U.S. Treasury Owned Gold: What Can It Buy?

Some Thoughts On The Value Of US Owned Gold

The United States Treasury Department recently issued a report on the total amount of US Treasury-Owned Gold. As of April 30, 2009 the US Treasury held a total of 261.5 million fine troy ounces of gold. The Treasury report uses a book value of $42.22 per troy ounce to calculate the total value of gold held at approximately $11 billion. Based on the current market price, total gold holdings of the US Treasury amount to approximately $238.5 billion.

It is interesting to note that although the US dollar used to be a gold-linked currency, the current market value of gold held by the US Treasury is now nothing more than pocket change on the Federal balance sheet. In today’s new financial world, here’s a short list of what the U.S. government could buy with the entire U.S. gold stockpile of $238 billion.

• cover the interest due on $9 trillion of government debt for one year.
• buy General Electric (GE), American Express (AXP) and McDonald’s (MCD)