The US gvnt bought an unusual amount of gold
Posted by TheBushidoWay@reddit | PrepperIntel | View on Reddit | 66 comments
Click baity title, but something I took notice of. Not sure their motivation. Hedge against dollar collapse or perhaps ww3? Idk. Anybody want to discuss? Also I know the Chinese have been buying sh!t tons of gold too
Skinny-on-the-Inside@reddit
Moody’s just downgraded us so the USD is going to fall in value.
JRHLowdown3@reddit
Been going on for several years now (inflation). Who knew you couldn't print trillions to give away tons of money and their not be a consequence?
Skinny-on-the-Inside@reddit
The Republican way…
JRHLowdown3@reddit
They all do it yeah but the inflation started to skyrocket under your savior Mr. Poopypants Autopen. But you know "10% to the big guy" on every dollar fleeced by Ukraine, that shit adds up!
Carrie_1968@reddit
Mr. Poopypants doesn’t use an autopen, he uses a freaking Sharpie 😖 like a child would.
His successor lowered Mr. Poopypant’s inflation but now Mr. Poopypants is right back to pushing inflation through the ceiling.
Skinny-on-the-Inside@reddit
By the time Biden left office, the inflation rate had fallen to just 2.9%…
JRHLowdown3@reddit
ROTFLMAO
Skinny-on-the-Inside@reddit
It’s a matter of public record…
Present_Figure_4786@reddit
So what's with this 'genius bit coin' they are trying to use to establish the world currency? Is it related to the downgrade?
Skinny-on-the-Inside@reddit
Crypto has no fundamentals, it’s a hyped up hot potato, and an excellent way to launder money.
DecrimIowa@reddit
the Moody's downgrade is a huge deal. money just got more expensive, bond ratings are what all the lending rates are based on.
incidentally this is what preceded every big collapse in history. do your homework by reading the case studies here:
https://archive.org/details/manias-panics-and-crashes
picrel, Isaac Newton's investment decisions during one of the bubbles listed in the book, the South Seas bubble
Skinny-on-the-Inside@reddit
The US was also downgraded in 2021 and 2023, not out first rodeo.
DecrimIowa@reddit
i think it's fair to say that the risk environment and macroeconomic situation are quite a bit different from 2011 or even 2023 right now though
Skinny-on-the-Inside@reddit
No argument there.
AntBeaters@reddit
Yes but also not exactly the first bellwether nor major institution to do so (S&P, etc) and really more pause should’ve been given to previous downgrades, our market is fucking nonsense. I think we were heading for a correction and now something a but worse.
DecrimIowa@reddit
trust me i was out here waving my hands and yelling and wearing a sandwich board reading "THE END IS NEAR" when the previous credit downgrades happened too but everyone is too busy with their Tik Tok Cringe Compilations and Capybara videos and Kardashians Met Gala run downs and Trump Diet Analyses to notice these crazy epochal shifts in the geopolitical system that are happening all around us
the post ww2 system is dying! the next system is being born! our world is going into labor! the contractions are beginnin! push! puuuushhh!!
r2k-in-the-vortex@reddit
It's less of a big deal than you think. It's been a while since anyone took Moody's aaa for US seriously. This is more about Moody's being unable to stretch its credibility any further, than it is about US credit worthiness having changed.
DecrimIowa@reddit
those ratings agencies are so crooked, it's crazy how much depends on them. same with the big 4 auditing/consulting companies.
Jerrell123@reddit
Moody’s was the last company to certify a AAA rating, it was already the general consensus among these ratings boards that the US is a AA1/ AA+ rating.
Fitch and S&P, who together control the majority of the global credit market (15% and 42% respectively) gave us an AA+ rating multiple years ago. Yes, that 38% that go to Moody’s are going to have an impact on US gov lending, but not anything close to a catastrophic level.
Important to note, it’s almost entirely a downgrade because of the expectation that Trump’s budget omnibus will pass with tax cuts and budget increases. If the budget bill is shot down, our rating will reflect it.
daviddjg0033@reddit
So just hundreds of billions leaving US treasuries, maybe a stock market correction, and the currency falls?
TheBushidoWay@reddit (OP)
We've been downgraded before though when we were playing budgetary chicken.
phovos@reddit
What does having more onhand goal mean exactly, in this situation? I'm ignorant. Because our 'credit' isn't as good, we will need more 'capital' to secure loans, is that it?
Ricky_Ventura@reddit
Gold is seen as a good stable international currency -- basically a pass to trade for whatever other currency you need at a moment's notice.
Usually it's bought when faith in a monetsry system is at an all time low.
Skinny-on-the-Inside@reddit
Yeah they probably knew the downgrade was coming before it was made public.
One-Golf-9783@reddit
One word...BRICS.
SeigneurMoutonDeux@reddit
Wait. Didn't Germany recently ask to repatriate its gold?
Does the US not have enough gold to fulfill that obligation?
dank_tre@reddit
Wow, some folks sure get nasty on here, smh
Gold purchases have been surging over the past year & a half.
We can debate why, but 2024 was a record year, driven by purchases from central banks
I feel confident what is driving it, and I’m not a ‘gold bug’ (as if that’s a pejorative?)— it’s just a predictable response to an array of factors.
Another fact is, a lot gold purchases are difficult to track, because the central banks are not taking out ads announcing it.
But, yes, 2024 was a record year—driven by central banks (primarily) and investors
2025 is on track to be break 2024’s record, and its up over 20% — could be a bubble
Who knows?
Gold has its own inherent problems w convertibility—as well as portability & security.
