“official gold reserves”: what you see is not all there is to it…
As far as the new dollar is concerned:
A revaluation of the dollar via introduction of a new dollar will have the effect of making debt easier to pay. There might also be a restructuring of terms of existing debt that would accompany this change. Introducing a new version of the currency would provide the political cover to change the terms of existing debt without it having the appearance of a default (you and I would know the truth as would most of the creditors but from the standpoint of the common man on the street most would be oblivious).
The reason why the government would bid for gold is mainly for the major creditors. You would have to put yourself in the position of a major central bank or a old-moneyed family to understand why this is the case, but I will try to explain it here.
If the current status quo world most of the wealthy count their wealth in terms of credit denominated in fiat money. In the event of a default most of this credit based value will evaporate and so most of the wealth of the super rich will also evaporate. Suppose you are a major wealth holder (and these people, like it or not, do pull the strings). You would like to stay on top wealth wise. What do you use to maintain your wealth in the event of a credit write-down? Well, you use items that can be valued arbitrarily high without impacting the major world economy. The items that fit the bill are very high end collectibles, prime real estate, and gold. All of these items have value derived in the mind that are independent of their value in use. This is why the super rich families own these items.
The central banks don’t own the collectibles and real estate, but they do own gold. So if credit can be written down while gold is revalued simultaneously it will keep the super wealthy whole. In other words, it will put 100% of the burden of the credit revaluation on the upper middle class and lower upper class. From the standpoint of the major world power brokers this is a desirable thing. They get to keep their wealth while avoiding the pitchforks 🙂 Make sense?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ86ztOLChQ&lc=z12fhpub4p2vxbtre04chdmojliag3zycso0k
Stefano Fait, forecasting foresight anticipation 