Fun on Friday: What’s in Your Basement?

So, what do you have in your basement?

My house in Kentucky is built on a concrete slab. And right now I’m in Florida. Here we call a basement an in-ground pool. So, I can’t really answer that question. But my grandfather had a basement. It was full of junk.

I’m guessing that’s probably the norm.

When my grandfather passed away and I cleaned out his basement, I found unused furniture, musty boxes full of unread books and unworn clothes, well-worn tools, and globbed up paint cans. There were a few cool old keepsakes from his days in the Army down there, but by-and-large you wouldn’t call Gramps’ basement a treasure-trove.

As I said, I think this is probably pretty typical. Unless you’re a commie. Then your basement is full of gold.

No joke. They found 13.5 tons of gold in the basement of this dude who used to be the mayor of a Chinese city of some 9 million people.  Zhang Qi was the secretary of the Communist Party Committee of Haikou, the provincial capital city of Hainan.

Yes. You read that right. Thirteen and a half TONS of gold.

Suddenly, I see the appeal of communism.

This story raises so many questions. First – how in the heck do you get that much gold in your basement?

Actually, the first question is how do you get that much gold period? That’s a lot of gold. Based on my journalist math (that may well be off by a buck or two) the gold is worth about $648 million.

Well, I have the answer to the first question. Apparently, you accumulate this much gold in China by engaging in corruption. And by engaging in corruption, I mean by being part of the communist government.

Authorities found the gold when they busted Zhang in an ongoing crackdown on corruption ordered by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. According to the report in The Sun, good ol’ Zhang could face the death penalty. Meanwhile, his stash of gold is currently being moved to a basement belonging to some other Communist Party official who is not being made an example of at this time.

As to how Zhang lugged 13.5 tons of gold down into his cellar, I’ll just have to leave that to speculation. My guess is one bar at a time.

You have to wonder what he planned on doing with all that gold. As a good communist, I’m sure he was just about to pass it out to poor Chinese laborers up to their knees in rice paddy muck.

Now, if you want to have a basement full of gold but you don’t have a clear path to a high position in the Communist Party, I have a suggestion. Call a SchiffGold precious metals specialist at 1-888-GOLD-160. They can help you get the ball rolling. And while you’re at it, ask them about precious metal storage, because really, leaving tons of gold in your basement isn’t recommended.

Fun on Friday is a weekly SchiffGold feature. We dig up some of the off-the-wall and off-beat stories relating to precious metals and the economy, and share them with you – with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Click here to read other posts in this series.