The United States Bullion Depository holds about 4,603 tons (4,176 metric tonnes) of gold bullion (147.399 million troy ounces[1]). It is second in the United States only to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's underground vault in Manhattan, which holds about 5,000 metric tons of gold in trust for many foreign nations, central banks and official international organizations.
The US would never sell off their gold reserves: having the reserve fiat currency means, by definition, that they have no need to do so. GATA and others are wrong in that respect, although I believe they are right that monetary authorities and investment banks manipulate the paper gold markets all of the time.
Having approx. 5,000 tons of "Other People's Money" sitting in NY represents a rather large ransom. I would never put it past the US to proclaim that gold to be the sovereign property of the US People...especially if those damn foreigners actually decided that they wanted it back!
