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Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

norberthaering.de

61–70 of 238 posts

Re: Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

#61
post #35

> Switzerland is a small, neutral country without a serious army. They would hardly refuse to hand the gold back on request. This guy is suggesting that Germany could invade Switzerland if they refuse to give back their gold, so this is a good reason to keep it there. I'm pretty sure such action would be illegal under UN rules, ie: you can't invade a country because they don't give you back your posession. And Switze…

Without a serious army? Are you kidding me? Yes its not exactly the US military but bloody hell, you would have a very very hard time trying to take over Switzerland - even these days. Road tunnels designed to be blown up, hundreds of thousands of modern trained soldiers with guns at home - fighting on their own terrain, ammunition dumps in individual towns, strong points, bunkers in every apartment block, supplies o…

How do airplanes work?

Re: Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

#62
post #42

I think the background to this is that, during the Cold War, Germans were worried about a possible Soviet invasion, so storing gold in the US at the time made sense. As the article states, conditions have changed somewhat and there has been political pressure to return some of the gold in recent years.

You read the news "Robberies in have increased by 30%". Would that make you more willing to redirect half your savings to my account? If so, I'm happy to discuss further via email.

If the alternative was keeping it under my mattress, and you were known to be a respectable citizen, then I don't see why not. Isn't this basically what a bank does already?

Re: Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without a serious army? Are you kidding me? Yes its not exactly the US military but bloody hell, you would have a very very hard time trying to take over Switzerland - even these days. Road tunnels designed to be blown up, hundreds of thousands of modern trained soldiers with guns at home - fighting on their own terrain, ammunition dumps in individual towns, strong points, bunkers in every apartment block, supplies o…

How do airplanes work?

From autobahns that can be convertef to airports.

Re: Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

#64
That reminds me of the history of Spanish gold. In summary: the republican government made an arrangement with Russia to send their gold reserves to not let Franco capture it.

Suddenly the russian military help became quite expensive. Paid in gold of course. All of it.

Re: Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

#65
post #3

"I am not criticizing the Bundesbank for storing 37 percent of Germany’s official gold in in a place there it has no control over it. It seems clear that they negotiated hard with the US and acted rather shrewdly." I am sorry, but as a layperson, I do not know what's to negotiate. If I own something, I should be able to take it home whenever I want?? This is mind-boggling. What's the point of property that you cannot…

Well the article hints that there is not as much gold in the store as there should be. Or if the amount is there, it is not as high quality as it should be.

If this was the case and Germans could prove this, it might not be in their interest to call out the Americans for cheating. The article point out that this could destabilize the world economy and that could be very costly for the Germans. Think about local banks collapsing and industrial exports plummeting.

Re: Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without a serious army? Are you kidding me? Yes its not exactly the US military but bloody hell, you would have a very very hard time trying to take over Switzerland - even these days. Road tunnels designed to be blown up, hundreds of thousands of modern trained soldiers with guns at home - fighting on their own terrain, ammunition dumps in individual towns, strong points, bunkers in every apartment block, supplies o…

How do airplanes work?

http://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/dont-mess-with-switz...

Aircraft caverns :) F18/A Hornets and modern equipments.

Re: Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

#69

If not stolen, what's the advantage for the USG in keeping it there?

1200 tons of gold is worth $50B; Germany currently owes the US $175B. [1] Could it just be collateral? [1] http://www.bbc.com/news/business-15748696

And according to that site, the US owes Germany over $400B, so not sure what the point would be.

Re: Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

#70
post #67

It could have been just swapped out for gold coated lead bars. Hard to tell without any transparency.

As far as I remember, some gold bars where discovered (in Australia I think) that had been cut open and they found lead or substandard gold in them. If that happened at the Fed you can only imagine the meltdown
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