The United States Is a Big Slush Fund; Treasury Missing $4.7 Trillion; Did Goldfinger Steal All of Fort Knox's Gold?

The world has been turned upside down. Just a month since Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, he's unleashed Elon Musk and his troops at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) upon various agencies and departments of the federal government, uncovering massive levels of fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption.

Democrats - and quite a few Republicans - in congress are in a panic, not because Trump and Musk have unearthed incredible amounts of money missing, wasted, spent, or plundered, but because they fear further unraveling of their hidden truths. Just who was taking bribes, hush money, kickbacks. It's no wonder the Senate pushed the confirmation of Kash Patel as Director of the FBI back a week. Certain lawmakers likely need more time to shred documents, wipe computer hard drives, close bank accounts before the investigations begin.

Meanwhile, Wall Street is content to carry on as though everything is normal, when the condition is actually closer to one of extreme FUBAR. Tuesday's close was yet another example of the devious nature exhibited in lower Manhattan. All of the major indices were in the red just 11 minutes before the final bell. Miraculously, as has been standard practice for months, even years, all of the exchanges turned green at the close.

Wall Street insiders depend on casual investors to only see the closing prices, not peer at daily charts. Those who did saw the Dow down by more than 220 points earlier in the session. "Painting the tape" as it were, has become such a common event that it's expected, and without explanation. Stocks go up. Everybody knows that.

In the travails of the DOGE team over the weekend and into Tuesday, it was discovered that there were thousands of individual social security numbers in age groups from 100 to as high as 300 years with the Death field entered a "false", meaning, according to the SSA's database, these people were still alive, and, ostensibly, entitled to receive benefits. Were they? And since thousands of people don't live to be 100, 120, 140 or more, who actually received the payments? That is going to require more forensic investigation.

Beyond that, Musk tweeted that $4.7 trillion of Treasury payments had no TAS code, and would be "untraceable." That raised a few eyebrows.

If $4.7 trillion was missing or lost or otherwise unaccounted for, divided equally, how much would that be per U.S. citizen?

As of February 1, 2025, the estimated population of the U.S. is 341,271,663. Dividing the total amount of money ($4.7 Trillion) unaccounted for at the U.S. Treasury by the U.S. population produces the following calculation:

$4,700,000,000,000 divided by 341,271,663 U.S. citizens = $13,769.75 (approximately).

Therefore, each U.S. citizen is on the hook for approximately $13,769.75. Surely, some people could use that extra cash.

The responsible party is the Fiscal Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, the highest-ranking career official in the United States Department of the Treasury. David Lebryk served as Fiscal Assistant Secretary of the Treasury between 2014 and 2025. Of course, he served under Janet Yellen, a former Chair of the Federal Reserve. MoneyDaily pointed out that she should never have confirmed, given her ties to the Fed, a foreign, private bank.

Further down the rabbit hole, the requirement for using TAS for every disbursement is not found in a single, standalone statute. Instead, it's a fundamental requirement woven into the fabric of federal financial management through a combination of:

Statutory authority (31 U.S.C. §§ 3512, 3513) establishing the need for robust accounting systems and giving the Treasury the authority to set the rules.

Treasury regulations and guidance (TFM, FAST Book) providing the specific instructions and procedures for using TAS.

OMB guidance (Circulars A-123, A-136) reinforcing the importance of internal controls and accurate financial reporting.

GAO guidance (Title 7) providing further clarification on fiscal procedures.

The system is designed to ensure that every dollar spent by the federal government can be tracked back to its source appropriation, promoting transparency and accountability. The use of TAS is not optional; it's a mandatory part of federal financial management.

Well, somebody needs to do some 'splainin'.

Then there's the not-so-insignificant issue of the gold in Fort Knox. Elon Musk, with the backing of Senator Ron Paul, intends to inspect the vaults, the same ones Auric Goldfinger (Gerd Forbe) planned to abscond with in the 1964 classic OO7 film, "Goldfinger". Who knows, maybe James Bond really didn't catch the villain, Goldfinger's operation "Grand Slam" was a success, and the gold is gone.

Earnings from various companies were reported Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday prior to the bell.

Auction and retail platform Etsy reported before the open Wednesday. Spending on the platform was down 6.8% overall and the number of active buyers fell 2.6%. Though the company managed to beat earnings expectations, the miss on the revenue side has investors fleeing for the exits. Shares of ETSY are down more than five percent in pre-market trading.

Gold ripped higher on Tuesday after being slammed Friday. It's currently trending around $2,955. Silver is bouncing around the mid-$33s. Crude oil has caught a bid, stock futures are lower.

Sooner or later, there's going to be a reckoning, and, judging by the speed at which Trump is proceeding, it looks like sooner. Oh, and U.S. and Russian negotiators pretty much shut down project Ukraine, despite protestations from war-mongers in Europe and the little dictator, Zelensky.

At the Close, Tuesday, February 18, 2025:
Dow: 44,556.34, +10.26 (+0.02%)
NASDAQ: 20,041.26, +14.49 (+0.07%)
S&P 500: 6,129.58, +14.95 (+0.24%)
NYSE Composite: 20,240.39, +109.91 (+0.55%)

Editor's Note: X has temporarily suspended this account from posting for one week. Sorry.