Gold bars cracking up (literally)

[kwicky]

Some gold bars held by the Bank of England have huge cracks in them pointing to impurities in the gold. The price has been affected and are worth a lot less. Who shoulders this responsibility, the bank or the government?

[kempie]

a. The bars are property of the Government.

b. Most of the bars were imported from the US (infer from this what you will).

c. The $8 billion (value to be reassessed!) in gold would be useless as a prop to the UK's $2.4 trillion economy.

d. Between 1999 and 2002 Gordon Brown sold off 395 tonnes (55%) of the gold reserve for around $3.5 billion. If the remaining 320 tonnes loses half of its value it is still a better result than Mr Brown's attempt at speculation.

[Finance Guy]

Impressive knowledge Kempie, how do you find out about that kind of stuff?