Can a President make money out of thin air?
On paper, yes.
According to Trump and Musk, they wanna see to it no one stole the gold.
Donald Trump has already promised to make the U.S. a “bitcoin superpower.“© Chesnot/Getty Images
The idea that Fort Knox is missing gold is a well-worn Boomer Facebook conspiracy theory.
Trump and Musk love those.
On February 24, while meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump opined on the possibly missing gold.
Were actually going to Ft Knox to see if the gold is there.
Because maybe somebody stole the gold.
Tons of gold,Trump saidduring the appearance.
Musk has been posting on X about the issue off and on over the past few days.
The gold is probably there.
Non-authorized personnel have gone into the vaults to inspect the gold only three times before.
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt went in 1943.
Congress went with a group of journalists in 1974.
In 2017, during the first Trump presidency, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin visited with McConnell.
Which would, to be clear, be very stupid.
This issue has beencovered extensivelyandin-depthby Nathan Tankus on his blog, Notes On the Crises.
Its about the president making money out of thin air.
The President has the authority to set the price of Americas gold.
Roosevelt did this in 1934 after America went off the gold standard.
At the time, the U.S. said the price of gold was worth $20.67 a fine ounce.
Roosevelt said it was actually worth $35, and so it was.
He created $2,819,000,000.
When Trump and Musk visit Fort Knox, theyll find 5,000 tons of gold sitting in gold bars.
Gold that the U.S. currently values at $42 an ounce.
Gold that would be worth $2,800 an ounce on the open market.
He has the authority; the Supreme Court says so.
Roosevelt caused a constitutional crisis when he upped the price of gold in the 1930s.
SCOTUS ruled in his favor in Perry v. United States.
Trump may be served by the precedent.
And what to do with an $800 billion dollar windfall?
Why, buy Bitcoin, of course.
Could this actually happen?
Were living in weird, stupid, and unprecedented times.
The President says hes planning to take the worlds richest man on a trip to Fort Knox.
Its possible that when they get there, theyll say that the gold hasnt vanished at all.
They may say that theres far more of it than they expected.
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