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> I think it would be cool if we, as a society, had easy API access to everything our governments spend their money on. Wouldn't you say that would be for the g

by yucky 4y ago

> I think it would be cool if we, as a society, had easy API access to everything our governments spend their money on. Wouldn't you say that would be for the greater good? We can't do that, because then people would realize it's all a house of cards. In an unrelated note, when was the last time US gold reserves were audited?

Eisenstein 4y ago
Why would anyone care how much gold the US government has?
- mypastself 4y ago
  Do you think having insight into a country’s assets is irrelevant? Or just this specific asset?
  - cool_dude85 4y ago
    Yeah, it more or less doesn't matter. The US isn't in danger of having to liquidate assets, and if it was you'd have a lot worse problems on your hands than how many gold bars are in Ft. Knox. Why do you think it matters?
    - mypastself 4y ago
      Transparency, for one.
      - cool_dude85 4y ago
        That's a very general argument for a very specific request. Transparency is good, but nobody is coming on to HN asking citing transparency and asking for audited figures for the value of US-owned dump trucks, or how much wood pulp we could produce in Grand Tetons National Park, or how much money we could make grinding up the highway system for scrap metal. So why gold specifically?
        mypastself 4y ago
        So your original question: > Why would anyone care how much gold the US government has? was not intended to dismiss interest in any particular asset, but to ask why there isn’t an equal amount of interest in assets other than gold. I can’t speak for the other commenters who raised the issue, but it’s presumably because the asset is far more valuable than the ones you’ve mentioned, and far easier to convert to other assets. It’s also been used as medium of exchange or reserve currency for much of human history, so expecting people to dismiss it out of hand based on prevailing theories espoused by modern monetary institutions wouldn’t be reasonable.
- yucky 4y ago
  US taxpayers own it, so of course they should care.

by yucky 4y ago

Eisenstein 4y ago

Why would anyone care how much gold the US government has?

mypastself 4y ago
Do you think having insight into a country’s assets is irrelevant? Or just this specific asset?
- cool_dude85 4y ago
  Yeah, it more or less doesn't matter. The US isn't in danger of having to liquidate assets, and if it was you'd have a lot worse problems on your hands than how many gold bars are in Ft. Knox. Why do you think it matters?
  - mypastself 4y ago
    Transparency, for one.
    - cool_dude85 4y ago
      That's a very general argument for a very specific request. Transparency is good, but nobody is coming on to HN asking citing transparency and asking for audited figures for the value of US-owned dump trucks, or how much wood pulp we could produce in Grand Tetons National Park, or how much money we could make grinding up the highway system for scrap metal. So why gold specifically?
      - mypastself 4y ago
        So your original question: > Why would anyone care how much gold the US government has? was not intended to dismiss interest in any particular asset, but to ask why there isn’t an equal amount of interest in assets other than gold. I can’t speak for the other commenters who raised the issue, but it’s presumably because the asset is far more valuable than the ones you’ve mentioned, and far easier to convert to other assets. It’s also been used as medium of exchange or reserve currency for much of human history, so expecting people to dismiss it out of hand based on prevailing theories espoused by modern monetary institutions wouldn’t be reasonable.
yucky 4y ago
US taxpayers own it, so of course they should care.