This could get ugly !!! Portugal's Lost Gold

Back in 1990, Drexel Burnham Lambert — once the fifth-largest Wall Street investment bank — filed for bankruptcy as a result of illegal activities in the junk bond market. Michael Milken was blamed for the high-risk junk bond trades and the ultimate demise of Drexel.

What most of those people didn't know at the time was that Portugal's central bank had loaned 17 tons of gold to Drexel. When the bank failed at the hands of scheming banksters, Portugal's gold holdings were washed away, unable to be reclaimed.

Imagine Portugal's dismay and frustration at having to learn the hard way that you can't trust big banks. (And it could have much far worse — gold was trading around $380/oz then, as opposed to today's price of $1,660/oz.)

This time, people are invested. People are paying attention.

And the scenario for gold is changing across the globe...

According to Keith Barron, geologist and consultant responsible for one of the largest gold discoveries in 25 years:

I believe that most of the Western world’s gold, which is supposed to be in central bank vaults, has been leased out. Much of it is now in private hands in India, and what remains continues going East to China and other Asian vaults. So most of the Western gold has vanished from the vaults and it’s now just a book entry. These various Western countries and bullion banks simply roll these leases over when they come due, and the gold never gets returned back to the countries.

So it’s very interesting to see what’s going on. Obviously the trust is breaking down in the system.

The yellow metal is looking better by the day.