Posted on 01/19/2013 12:48:20 PM PST by Lorianne
Germany to shift 54,000 gold bars home ___
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.
Germany’s central bank is planning to shift 54,000 gold bars worth €27bn from Paris and New York to its base in Frankfurt, one of the biggest publicly announced shipments of the precious metal on record.
Not to make it too easy for anyone planning a series of heists, the Bundesbank declined to say exactly how it would transport the gold, or exactly when.
But between now and 2020, all 374 tonnes of gold bars, each one weighing 12.5kg, stored at the Banque de France will have been moved – probably by truck – to their new home in the vaults below the Bundesbank’s grey 1960s office block in an unfashionable corner of Frankfurt.
Simultaneously, an operation will start to repatriate 300 tonnes of Germany’s 1,500 tonnes of gold on deposit at New York Federal Reserve, this time probably by aeroplane in small batches of 3-5 tonnes in order to be able to insure it, gold traders said.
It is the first time the Bundesbank has decided to tell the world that it is about to move lots of gold around ahead of time.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
(1)Follow the armored truck leaving Ft. Knox
(2)trail said truck to EKX Airport.
(3)Identify aircraft
(4)
I’ve got this far on my own but I’m still working out the details.
Germany’s central bank is planning to shift 54,000 gold bars worth €27bn from Paris and New York to its base in Frankfurt... between now and 2020, all 374 tonnes of gold bars, each one weighing 12.5kg, stored at the Banque de France.. 300 tonnes of Germany’s 1,500 tonnes of gold on deposit at New York Federal Reserve... in small batches of 3-5 tonnes in order to be able to insure it, gold traders said.Yeah, this looks totally routine.
Ich bin ein Barlender
Somehow this all seems to be a plot of Blofeld.
My understanding was Germany requested their gold and the FRBNY said “sure, give us 7 years to get it together”. I suspect Germany’s gold isn’t actually there any more. Germany had no choice but to agree to the 7 year withdrawal if they wanted any gold at all. Had they created a stink it would be obvious to all the other countries that have gold in storage there that it is in fact not there and would create panic, gold prices would go through the roof and there’d be no way the FRBNY could afford to replace the missing gold. That’s my theory.
Goldbug ping.
It is very clear - to the Germans and to everyone else who has been paying close attention (too few!) - that a significant portion of the gold they left on deposit at the Fed has been “leased out” and then sold into the open market as part of the ongoing efforts to help manage the decline in the value of the dollar at a reasonable (non-panic) rate.
Gold is a barometer for the value of the dollar, and by strategically selling gold into the market at key times (usually paper short-selling but sometimes by physical selling when necessary) central banks can manage the retreat in the nominal value of their unbacked currencies against the one store of value that has survived hundreds of failed paper currencies over centuries: gold.
The fact that Germany wants their gold back, and that they’re only getting a portion of it, and even that just in dribbles over seven + years confirms that some of it will have to be repurchased in the open market at prices much higher than when the gold was originally leased out. Plus - the way the Fed has required tha the repatriation be stretched out is a clear message to other central banks that will be asking for their physical gold to be returned: “Forget it!”
However, one has to commend the Fed for its long-standing success in pretending that reality is different than this. Fortunately, the truth is slowly becoming apparent to more and more people and central banks, and once hidden truth starts to leak out, it generally becomes unstoppable at some point.
Plenty of Hollywood movie scripts to follow.
Oh the gold is still there. They just don’t it to glow. It’s only a matter of time.
There are a number of reasons for the seven-year deal. First, no one much has come around to ask for this repatriated deal before, so they don’t really have a real process. Toss in the security involved at two major airports. Then you have to figure the containers to be used (likely to have a GPS mounted on it). This all would add up. And yes, there might be some odd situation where the gold really isn’t held there, and no one wants to admit that there’s a bunker over in Kansas at 3k feet down where the gold really sits (I’ve heard that rumor before).
Correction: Germany has requested that Paris and the US return their gold. The last time they made this request, the US apologized, and said there would be a delay because of hurricane Sandy.
However, they did not say when they expected to return the German gold. I suspect that Germany will have to quietly sue the US to get it back. Unless this administration gets hit with fines equal to or greater than the value of the gold, in such a way that they can’t ignore the fines as well, I have a feeling that they will tell Germany that “the gold is in the mail.”
———(1)Follow the armored truck leaving Ft. Knox———
One small problem. The gold is stored in the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (I’m pretty sure)
———(1)Follow the armored truck leaving Ft. Knox———
One small problem. The gold is stored in the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (I’m pretty sure)
I suppose you COULD be right, but given the choice between trusting that the Federal Reserve Bank has the gold safe in a hole somewhere in Kansas OR the gold is gone, I’m gonna go with the second one. As for security, I doubt a Lufthansa 747 is gonna pull to the gate at LaGuardia and a couple gay flight attendants will start loading gold bricks into the cargo bay. This is a perfect time for Germany to try out it’s new Airbus A400 cargo planes. Armored trucks carrying 30 tons of gold for each A400, would leave the FRBNY in the middle of the night headed to a secure military installation like Gabreski Air National Guard Base where shiny new A400s will be loaded and flown to a military base in Germany. A refueling in Greenland might be necessary or inflight refueling is probably the safer route. You’ve got to think bigger man, bigger.
BOOKMARK
bookmark2
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.