Yes, I think you're right. The U.S. holds gold for other countries too. A couple of years ago Germany notified the US they wanted some of their gold back that was being held by the US. The treasury dept. came back to them and said it will take us a couple of YEARS to come up with your gold. I don't know if they've gotten it back yet! I don't recall the quantity, but it wasn't a lot and should have been easily returned.
What's that tell you? Tells me they either are short on gold or have inventory accounting issues. Maybe both.
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