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| Money Metals News Alert | February 24, 2025 – Gold and silver prices ended last week higher but have fallen slightly this morning.
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Speculative trading in futures has been brisk, driven in part by ongoing questions about available inventories in London, the world's largest gold and silver market. Buyers are still paying unusually high premiums to get delivery of commercial bars from the COMEX in the U.S.
Stock prices were hammered lower last week with the S&P 500 down nearly 2%.
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The U.S. dollar ended largely flat in foreign exchange markets. Ten-year bond yields finished the week slightly lower.
Buying and selling activity in the U.S. retail bullion markets modestly strengthened. Inventories of retail coins, rounds and bars are still plentiful, so bid and ask premiums remain low.
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 | Gold : Silver Ratio (as of Friday's closing prices) – 90.3 to 1 | | |
| Audit the Fed, Audit Fort Knox, Audit Everything | | | |
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Americans have to wonder, based on revelations coming out of Washington DC, whether government waste, fraud, and abuse is happening on an industrial scale.
The need to perform audits and implement controls is obvious, despite wailing from people who somehow aren't happy with the questions being asked. If we are going to have a republic, taxpayers need some confidence their hard-earned money is well spent.
The word "audit" has some negative connotations – mostly associated with taxes and the Internal Revenue Service.
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But well-run private sector companies do audits as a matter of routine and for a number of good reasons.
Metals stored in the Money Metals facility are perpetually audited. And we reconcile bank statements against client payment records, conduct physical counts of our entire inventory daily, audit staff adherence to internal controls and procedures, audit the auditors, and so on.
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Money Metals has never had an internal loss in its 15 years of operation. Everyone working in our business understands and respects the need to run a tight ship and that details matter. Audit and accountability is part of the company's culture.
There is generally a lot more "give a damn" found in the private sector, something which appears to be mostly missing in Washington DC.
Here are some other points to ponder as the debate heats up over federal audits.
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As for Fort Knox, it's been decades since there was a credible audit of its contents.
As Money Metals researcher Jan Nieuwenhuijs detailed last week, one of several problems is that vault compartments have been opened without proper re-auditing.
|  | Fort Knox has not been credibly audited for decades. | | | | |
Without robust auditing and accountability, the problems only get worse with time. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced in a press conference on Sept. 10, 2001 that the Pentagon couldn't account for $2 Trillion in spending. Unfortunately that story was buried by the events that ensued the following day – September 11th.
More than two decades have passed and the Pentagon still cannot pass an audit. How much more has been wasted or stolen? Corruption and apathy are problems that continually grow unless they are rooted out.
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Government employees are suddenly facing accountability. Private citizens have a right to privacy. But government agencies, the Federal Reserve, and NGOs gorging themselves on taxpayer money do not.
No taxpayer funded organization is entitled to unquestioning trust. In the best of circumstances, Americans should "trust but verify." Under current circumstances, the proper stance is closer to "trust absolutely nothing."
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Intensive auditing and housecleaning will be the only road back to some level of trust.
It's an important part of a much needed cultural shift.
For those of us who care about honest money, audits represent step one in getting rid of the Federal Reserve. Americans weren't quite ready to "End the Fed" when Ron Paul made that a cornerstone of his presidential campaigns. There was far too much trust in the benevolence and wisdom of people like Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke.
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Now the tide may be turning. Americans are less trusting and ready to demand some answers. A look inside the Fed can only help.
There has never been a public audit and full accounting for the Fed's activities. That is remarkable, given the power of that institution and the amount of money running through it.
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The lack of oversight is intentional. Politicians and bankers have been selling Americans on the notion of "independence." Somehow it is better if the central bank answers to no one and never has to explain exactly what it does with trillions of dollars.
The Fed has been a black box since its inception. Given the disdain for transparency is hardwired there, it's a good bet citizens would be outraged to know how much waste, fraud, and abuse has developed over time.
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| This week's Market Update was authored by Money Metals Director Clint Siegner. | | |
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| This copyrighted material may not be republished without express permission. Offer only available through email promotion. Offer does not apply to previous orders and may not be combined with any other offer or program. Special shipping rates or other restrictions may apply to international orders. The information presented here is for general educational purposes only. Money Metals Exchange and its staff do not act as personal investment advisors. Nor do we advocate the purchase or sale of any regulated security listed on any exchange for any specific individual. While our track record is excellent, investment markets have inherent risks and there can be no assurance of future profits. You are responsible for your investment decisions, and they should be made in consultation with your own advisors. By purchasing from Money Metals, you understand our company is not responsible for any losses caused by your investment decisions, nor do we have any claim to any market gains you may enjoy. Money Metals Exchange is not a regulated trading "exchange" as defined by the CFTC and the SEC. | | |
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