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Opening
Statement by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul
Committee on Financial Services
Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology
Hearing on HR 1495, the Gold Reserve Transparency Act
Thursday, June 23, 2011
For far too long the United States government has
been less than transparent in releasing information relating to its gold
holdings.
Not surprisingly, this secrecy has given rise to a
number of theories about the gold at Fort Knox and other depositories. Some
people speculate that the gold has been involved in gold swaps with foreign
governments or bullion banks. Others believe that the gold has secretly been
shipped out of Fort Knox and sold. And still others believe that the bars at
Fort Knox are actually gold-plated tungsten.
Historically, the Treasury and Mint have
dismissed these theories, rather than addressing these concerns with
substantive rebuttals. No one from Congress has been allowed to view the gold
at Fort Knox in nearly 40 years, recent photographs of the gold holdings seem
to be hard to come by, and the Mint's and inspector general's audit
statements contain only the bare minimum of information.
Because the government has for so long refused to
provide substantive information on its gold holdings, it is not surprising
that so much confusion abounds, both within and without the government. The
difference between custody and ownership, questions about responsibility for
U.S. gold held at the New York Fed, and the issue of which division at
Treasury is ultimately responsible for the gold reserves are just some of the
questions that have come up during the research for this hearing.
In a way, it seems as though someone decided to lock
up the gold, put the key in a desk somewhere, and walk off without telling
anyone anything. Only during the preparation for this hearing was my office
informed that the Mint has in fact conducted assays of statistically representative
samples of gold bars, and we were provided with a sample assay report. This
type of information should be reported or at least tabulated and published,
so that the public knows how many bars of gold exist, what their fineness is,
and whether they are encumbered in any way through loans, swaps, etc.
While the various agencies concerned have been very
accommodating to my staff in attempting to shed some light on this issue, it
should not require the introduction of legislation or a congressional hearing
to gain access to this information. This information should be published and
available to the American people. This gold belongs to the people, especially
since much of it was forcibly taken from them in the 1930s, and the
government owes it to the people to provide them with the details of these
holdings.
We would greatly benefit from a full, accurate
inventory, audit, and assay, with detailed explanations of who owns the gold
and who is responsible for ownership, custody, and auditing. While the Mint
and the inspector general trust the accuracy of the audits performed between
1975 and 1986, this still means that at least two-thirds of the gold reserves
were last audited over a quarter century ago. Surely a full audit every 25
years is not too much to ask.
I look forward to the testimony of the witnesses
regarding the condition of the gold reserves, the accounting audits that are
regularly performed, and the inventories and assays that have been conducted
on some of this gold over the years. I am also very interested to hear their
comments on the Gold Reserve Transparency Act so that we may put forward a
measure that provides the public with accurate and complete information on
their gold.
Ron Paul
www.house.gov/paul
Copyright Dr. Ron
Paul
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