In the James Bond movie “Goldfinger,” the brilliant, yet evil villain Goldfinger plotted to destroy the United States gold reserves kept safe in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Generally, when I think of Fort Knox, I think of the US Army Armor Center – yet another potential deterrent to any super criminal plans to steal the estimated $240 billion worth of gold secured in Fort Knox.

Well, fact is generally stranger than fiction. Cash4Gold, a company that buys precious metals direct from people with a bunch of gold laying around not being used, government’s plan to work with Cash4Gold. Under the plan, Cash4Gold offers to purchase U.S. Gold Reserves for $240 Billion. This would effectively empty out Fort Knox and give the US an extra 1/4 trillion dollars of spending money. Of course this pales in comparison to the almost 3/4 trillion dollars now flowing into the economy as part of the Stimulus program, but every little bit helps!

US To Trade Gold Reserves For Cash Through Cash4Gold.com

From the press release about the government’s plan to work with Cash4Gold:

As Deputy Treasury Secretary Kuehnel explained to the Onion, the U.S. plan to sell its gold reserve to Cash4Gold carries no risk, since every transaction conducted between Cash4Gold and its customers is fully backed by a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. All Cash4Gold customers have 12 days in which to call or return their checks should they decide not to accept Cash4Gold’s offer, and their material will be sent back at no charge.

Actually, this brings up an important strategy question. Should we just wait and use inflation to pay for the stimulus program? Gold is trading at less than $1000 right now, so if gold were to go to $3000 per ounce, then the gold in Fort Knox would be worth about $750 billion. This would basically make the Stimulus spending free money!