John Williams |
John Williams, who became president of the very powerful New York Federal Reserve Bank in June of this year, is apparently not a big fan of gold.
It should be noted that gold custody is one of several financial services the Federal Reserve Bank of New York provides to central banks, governments and official international organizations (but not to the US Treasury Dept.) on behalf of the Federal Reserve System.
The New York Fed’s gold vault is on the basement floor of its main office building in Manhattan.
As of 2015, the vault housed approximately 508,000 gold bars, with a combined weight of approximately 6,350 tons. The vault is able to support this weight because it rests on the bedrock of Manhattan Island, 80 feet below street level and 50 feet below sea level.
So what does Williams think about the gold in his custody?
Thursday evening, he spoke in a moderated discussion with the former Bank of England governor Mervyn King at a London School of Economics Foundation event in New York City.
When asked about the gold stored at his bank, he said, "It’s the relic of a bygone era."
For the record. Here is the performance of gold since 1968, when Williams was 5 years old.
When he was born in June 1962, gold traded at $35.00 per ounce, as it did when he was 5. Yesterday, "the relic of a bygone era" traded at $1,236.40, an increase of 3431% from the time of his birth.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, during the same period, the Federal Reserve dollar, which he now plays an important part in manipulating, had declined in purchasing power from $1.00 at the time of his birth to a current purchasing power value of 12 cents.
Hey Johnnie, You got any gold bullion "relics of a bygone era" hanging around that you want to trade for Federal Reserve notes at the price when you were 5 years old? My Federal Reserve notes are nice and crisp and have all kinds of new anti-counterfeit features. I feel it is almost a public duty to take any gold coins you have off your hands, now that you are such an important manager of the new high tech Federal Reserve money.
-RW
Count me in! If Mr. Williams wants to unload that "relic" at $35 an ounce, I'll gladly exchange some of my funny money, er, Federal Reserve Notes for said relic.
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