NOREEN: A golden opportunity dissed
Ingots, doubloons or other coinage of the realm will not be stored in the state treasurer’s vault anytime soon, thanks to the defeat Tuesday of House Bill 1155, which would have begun a long-term gold-buying program for Colorado.
Sponsored by Colorado Springs’ own, Rep. Kent Lambert, the bill would have diverted the severance tax from precious metals to the gold purchasing fund. Lambert, echoing the talk show frenzy of such conservative stalwarts as G. Gordon Liddy and Glenn Beck, said “a lot of people are concerned that the value of the dollar is going to continue to go down. Why would we have faith in the dollar when the national policy is to inflate it?”
Buying gold would create a tangible asset and restore some confidence in government, Lambert said. His bill contained a provision that would have allowed the public to view the gold each year.
Keeping millions in gold bars at the treasurer’s office in the Statehouse would require expensive security measures, said Colorado Treasurer Cary Kennedy, who added that “those costs were higher than the total value of the gold.”
Lambert wouldn’t concede that point, telling the House State Affairs Committee that the gold could be stored cheaply.
“There’s no reason not to store it in the treasurer’s office,” he said.
No kidding, right now the last line of defense for Kennedy’s office staff is Buckley, an old dog owned by former Treasurer Mike Coffman and sort of inherited by the current regime.
With gold bars would come security cameras and perhaps more manpower provided by the Colorado State Patrol, which manages security at the Capitol.
Kennedy said her staff’s safety is a real concern. “It’s not just upgrading the vault,” Kennedy said.
It’s not just about security, either.
Historically in Colorado, state treasurers have been limited in how they can invest money. They can’t buy stock in Boeing, they can’t invest in pork bellies or orange juice futures. They only get to invest money in the boring things, such as Treasury Bills or bonds.
So while they are prohibited from dancing the wild fandango with our money, they always make money.
In the last two years the stock market has been brutal, but “during the last 24 months we have maintained positive earnings,” Kennedy said.
It may be tantalizing to some that the price of gold now is more than $1,100 an ounce. It has been zooming up the commodities charts.
Google around and you’ll see that some say the sky is still the limit for gold. Others suggest (see my blog) that a gold market manipulated by speculators is due for a fall.
A while back, remember, some wanted to invest Social Security money in the stock market. After the crash, that idea, like HB 1155, disappeared.
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