Why Is Germany Sitting on $599 Billion of Gold?

Eighty feet below the streets of Manhattan there’s a New York Fed vault containing some $220 billion of German gold. Perhaps it’s time Germany sold some of it.

My provocative suggestion was prompted by recent calls from opposition German politicians and the Bundesbank’s former head of research Emanuel Mönch to repatriate this 1,236-ton stash, made up of almost 100,000 bars. These demands follow US President Donald Trump undermining the independence of the Federal Reserve and his evident disdain for NATO allies.