Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/27/2012 16:09 -0400
Three days ago, as a result of recent discoveries relating to Germany's official sovereign gold inventory, we asked a rhetorical question: "Why Did The Bundesbank Secretly Withdraw Two-Thirds Of Its London Gold?" There we presented the chonology of official disclosure regarding the whereabouts of German gold over the past decade, with an emphasis on its reclamation from London-based official vaults to the safety of the motherland, and left off with another open-ended statement that: "what is left unsaid in all of the above is that Germany has done nothing wrong! It simply demanded a reclamation of what is rightfully Germany's to demand." Nonetheless, the fact that Germany did this has opened a Pandora's box of unanswered questions, and even demands that Germany promptly demand delivery all of its gold - the second largest such hoard in the world only after the US - held abroad. Below is the official response by the Bundesbank.
Here is the gist::
We do not have the slightest doubt that our holdings in New York and Paris are also made up of the purest fine gold. We have at our disposal fully documented lists of the bars, and our partner central banks send us every year confirmation not only of the bars’ existence but also of their quality.
We had nothing but the best of experiences with our partners in New York, London and Paris. There was never any doubt about the security of Germany’s gold. In future, we wish to continue to keep gold at international gold trading centres so that, when push comes to shove, we can have it available as a reserve asset as soon as possible. Gold stored in your home safe is not immediately available as collateral in case you need foreign currency.
How about if you need collateral in your own currency, such as the de facto reserve currency of Europe, the DEM? Crickets?
The punchline:
Take, for instance, the key role that the US dollar plays as a reserve currency in the global financial system. The gold held with the New York Fed can, in a crisis, be pledged with the Federal Reserve Bank as collateral against US dollar-denominated liquidity. Similar pound sterling liquidity could be obtained by pledging the gold that is held with the Bank of England.
And what otherwise would pass as Saturday Humor:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-27/bundesbanks-official-statment-where-its-gold-and-isnt
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
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