Gold and Debt: Astonishing Comparisons

A single large bank may hold contracts for more than $50 Trillion in derivative contracts. Global debt is approximately $200 Trillion.

Let’s relate those numbers to gold prices, gold mined each year, and gold mined throughout history.

According to McKinsey & Company total global debt as of December 2014 was about $200 Trillion. Although the exact amount of mined gold is unknown, assume that 172,000 metric tons of gold have been mined throughout history. At 32,151 (troy) ounces per metric ton, that calculates to about 5.5 billion ounces of gold. If that gold backed the debt at 100%, each ounce of gold would back $36,000 in debt.

Official United States national debt increased in the last ten years by about $10.5 Trillion. Assuming the US mines about 200 metric tons of gold per year, the US added approximately $160,000 in debt per ounce of gold mined in the US.

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