It seems the author is smart enough to know all this, so seriously: What's he attempting to achieve here? Telling the truth. If there's a doomsday scenario US

It seems the author is smart enough to know all this, so seriously: What's he attempting to achieve here? Telling the truth. If there's a doomsday scenario USA might refuse to hand you the gold. He's saying that gold not in your hand is not really gold, because when you might need it everyone else will and they have it.