-- Posted Wednesday, 6 April 2005 | Digg This Article
6 April 2005
Dear Oxfam Associate:
We are sure you are familiar with the pronouncements of the US Government through expressed through its conduit, New Jersey Congressman James Saxton; the article is reproduced below. As Americans, we and others are ashamed and embarrassed by congressmen like Saxton who for their entire political careers have constantly voted for higher taxes for their own citizens. There is none other who displays greater hypocrisy than Rep. Saxton. His record is posted here: http://www.trimonline.org/bulletin/108-5/new_jersey/NJ03.pdf
As you can clearly see much of Saxton's money comes from the defense industry and lawyers. He is beholden to building the US war machine and pandering to the trial lawyer clique while he lectures the world about "transparency". His arrogance is suffocating.
Most ludicrous is his professed concern for the US taxpayer. As you can see by his voting record (link above), there is no concern farther from his mind than the welfare of the US taxpayer. Furthermore, as the gold on deposit with the IMF from the US taxpayers was confiscated from them in 1934. There is no Saxton concern for this atrocity, is there?
This underscores our point made in our previous communication that gold is best in the hands of the people.
We are of the opinion that Rep. Saxton and his political and banking allies have two major concerns:
· The officially stated amount of IMF gold is not there, or greatly below what is publicly claimed. Public scrutiny in this regard would be harmful to the lending banks and their paper currencies. How can you be certain there is, in fact, 100 million ounces still in the vaults of the IMF?
· Focusing on the IMF gold would lead to a universal demand for an audit of gold within the US Treasury. As the US dollar is regarded as the major currency reserve held by central banks, any gold shortfall or resulting scandal would bring the US financial system to judgment, and recognized as a fraud upon the world.
We hope you will agree that IMF promises or offers to either furnish accounting "credits" to the poor, or selling the gold on the open market does not ensure the gold will find its way to the impoverished who need it to alleviate their misery. These smaller poor countries are in large part poor because they have no gold with which to support their domestic currencies. Giving them some from the hoards of the rich nations would give them a head start and go along way to diminish the need for IMF loans, thus reducing debt which benefits no one but the international bankers, and perpetuate world poverty. To sell the gold on the open market would do nothing beyond allowing the IMF to take an "administrative fee" and place the gold in the hands of the rich oil barons who have the wherewithal to buy it. Let the poor decide whether to hold the gold or sell it, not the rich nation bankers.
It's time to return the gold to its rightful owners: the people.
We hope our comments are useful to Oxfam, and are following your campaign with eager enthusiasm.
Sincerely,
Charleston Voice
J.E.C.: Congressman Jim Saxton
For Immediate Attention February 7, 2005
IMF Gold Sale Proposal Draws Congressional Scrutiny
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Any proposal to sell gold held by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will attract intense Congressional review of IMF finances and would legally require a vote in Congress, Congressman Jim Saxton said today. The IMF reportedly is studying gold sales as a way to cover IMF debts owed by poor countries. Saxton long has favored IMF debt relief through write-offs financed out of the IMF's other resources.
In effect, IMF gold sales would amount to hidden contributions of gold profits legitimately belonging to IMF donor countries and their taxpayers. Such gold sales would violate the principle of transparency, and also raise a host of other problems including a potential impact on commodity markets. However, the Congress has a legal responsibility for oversight and approval of open market gold sales.
“The expected IMF study on gold sales arises from the IMF's extension of burdensome loans to borrowers that are either unable or unwilling to repay,” Saxton said. “The bottom line is that the IMF has made billions of dollars of loans for almost its entire history without basic lending safeguards and accounting controls in place. Not surprisingly, some of these loans have gone bad, and the consequences should not be papered over. As a former IMF research director has noted, ‘the IMF would serve better if it made no loans,’” Saxton concluded.
The potential gain from gold sales arises because the IMF understates the value of its total gold holdings in its financial statements. A hidden reserve of gold profits arises from the difference between the IMF book value and the market value of the gold. The IMF gold could be sold or revalued without apparent cost to IMF donor countries and their taxpayers, a procedure that lacks transparency. Over the years, Saxton has criticized IMF financial statements on other grounds for their lack of transparency, as has a former IMF research director.
For more information on the International Monetary Fund, please visit our website at www.house.gov/jec.
