunately, most of it does not belong to the United States. It is the gold reserves of foreign nations, on deposit there because it is yet considered the safest bank in the safest country in the world. The U. S., arsenal of democracy during World War II, is said to have owned about 20,000 metric tons of gold at war’s end. It is now reported that we own only about 8,000 metric tons, but there has not been a gold audit in nearly 10 years. The bulk of the loss occurred during the Johnson administration, although it started with the Kennedy administration. Finally, in 1971, Nixon was forced to stop redeeming dollars for gold, because of the continuing international rush to redeem. He abrogated the Bretton Woods Accord, an international post war agreement which required us to redeem our dollars for gold to all other nations.
At the market rate of about $660 U. S. per ounce, our U. S. gold should currently be worth about $186 billion. Yet our government owes almost $9 trillion in debt. M1 is the measure of our most liquid forms of money. Thus it includes all greenbacks in circulation, plus all checking accounts, plus all bank money market accounts. In September, 2006, the M1 value was reported to be $1,357 billion. That means every liquid dollar, not every dollar, conceivably was backed by about 7 cents worth of gold. However, it does not really mean that, because dollars cannot be redeemed for anything else of value, they are simply Federal Reserve Notes. Our domestic redemption right has gradually disappeared during the nearly 100 years the Federal Reserve has existed.
Now please understand. I am not an anarchist. I do not advocate overthrow of the U. S. government, but it could sure use some major remodeling. I do not even claim to have all the answers. But, I do assert that most of the problems are the result of ever growing trade deficits with the rest of the world, and continued profligate Federal spending domestically. The U. S., which was a producer nation for the first half of the 20th century, became a consumer nation in the last half. Most of the manufactured and assembled products we purchase and enjoy now come from the far-east, on borrowed money.
The idea of world free trade has backfired on us. Nissan, even in its American plants, pays straight time of $14 to $23 per hour; while GM pays $25 to $29 per hour. But the real killer for GM is that in the 1950’s, they promised to pick up all employee medical costs, 30 year-and-out retirement pensions, and post retirement medical benefits. Ford and Chrysler were doing about the same thing. It did not show up then as costs, allowing for huge profits. Now it is eating them alive. The first car I bought was a brand new 1954 Ford Customline club coupe, which cost me $1,854. What will that buy you now? GM is said to be now spending $1,525 per car just on medical benefits, more than they spend on the steel included in the car. As their production goes down, their cost per car goes up. No wonder both GM and Ford bonds are rated junk status, below BBB.
America must once again become a producing nation! And we as citizens must realize the government cannot give us anything. We are the government. Would you birth a child and then abdicate any responsibility for its raising? If the answer is “No”, then you must not abdicate your responsibility to control your government. Federal, state and local governments all belong to you. You are the lord, not the vassal. But your control is in your vote alone. Never should you vote for anyone running for office without a thorough study of each candidate’s character and the issues involved. In doing this, my suggestion is to use television only as your last resource.