{"id":39274,"date":"2026-08-12T07:13:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itmtrading.com\/blog\/?p=39274"},"modified":"2026-08-12T07:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:13:29","slug":"rand-paul-fort-knox-gold-dollar-deaths-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itmtrading.com\/blog\/rand-paul-fort-knox-gold-dollar-deaths-door\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand Paul Checks Fort Knox Gold, Dollar Is At \u201cDeath\u2019s Door\u201d – Gerald Celente"},"content":{"rendered":"

The gold is still in Fort Knox. But Gerald Celente says that may be the least important part of the story.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sen. Rand Paul\u2019s visit to Fort Knox gold<\/strong> reserves has reopened a much larger question: What does America\u2019s massive gold stockpile mean when the dollar itself has lost most of its purchasing power since the U.S. broke its final link to gold in 1971?<\/p>\n

Paul toured Fort Knox in August 2026 and said the gold was there. Treasury records show the depository officially holds approximately 147.3 million fine troy ounces<\/strong> of U.S. government gold.<\/p>\n

But in Daniela Cambone\u2019s latest interview with Trends Journal founder Gerald Celente, the conversation quickly moved beyond whether the bars exist.<\/p>\n

Celente\u2019s warning was far more severe: \u201cThe death of the dollar is on the doorstep.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

He argues that exploding debt, growing interest costs, geopolitical instability, potential rate cuts, central-bank gold buying, and a weakening faith in fiat currencies could push gold and silver into an entirely different monetary role. He even speculates that Washington could eventually revalue its gold holdings or reconsider gold\u2019s place in the monetary system. That is Celente\u2019s forecast\u2014not an announced U.S. government policy.<\/p>\n

And that distinction matters.<\/p>\n

Because the verified numbers are alarming enough without speculation.<\/p>\n

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Fort Knox Gold Is There\u2014But That\u2019s Not the Real Story<\/h2>\n

For years, Fort Knox has attracted rumors about whether America\u2019s gold was actually still inside the vaults.<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s visit provides a new political spotlight on the issue. Yet Treasury\u2019s own accounting already lists 147,341,858.382 fine troy ounces<\/strong> at Fort Knox, with additional U.S. gold stored at Denver and West Point.<\/p>\n

Here is where things get more interesting.<\/p>\n

Treasury continues to carry Fort Knox gold at a statutory accounting value of roughly $42.22 per ounce<\/strong>. At that price, the Fort Knox hoard appears on the books at only about $6.22 billion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That accounting price bears little resemblance to gold\u2019s market value.<\/p>\n

And that gap is exactly what caught Celente\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

During the interview, he floated the possibility that policymakers could eventually announce a dramatically higher official valuation for government gold and use that revaluation as part of a broader attempt to strengthen the federal balance sheet.<\/p>\n

There is currently no verified evidence that the Treasury has announced such a plan.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And simply marking gold to a higher price would not make Treasury debt disappear. The national debt represents outstanding federal borrowing; changing the accounting value of an asset does not automatically cancel those liabilities. That said, a formal gold revaluation could have significant monetary and balance-sheet consequences depending on how policymakers structured it. This is an accounting inference based on Treasury\u2019s treatment of debt and official gold holdings.<\/p>\n

[Link to related guide or post: What Would a Gold Revaluation Mean for the U.S. Dollar?]<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Dollar Has Lost Nearly 88% of Its 1971 Purchasing Power<\/h2>\n

This may have been the most important part of Rand Paul\u2019s Fort Knox message.<\/p>\n

The debate is not simply about whether America owns gold.<\/p>\n

It is about what happened to the dollar after gold stopped restraining the monetary system.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In August 1971, the Consumer Price Index stood at approximately 40.8<\/strong>. By June 2026, the comparable CPI index had risen to approximately 332.6<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That means consumer prices are more than eight times their August 1971 level.<\/p>\n

Put differently, using CPI as the benchmark, the dollar has lost roughly 87.7% of its 1971 purchasing power<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A dollar that bought $1 worth of goods in August 1971 buys roughly 12 cents worth of the same CPI basket today.<\/p>\n

That is not a prediction. It is the arithmetic of accumulated inflation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And it helps explain why retirees often feel that official discussions about \u201cmoderating inflation\u201d miss the bigger picture.<\/p>\n

Lower inflation does not reverse previous price increases.<\/p>\n

If prices rise 8%, then 4%, then 3%, prices are still rising from an already elevated base.<\/p>\n

For Americans depending on pensions, Social Security, savings accounts, and fixed-income assets, dollar devaluation is cumulative<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Gold and silver enter the conversation precisely because they cannot be created with a keystroke by a central bank.<\/p>\n

[Link to related post: How Inflation Erodes Retirement Purchasing Power]<\/span><\/p>\n

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Federal Debt Is Making the Dollar Debate Harder to Ignore<\/h2>\n

Celente repeatedly returned to one issue in his conversation with Daniela: debt.<\/p>\n

And here, official numbers reinforce the concern.<\/p>\n

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the federal deficit reached approximately $1.8 trillion during the first 10 months of fiscal 2026<\/strong>. CBO also said net interest outlays increased by $117 billion, or 14%<\/strong>, compared with the same period a year earlier.<\/p>\n

Earlier in 2026, CBO projected annual federal net interest costs of more than $1 trillion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Treasury said in August that it expected to borrow another $739 billion in privately held net marketable debt during the July\u2013September quarter alone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That creates a difficult monetary equation:<\/p>\n