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Comment by specialp | Hacker News Reader

I was in the Federal Reserve gold vault a few weeks ago and you realize that gold is just a very heavy metal that is inconvenient to store and move around. The NY Fed keeps this gold for free, and having this gold in their vault is forgive the pun "as good as gold". Moving the gold is a political move that just costs a lot of real money.

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As far I know, US government once confiscated gold http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102

yes they confiscated domestic gold. but confiscating another sovereign's would be an act of war.

A lot of US treasuries held by Central Banks in reserve might suddenly go on sale and send interest rates sky high...destroying the USD.

They would want to think twice on that.

storing it where it belongs just adds a little bit of safety. i mean you never know, especially when considering the current world economics.

So you think the Germans are just really angry with the US FED and wanted to make a political statement at their great personal expense?

I don't know what really happened, but I think it is worth considering that the recent audit by the Buba may have revealed more about the FED than anyone wants admit publicly.

for free? Source?

From the article:

"The New York Fed stores the German gold without cost on the theory that the presence of foreign gold supports the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency."

Ah, thanks. I found that also in a German article.

The article being discussed is one source.

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