Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said the gold in Fort Knox is “still there” after announcing he was visiting the United States Bullion Depository in Kentucky.

“At Fort Knox, we’ve come to see the gold! Our country has about a hundred and forty-seven million ounces of gold, and about half of it is stored here at Fort Knox,” Paul wrote on Monday.

“We’re gonna be going deep underground to see the gold, but more importantly, we’re gonna be talking today about what happened to our dollar when we separated from gold in 1971. I’m going underground, and I’ll let you know what I see in a little bit,” he added.

Watch below:

The News-Enterprise shared further:

The visit came as part of a series of trips the U.S. senator has scheduled over the next two days, including Shepherdsville, Taylorsville, Louisville, Brandenburg and Owensboro.

“For many years I’ve wanted to see the gold, so I went down and saw it, and it’s impressive,” Paul said later during a brief news conference at the Fort Knox Welcome & Visitors Center. “What I would say is how does it relate to something important right now?”

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Paul related the gold to rising costs and the devaluation of the U.S. dollar.

“We separated our dollars from gold, and now our dollars’ just paper, and that paper becomes worth less and less,” Paul explained. “Since 1971, 85% of the dollar has lost its value, so prices are 85% higher. The problem is if your wages don’t go up as fast. I think a lot of people are noticing it.”

“Today, I visited Fort Knox to see the gold. Since the Fed opened in 1913, the dollar has lost 97% of its purchasing power. $100 back then is worth $3,300 today. That’s because Congress spends into oblivion, with no regard for our national debt. At the same time, the Fed prints the difference,” Paul wrote.

“The good news out of Fort Knox: the gold is still there. The bad news: since 1971, when we cut the dollar loose from gold, more than 85% of the dollar’s value has vanished,” he added.

RedState has more:

Well, he’s not wrong. At least we have another assurance that the gold is actually there, or, at least, that there is gold in there. My colleague Nick Arama, writing in July, also brought us the assurances of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who also verified that yes, there is gold in that thar fort.

In the letter to the Treasury that Senator Paul sent announcing his intention to visit the Depository, he also expresses his desire to see an independent audit done of the gold contained there. Is there really as much as the Treasury says is there? Is it, as they say, all three nines fine? What about the United States’ bullion stored elsewhere? I’m suspecting it’s all there and accounted for; stealing gold from under the noses of the American government from the very facilities meant to keep it secure would be a major task even for a certain James Bond villain. But it is our gold, technically speaking, and it wouldn’t be the worst idea to have someone go through and tally it up now and then. I mean, we all were taught to balance our checkbooks periodically. Shouldn’t the nation do likewise?

Of course, we have to balance our personal and family budgets, as well. Washington? Not so much, and sooner or later, that’s going to come back and bite us.

This has been a concern since President Nixon took the United States off the gold standard. It’s inflationary, but worse, it means our money only serves as a medium of exchange as long as we believe it does. There’s no metal behind it; nothing solid, just the full faith and credit of the United States. That’s worth more than the full faith and credit of, say, Zimbabwe, but in the end, it’s all just paper. Fiat currencies will come and they will go, but gold will always be money.

 

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