Economy Killer: $6 Trillion In Fake Treasury Bonds? Gold Next?

If you want to know about bizarre versions counterfeit, this one takes the cake.  A report out of Switzerland note that Italian anti-Mafia prosecutors ordered a seizure in Switzerland of… get this.. $6 TRILLION in fake U.S. Treasury bonds with dates from years ago.

That is over one-third of the entire U.S. debt on the face value.  The story is not entirely a new development as it turns out, but it is a shocker if you just took it at face value.  Another report from AFP shows that these fake Treasury bonds were found inside of hidden compartments in safety deposit boxes transferred back in 2007 from Hong Kong to Zurich.  Eight arrests have been made in connection with this case.  It also reports that this has led to the uncovering of an international network implicating people in multiple countries.

If this sounds familiar, there was a seizure of over $100 billion in fake Treasury bonds in Italy and a separate even larger incident on the Italian-Swiss border back in 2009.

This would have combined the value of the TARP, QE, QE2, and the tax extensions…  This sort of incident, if pulled off, is called an economy killer of magnificent proportions.  Now you know why bearer bonds are now virtually a thing of the past.

Before you think, “Boy, thanks to the powers that be that gold is always safe” you might want to think again about any absolutes.  This is not exactly the old version of alchemy, but simply a bait and switch.  Tungsten has been used to fill gold bars before because of similar weight and density, yet at a tiny portion of the cost. That is why gold bars have to be recertified one bar at a time when they are delivered back into deposit.

JON C. OGG