the following is just speculation…
how can we theoretically calculate the true market value of physical gold?
let’s assume that all federal reserve notes issued will be replaced by gold backed united states treasury notes.
how much gold does the federal reserve have in gold certificates?
https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/reports-statements/gold-report/current.html
13,452,810.545 ounces
how many federal reserve notes are in circulation? (excluding asset-backed securities)
https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12773.htm
$1,640,000,000,000
what’s the math?
$1,640,000,000,000 / 13,452,810.545 ounces
= $121,907.61 per ounce
if we then wanted to pay off the public national debt…
$21,000,000,000,000 / $121,907.61 per ounce gold
= 172,261,600.403781 ounces of gold
248,046,115.696 gold in united states vaults - 172,261,600.403781 ounces to pay debt
= 75,784,515.292219 ounces of gold left in vaults
valued at $9,238,709,134,282.87
that could work.
not to mention that the world balance of accounts would probably mean that other countries would owe us money in gold, and all state taxes paid to the federal government would be in gold.
that is far from broke. i wonder if each major country has accumulated enough gold to pay their public debts as well.
anyway, i thought it was worth the time to investigate.
cheers!