If mainstream financial news organizations ever work up the courage to report honestly about monetary gold, the commanding heights of the issue will have been mapped out for them by U.S. Rep. Alex X. Mooney, R-West Virginia.
After all, where can investigative journalism start better than with questions that have already been shown to be too politically sensitive for the highest government officials to answer, even when a member of Congress is asking?
Thanks to Mooney, in 2020 the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission was shown refusing to answer whether it has jurisdiction over manipulative trading in the commodity futures markets when such trading is undertaken by or at the behest of the U.S. government.
And now, also thanks to Mooney, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has been shown refusing to answer questions about the repatriation of gold vaulted by other nations at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, repatriation being something that would signify foreign loss of faith in the Fed, the U.S. government, and the dollar.
In December Mooney wrote to Powell to ask:
“Has the Federal Reserve or the Federal Reserve Bank of New York repatriated any gold to foreign nations this year? If so, to which countries and how much?
And:
“How much gold is the Federal Reserve vaulting for foreign nations now and how does this compare to the amount vaulted at the end of 2022?”
Powell replied to Mooney last week without even acknowledging the congressman’s questions:
“Thank you for your letter of December 14, 2023, regarding the gold market. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York provides gold custody on behalf of certain official-sector account holders, which include the U.S. government, foreign governments, other central banks, and official international organizations. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York does not own any of the gold it holds as custodian, and no other part of the Federal Reserve System owns gold.”
The Fed chairman’s reply to Mooney is here.
In not even acknowledging Mooney’s questions, Powell was arrogant and insolent, especially insofar as the Federal Reserve in previous years has disclosed the tonnage of custodial gold vaulted at the New York Fed and the number of countries vaulting gold there. Indeed, even now the New York Fed’s internet site claims that it is vaulting 6,331 tonnes of gold for foreign nations:
Is that data no longer accurate? The Fed chairman’s refusal to acknowledge the congressman’s questions suggests as much.
But Powell’s refusal to acknowledge Mooney’s questions also demonstrated absolute confidence that his arrogance and insolence would never be noted and challenged by mainstream financial news organizations, which seem to understand the Fed’s position that gold price suppression is crucial to maintenance of the dollar as the world reserve currency, that it is the foremost weapon of U.S. imperialism and economic exploitation of the rest of the world, and thus is “the elephant in the room” – something that must never be discussed.
In turn the cowardice or collaboration of mainstream financial news organizations, their refusal to press critical questions to central banks, is central banking’s greatest advantage – an advantage greater even than central banking’s power to create and allocate infinite money.
Mooney’s latest exposure of the Federal Reserve’s unaccountability has been added to GATA’s extensive file of documentation of gold price suppression policy – whose history is summarized (if at length) here.
