Rand Paul Suggests Using Gold Reserves in Debt-Swap Strategy

U.S. Senator Rand Paul recently visited the Gold Depository at Fort Knox in Kentucky to discuss the country's gold reserves and growing national debt.

The U.S. government holds approximately 147 million ounces of gold, with half stored at Fort Knox and the other half at the Denver Mint.

At current market prices, this gold is worth around $647 billion, but it would only cover a fraction of the country's liabilities, which exceed $45.5 trillion when including national debt and federal employee and veteran benefits obligations.

The U.S. government runs annual deficits of over $2 trillion, with the Federal Reserve purchasing about one-third of this debt by creating new money, thereby diluting the value of existing dollars.

Gold, on the other hand, does not expand when Congress spends; it's paper that grows, according to Senator Paul.