In lean times, why is $300 billion worth of government treasure simply sitting in vaults?
US Treasury has 260 million troy ounces of gold
official holdings total 8,965 tons or roughly 260 million troy ounces, according to the Treasury Department. (Most of it is stored in Fort Knox, Kentucky; the New York Fed holds about 11 million troy ounces, along with gold reserves from other countries and international organizations.)
Uncle Sam’s Mysterious Hoard
IMAGE CREDIT: BARRY THUMMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK, a neo-Florentine fortress of sandstone and limestone in Lower Manhattan, covers a city block. A battery of structural and technological defenses makes it perhaps the world’s most secure bank; it can be sealed off in less than 25 seconds. On a recent visit to its subterranean vault, beneath 80 feet of bedrock, I walked along a narrow passageway through a 90-ton steel cylinder that can create an airtight and watertight seal. On the other side was a vault with neatly stacked walls of 27-pound yellow bricks—one of the largest collections of gold in the world.
