Germany and Gold

[poiuytrewq0987]

Britain I can understand because it once had a global empire but Germany? I don't understand how Germany (http://www.usdebtclock.org/gold-precious-metals.html) can have world's second largest gold reserves as it never had a worldwide empire and suffered two major, nation-destroying defeats in the last century.

[Phil75231]

It's really simple, FMN...All you have to do is produce some high valued stuff, sell it overseas for money, and buy gold with it. Same essential way any household who can afford it can have lots of gold.

[Grumpy Cat]

I'm tempted make a really distasteful joke right now.

[Winterwolf]

No, it hasn't got anything to do with Nazi gold, but during the 50ies and 60ies Germany's economy boomed and we accumulated lots of gold reserves.

Today those gold reserves aren't real, they exist just on paper. In reality most of our virtual gold reserves are treasured in the US. Nobody knows if these huge reserves exist or not, after all the US gave up the gold standard during the Vietnam war and it's highly likely that they sold gold to the market, which in fact belonged to Germany...
Official German inquires into the whereabouts of our gold treasured in the US, were answered hesistantly and US officials told Germany that any attempts of Germany to get a hold on its gold would be seen as an unfriendly act!

Sounds insane, well, it is!

source: Focus (http://www.focus.de/finanzen/doenchkolumne/finanzkrise-wo-ist-unser-gold_aid_338834.html) (Sorry, in German language only, but it's a credible weekly news magazine)

[Ouistreham]

Britain I can understand...
British gold reserve is actually quite low. Currently 310 tonnes instead of 3,401 for Germany, less than one tenth of the German reserve.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_reserve


It's really simple, FMN...All you have to do is produce some high valued stuff, sell it overseas for money, and buy gold with it.
This is the German way.

The U.S. way is to sell Treasury Bonds to China and Saudi Arabia and to buy gold with the money.

It works fine as long as the U.S. are not declared officially bankrupt (which might be a matter of months or even weeks). In such a case things could turn quite nasty.