The Institutional Risk Analyst

One of the largest single acts of government expropriation of wealth in human history occurred in 1933 under the Democrats led by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The gold taken from American citizens and the member banks of the Fed at the behest of FDR sits today in Ft Knox, KY, the biggest gold hoard in the world. President Herbert Hoover famously remarked: “We have gold because we cannot trust governments.”

Although Warsh has the power to make unilateral changes at the Fed, he eschews the arbitrary approach so often taken by President Donald Trump and is instead seeking consensus – for now. Warsh has not directed Fed governors to reduce their public appearances, for example, even though by law Fed governors ought to focus their public statements on the consensus reached at the FOMC’s last vote.

The upsurge in the price of gold during 2025 has surpassed the rate of increase for stocks and crypto tokens, begging the question as to whether the world is headed back to the future in term of money. Yet for most investors and nations, gold remains at the apex of value in terms of monetary assets, with fiat currencies next in line and crypto still occupying the periphery in terms of mediums of exchange.

So the $200 billion asset Fifth-Third Bank (FITB) is buying $80 billion asset Comerica Incorporated (CMA)? Is this the start of a wave of similar transactions among regional banks? Hopefully not. This deal neither creates great value nor promises significant synergies, but it does make for a bigger regional bank with so-so financial metrics. Essentially FITB is rescuing CMA shareholders.

The Treasury should begin to buy gold again to demonstrate that the dollar is real.