In a fiat system with multi-trillion $'s of outstanding debt, does it really matter if the gold in Fort Knox represents .005 or .000005 percent of the outstanding amount?

Likewise, if the gold is there, but is attached somehow, via lending, swaps whatever - mere book entries in fact - then when push comes to shove and the US decides it needs that gold, who at that point actually owns it?

Likewise, if the world moves to some sort of global reserve currency as Armstrong suggests, where do we keep the gold that backs that currency, and how do we even know it's gold and not plated tungsten? That's an awful lot of bars to validate, and who's going to do the assay?

I take it as given that under the above scenario no nation will permit the relocation of its gold, nor are they likely to have honest accounts. The problem is similar to OPEC nations overstating oil reserves so they can increase production. The more chips you say you have, the bigger your line of credit. But who can we trust to do the accounting?

This is the 800lb fly in the ointment for return to a gold standard.

Honest accounting. Who do you trust?

ebear