Now, I realize that there is something romantic about Swiss bankaccounts, but lets not fool ourselves. Gold in the Zurich Free Transit Warehouse depends on the good graces of the Swiss government. After WWII, the Swiss ended up with a real pile of Nazi gold in their vaults because they had been remaining neutral during all of these years. The US demanded the gold because it won the war. Here is an account from Paul Erdman's _The Swiss Account_, a docudrama about the time period. It is a work of fiction, but the true parts are as true as any history book. He gives footnotes. Where that gold was concerned, even before the war ended, the Allies threatened to maintain an economic boycott on Switzerland unless it was turned over to them. The Swiss government agreed and also promised to relinquish all other German assets in Switzerland, such as bank accounts, once it was determined how much was involved. So no embargo was imposed. This promise was subsequentally reaffirmed in a formal agreement signed in Washington after which the Swiss simply stonewalled. There was no proof, they claimed, that they had received any looted gold from Germany. And as to the Nazi bank deposits, there was no way under Swiss law that private property could be seized. They insisted that the netire matter be turned over to an international court of arbitration... which would have taken years. In the end, the Allies caved in. On August 28, 1952, in return for a lump sum settlement of ninety million dollars, the Allies concented to declare all of the claims against Switzerland arising out of World War II as satisfied. That amount represented no more than five cents on the dollar. The rest was simply kept by the Swiss, although a small amount was eventually given to the Red Cross. Now, as it stands, I really don't think that gold in a Swiss vault is , without question, better than US paper money. I can pay my US taxes in US currency, but I can't eat gold. It's just shiny and neat. It's great if you need to make gold chains and rings, but it's not that great for anything other than electronics. In my computer, the silicon is worth more than the gold. -Pete r