MrHobbits@reddit
A fun trivia, many countries use their word for silver as the term for"money" (Spanish, French, Russian). This comes from the idea that gold was so expensive, valuable, and hard to transport that hardly anyone used it as a common currency. Silver however, was much more commonly used.
dank_tre@reddit
Silver’s interesting — it’s def a lot more fun to collect, if you’re on a budget, lol
$5k worth of gold, even at $1500 an oz, does not look like $5k
These_Duty3332@reddit
Scrambling to refill Fort Knox. 😎
daidoji70@reddit
This was explained in r/economics somewhere by someone in the industry. Its not the govt importing gold but private enterprises front running the risk of gold boullion tarrifs. So literally companies (like Costco which sells gold bars) prepping by front running policy.
BubobuBubobuB@reddit
Sounds pretty much like a selffullfilling prophecy
daidoji70@reddit
That's finance. However, the prophecy is "we are gonna tariff the shit out of everyone". The hedge is moving it to us shores regardless on if that causes short term rise in price.
Basic-Iron-6352@reddit
Fort Knox has no gold so maybe they trying to fill it up?
bardwick@reddit
No, it didn't. Not supported by the article or any other sources.
ALinIndy@reddit
Gotta decorate the interior of a brand new jumbo jet. Don’t forget the new toilet too.
jfreer22@reddit
Oh my god I literally just typed the same thing and then saw your comment lolllll. Great minds think a like.
jfreer22@reddit
Probably so it can be used for Donald Trumps new bribe jet toilet.
gerr137@reddit
Dollar is gonna crush. They are just exchanging soon to be worthless numbers in accounts for some solid metal while they can, is all.
RoseyOneOne@reddit
The Anunaki are coming back and they need it to barter.
SithLordRising@reddit
The reserve is full of IOUs.. best fill that void with something. US Coupons don't go far
BarnacleNumerous8677@reddit
Uh..the aliens need it for their ships, duuuh.
Buffaloamy@reddit
Well...did you see pictures of inside the white house?
rres9974@reddit
As some others have mentioned, these (mostly) weren't purchases. They were transfers. They are in NY Commodities Exchange Centres and such. And its worth around 60 billion total. Not a lot for a few banks.
Gold futures in the US were trading at a higher price than anywhere else so you could make a little money just by bringing them into the US.
johnnyringo1985@reddit
Banks and investment houses were importing the gold, not the Fed.
When tariffs were looming and the stock market was super volatile before “liberation day”, gold futures in the US were surging relative to gold prices around the world, particularly Europe. So banks and investment firms were selling gold futures here, knowing there was inventory in Europe, but then they needed to actually produce the gold because prices never dropped to buy back the contracts.
This is a textbook case of arbitrage.
No-Professional-1884@reddit
I think the real questions is what is considered the usual amount of gold one purchases?
ocrohnahan@reddit
Trump decorating the oval office some more?
Ok-Amphibian3164@reddit
Ok-Amphibian3164@reddit
AnnetteBishop@reddit
NOTHING in this article actually says it was the US government that bought it. What actually happened is gold was brought into the US to get ahead of tariffs. It was a "cash and carry" arbitrage to buy spot and sell forward given demand. Doing so you (if you were an institutional investor) could get a 2% ish yield that in theory should be riskless.
It is correct that other central banks have been buying gold more the last few years to have less USD assets.
Fancy_Exchange_9821@reddit
don’t forget what sub you’re in speaking sense like that
AnnetteBishop@reddit
Fair, good reminder for when I read it the rest of the time.
Gallowglass668@reddit
Trump needs some new toilets, something grand he can sit on enjoy his big boy parade for his birthday.
Fancy_Exchange_9821@reddit
From who? Themselves?
jkvincent@reddit
Trump probably wants to make toilets out of it or something.
CharmingMechanic2473@reddit
USA just lost it’s last AAA credit rating. China is swapping out US dollars for gold.
Just a photo… not the article.
DecrimIowa@reddit
>Hedge against dollar collapse or perhaps ww3?
i think those are both pretty good bets at this point but i'm not sure exactly what a "dollar collapse" would entail.
personally i think the derivatives markets blowing up as a result of just astronomical levels of toxic debt including offshore/private lending pools is likely going to be the catalyst. at this point it's just a matter of when they decide to pull the plug, or light the spark.
japan having a negative GDP report today (almost 1/2 percent lower than projected!) strikes me as yet another canary in the coal mine.
also, uh, aren't those tariffs meant to be starting to hit here in a week or two?
Lepew1@reddit
Didn’t they just audit Fort Knox?
therapistofcats@reddit
Your title says they bought gold. But no where in that article or the one linked in the first paragraph does it say they bought gold. Both articles mention imports and transported or transfered. Is this gold the US already owned and is just moving from one country to our vaults?
Words do matter and I find it interesting that neither article says "bought gold".
JohnnyDaMitch@reddit
The Treasury's gold reserves are not increasing: https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/status-report-government-gold-reserve/u-s-treasury-owned-gold
This author is just a gold bug. If you click through to the source article from CNBC, it's clear that this is due to private trading. "Though there’s usually no pressing need for physical gold deliveries, investors need to be assured that they can be made — something Trump’s tariffs threaten to disrupt."
therapistofcats@reddit
Yeah I kinda thought the same after reading the bottom of the article.
Common-Ad6470@reddit
Guessing that with oil revenues down due to the low oil dollar, Ruzzia has been desperately selling its gold reserve to continue financing its war against Ukraine.
Also guessing that Trumpcoin was involved somewhere along the line to try and keep the transaction under the radar.
xxxx69420xx@reddit
It makes the dollar stronger if you can pay your debts
GameStationGunny@reddit
Fort knox was empty, and the Prez needs a golden Saudi toilet.
24_mine@reddit
he’ll put it in his new jet
Planeandaquariumgeek@reddit
This is just so they can rebuild his gift in solid gold.