gold $2000 /oz in 2009, page-58

what does a trillion dollars look like:

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html



the age:

http://business.theage.com.au/business/us-gold-reserve-might-bring-back-some-of-the-glitter-20090309-8tb0.html

US gold reserve might bring back some of the glitter Malcolm Maiden
March 10, 2009

MARK to market accounting is causing mayhem in this financial crisis, as banks and investment vehicles bring the book value of compromised assets back to either their traded prices, or an accounting guesstimate of what that traded value might be.

But there's one asset on the US Government's book that is it not being marked to market, and if it were there might be a bit more optimism about America's ability to dig itself out from under.

The US Government's gold reserves stood at 8133.5 tonnes at September last year.

That's about three quarters of the world's gold held in foreign exchange reserves. Other countries have run down their holdings of physical gold and replaced them with foreign currency holdings, mainly in US dollars, and on a combined measure, the US is an also ran, with reserves of about $US71 billion.

China tops the list, with reserves of $US1.95 trillion at the end of last year. Japan has reserves of about $US1 trillion, the eurozone has reserves of about $US430 billion and Russia has reserves of about $US382 billion.

But gold is booked for reserve calculations at the old Bretton Woods price of $US35 an ounce. At gold's current price of about $US935 an ounce, America's 8133.5 tonne or 261.5 million ounce stockpile is worth about $US245 billion. Mark it to market, and US reserves leap to $US306 billion — still less than China and Japan, but in the same league as Europe.

It is still not a lot compared with the amount the US Government is throwing at the crisis: the Obama Administration intends to spend $US3.6 trillion and run a $US1.75 trillion domestic deficit in its 2009-10 September fiscal year, pushing America's total debt load beyond $US11 billion.

More than half that debt is in the form of US Government bonds and notes - the paper that other governments, including China and Japan, are overwhelmingly invested in: the hidden value in America's gold vaults and faith that the US will always be good for its debts may help explain why US bonds continue to be bought, even though America is Crisis Central.