By Doug Casey
International Man
July 24, 2026
International Man: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently declared that all US gold is "present and accounted for" and said the country's stockpile is now worth more than $1 trillion at current market prices.
What's your take on this?
Doug Casey: How does he know it's "present and accounted for" ? There hasn't been an audit for many decades.
Assuming that the government has 265 million ounces of gold, as they say, it's worth over a trillion dollars at current gold prices.
Unfortunately, a trillion dollars doesn't go very far these days. The US Government is officially in debt for $40 trillion. It also has actuarial liabilities to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and contingent liabilities to various other insurance programs. They're said to add up to another $100 or $200 trillion. Giant numbers, but nebulous accounting.
There was a senator named Everett Dirksen in the 60s who once famously quipped, "A billion here, a billion there... pretty soon you're talking real money." Now we're talking trillions, and a trillion is a thousand billions. I suspect a lot of congress critters can't understand the arithmetic.
International Man: During the same interview, Bessent suggested that anyone holding an old gold or silver certificate could take it to Fort Knox and redeem it for the underlying metal.
What do you think about this?
Doug Casey: That is plainly false. Gold certificates have not been redeemable for gold since 1933, and silver-certificate redemption ended in 1968.
In light of his glib answer to a very simple question, why should anyone trust Bessent's assurances about Fort Knox?
He might have pointed out that the U.S. government once reported 650 million ounces, or thereabouts, in its coffers. Now the number is 265 million. Meanwhile, most other world governments, especially the Chinese and the Russians, have been buying gold. And using their accumulated dollars to pay for it.
International Man: Bessent says the gold is "present and accounted for," but he has not personally inspected it. Government accounting reports are not the same thing as a complete, independent physical audit.
What would a credible audit of Fort Knox actually require?
Doug Casey: A very flip answer on Bessent's part is inappropriate for such a serious subject. He must have picked that habit up from Trump.
I'm not a CPA, so I'm not going to venture what a proper audit would entail. But it's said that most of the gold is coin melt,.900 fine, from the days when Roosevelt confiscated gold coins from Americans, paying them $20 an ounce just before he arbitrarily raised the price to $35 an ounce.
In what form is that gold kept ? Who knows. Only 400-ounce bars of.999 purity are considered good delivery.
Not only don't we know how much physical gold is there, but we don't know who actually owns it. The U.S. stores the gold for numerous foreign countries. Germany, for instance, has been trying to repatriate its gold for years without success. Is the gold owned by foreign countries segregated in any way, or is it commingled?
Another question is how much of it has been hypothecated. In the case of Argentina, which I recently discussed, it appears that a good part of the gold that they have stored in London has been lent out to collect some interest. Is that the case with any portion of America's gold?
There are lots of questions that a thorough business-like audit could answer. I'm very unimpressed with Bessent's flippant dishonesty, and equally unimpressed with the chances for an audit...
International Man: The Treasury still carries its gold on the books at the statutory price of just $42.22 per ounce, even though its market value is now many times higher.
Why has the US government maintained this obvious fiction for more than half a century ? Could officially revaluing the gold be part of a future monetary reset or an attempt to shore up confidence in the dollar and the government's deteriorating balance sheet?
Doug Casey: Since the U.S. government is manifestly bankrupt, at some point the truth will be discovered. I don't think that the government wants to discuss the true state of its finances, starting with an audit of Fort Knox, because the results would be too destabilizing. The dollar, for many years, has rested on nothing but confidence. Unfortunately, confidence can blow away like a pile of feathers in a hurricane.
Every administration attempts to kick the can down the road, resulting in a bigger and even more insoluble problem for the next administration.
International Man: The US government confiscated Americans' gold in 1933 and then devalued the dollar against it. Today, the government holds an enormous gold reserve while ordinary Americans are encouraged to save in dollars, government bonds, and retirement accounts.
What lessons should individuals draw from that history ? And what, if anything, should they do now to protect themselves from the next major change in the monetary system?
Doug Casey: One lesson Americans should learn is that the government is a distinct entity. It has its own interests, which are often not only different from, but often at odds to, those of US citizens. They really don't care about "We the People."
The prime directive for all living entities, whether they're amoebas, individual humans, corporations, or governments, is to survive. The government does things that it deems in its own interests, not your interests.
That explains why gold was illegal from 1933 to 1975. Perhaps the government doesn't officially recognize that gold is worth a lot more than $42.22 because it would draw attention to why that might be.
It's important to recognize that, contrary to popular opinion, the U.S. Government is not part of the cosmic firmament. Throughout history, governments and countries have come and gone. The U.S. Government is quite bankrupt. Maybe it can forestall recognizing that bankruptcy by raising the price of gold. But relative to the amount of debt it owes, the gold in the treasury is trivial.
Let's do some simple math. It's said that there are 265 million ounces in the Treasury. The official national debt is about $40 trillion. It could pay off the $40 trillion by raising the price of gold to $150,000.
The US government could also dispose of its real estate assets. That amounts to about 640 million acres, which is about 28% of the country's land area. The proceeds should be distributed to U.S citizens, who theoretically own it.
Of course, none of this would solve the ongoing bankruptcy of the government, which is spending about $2 trillion per year more than it takes in.
My suggestion remains the same. Continue accumulating both gold and silver. I say that with some hesitation since neither is at the bargain levels that they've been for years in the past. Relative to other things, houses, cars, food, clothing and such, the metals are no longer ultra-cheap. But gold and silver are the only financial assets that are not simultaneously somebody else's liability. So if you're wise, you'll continue to accumulate them.
Bear in mind that as unstable as the financial and economic worlds are, the political world is even more unstable.
That's why you should also diversify yourself and your assets abroad. It's foolish to have everything in just one country.
Reprinted with permission from International Man.