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France pulls last gold held in US

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Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#121

Post by byroot »

hypeatei wrote: post #112
u1hcw9nx wrote: post #105

>However, an operation to repatriate its gold holdings began in the 1960s leading up to the US termination of the Bretton Woods system, which effectively stopped foreign governments from exchanging dollars for gold. French-US monetary history after WWII: Under the Bretton Woods agreement (1944-1971), the US dollar was the world’s reserve currency, and it was pegged to gold at $35 per ounce. Other countries pegged the…

De Gaulle was ahead of his time. He was very skeptical of the control that the US had over Europe through NATO. He left the alliance to build an independent French nuclear program which is paying dividends today amid the current leadership situation in the US.

Nitpick, but France never left NATO proper, only the integrated command, and reintegrated it in 2008 under Sarkozy.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#122

Post by ur-whale »

PowerElectronix wrote: post #89

I doubt the claim, honestly. Such an institution would never buy and sell to trade the market, they probably never stopped being exposed to gold by buying and selling simultaneously and the 15b is the realized gain of the sold gold, which is only in paper as they still hold the gold.

> Such an institution would never buy and sell to trade the market

This is not what they're doing.

They're just re-asserting their sovereignty over their property, a smart move in the current geopolitical climate.

I'm actually surprised the utter dumbass they have at the helm over there managed to cook up such a smart move.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#123

Post by ur-whale »

wolvoleo wrote: post #104
Avalaxy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The netherlands as a whole should do this. Not just holland.

Oh yes that's what I mean. I don't like calling it the Netherlands.

> Oh yes that's what I mean. I don't like calling it the Netherlands.

it was tongue-in-cheek dude.

literal people are a hoot.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#124

Post by tonfa »

mort96 wrote: post #76
tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the full press release: "In 2025 and at the start of 2026, while the volume of gold reserves remained unchanged, the Banque de France had to align a residual portion (5%) with technical guidelines, resulting in a significant realised currency gain. This exceptional foreign exchange income totalled EUR 11 billion for 2025." -- the keyword here likely being "realized"

Is the logic that it's "unrealised" while the gold is stored in the US but becomes "realised" once it is stored in Paris? Why?

It's just accounting terms. They have to show it in their annual reports (afaiu they have to take into accounts unrealized losses, and realized gains, it's the case for many companies as well -- eg it came up with some Bitcoin treasury companies).

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#125

Post by worldvoyageur »

codethief wrote: post #81
worldvoyageur wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US gold would have been on the books at the original purchase price, so something like US$35 from 1910 (when a penny had a purchasing power of 38 cents now). Having deemed it more efficient to sell that gold and buy the same amount to replace it, the new gold is on the books at the 2026 purchase price. As the 2026 money price is far higher than the 1910 price, the value on the books shows a dramatic realized capi…

That makes more sense, thank you! Though do gold assets on the books really never get adjusted? I guess that's up the central bank to decide but I would find it surprising.

It's the rules of how they must account for the value of the gold they have. Gold is valued at the price paid. Then, it is valued at the price sold. If there is no sale for more than a century, it stays on the books at the price paid. Once a transaction happens, the numbers update. Then, the gain that everyone knows is there is 'realized'. It's like if you mined Bitcoin in the early days. Your gain is only 'realized' when you actually sell it. Until then, it is only theoretical.

Mark-to-market accounting systems are one way to deal with this quirk, but they create their own issues.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#126

Post by throw0101c »

hypeatei wrote: post #112
u1hcw9nx wrote: post #105

>However, an operation to repatriate its gold holdings began in the 1960s leading up to the US termination of the Bretton Woods system, which effectively stopped foreign governments from exchanging dollars for gold. French-US monetary history after WWII: Under the Bretton Woods agreement (1944-1971), the US dollar was the world’s reserve currency, and it was pegged to gold at $35 per ounce. Other countries pegged the…

De Gaulle was ahead of his time. He was very skeptical of the control that the US had over Europe through NATO. He left the alliance to build an independent French nuclear program which is paying dividends today amid the current leadership situation in the US.

Certainly debatable.

De Gaulle started this 'policy' in 1965 and it's mainly the current leadership situation that's been a problem—60 years later. So to a certain extent the policy in question was 'wrong' for decades. How "right" can you really consider them when it was a problem year after year, decade after decade:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henny_Penny

It reminds me of the folks that keep saying there will be a major crash on Wall Street year after year after year… and then it just happens to be occur.

* https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2023/12/rich-author-poor-re...

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#127

Post by stingraycharles »

hypeatei wrote: post #112
u1hcw9nx wrote: post #105

>However, an operation to repatriate its gold holdings began in the 1960s leading up to the US termination of the Bretton Woods system, which effectively stopped foreign governments from exchanging dollars for gold. French-US monetary history after WWII: Under the Bretton Woods agreement (1944-1971), the US dollar was the world’s reserve currency, and it was pegged to gold at $35 per ounce. Other countries pegged the…

De Gaulle was ahead of his time. He was very skeptical of the control that the US had over Europe through NATO. He left the alliance to build an independent French nuclear program which is paying dividends today amid the current leadership situation in the US.

[dead]

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#128

Post by okanat »

ur-whale wrote: post #118
u1hcw9nx wrote: post #105

>However, an operation to repatriate its gold holdings began in the 1960s leading up to the US termination of the Bretton Woods system, which effectively stopped foreign governments from exchanging dollars for gold. French-US monetary history after WWII: Under the Bretton Woods agreement (1944-1971), the US dollar was the world’s reserve currency, and it was pegged to gold at $35 per ounce. Other countries pegged the…

> De Gaulle initiated a systematic, aggressive policy where they converted USD into physical gold The dude was a visionary for many things, but I didn't know about this. Borderline prescient. What a guy.

Just like the majority of the classical economists and policymakers, you would call him a blithering idiot and overzealous nationalist two decades ago. It was thought that this kind of behavior caused world-wars. I mean it did cause them. It is just we're speed running the next one that changed the narrative.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#129

Post by stingraycharles »

c7b wrote: post #116
hypeatei wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

De Gaulle was ahead of his time. He was very skeptical of the control that the US had over Europe through NATO. He left the alliance to build an independent French nuclear program which is paying dividends today amid the current leadership situation in the US.

He also called Brexit before the UK had even joined.

I think that is the part that the parent is referring to.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#130

Post by KingOfCoders »

vasco wrote: post #70
zelphirkalt wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would be good to not depend on the US that much any longer, since they have proven to be such an unreliable "partner". Even in a non-Trump future one cannot rely upon some future election not resulting in some similar disaster. Better to pull out, before some hothead gets weird ideas about that gold.

Maybe the fact that US soldiers and military bases exist inside Germany's borders is slightly more important than where the gold is. First regain your sovereignty, I'd say.

Yes, close Ramstein and close Landstuhl, which were used for every US war in the Middle East in the last 30 years.
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