Ron
Paul questions whether there's gold at Fort Knox, NY Fed By Michael O'Brien
- 08/30/10 10:21 AM ET
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said he plans to
introduce legislation next year to force an audit of U.S.
holdings of gold.
Paul, a longtime critic of the Federal Reserve
and U.S. monetary policy, said he believes it's "a
possibility" that there might not actually be any gold
in the vaults of Fort Knox or the New York Federal Reserve
bank.
The libertarian lawmaker told Kitco News,
a website tracking news about precious metals, that an audit
was necessary to determine how much the U.S. maintains in
gold reserves in case the government were to use gold to
back the dollar.
“If there was no question about the
gold being there, you think they would be anxious to prove
gold is there,” he said.
“Our Federal Reserve admits to nothing,
and they should prove all the gold is there. There is a
reason to be suspicious and even if you are not suspicious
why wouldn’t you have an audit?
“I think it is a possibility,"
Paul said when asked if there was truth to rumors that there
was actually no gold at Ft. Knox or the New York Fed.
Paul had been one of the Republicans to
spearhead a broader audit of the Fed as part of the Wall
Street reform bill passed through Congress this year. The
provision, which was weakened somewhat in the final version,
found Paul joining with a number of Democrats to require
the Fed to open its books and outline its assets and liabilities.
The gold reserves, which Paul's new bill
would audit, are generally seen as a guarantee on a nation's
currency, but the U.S. moved the dollar away from being
tied to the price of gold in 1972.
Paul stopped short of calling for the reinstitution
of the gold standard and instead called for the government
to allow the use of hard currency — gold and silver
tender — alongside the use of the dollar.
"If people get tired of using the paper
standard they can deal in gold or silver,” he said.