The University of Texas Investment Management Co., the second-largest U.S. academic endowment, took delivery of almost $1 billion in gold bullion as the metal reaches a record, according to the fund’s board.
The fund, whose $19.9 billion in assets ranked it behind Harvard University’s endowment as of August, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, last year added about $500 million in gold investments to an existing stake, said Bruce Zimmerman, the endowment’s chief executive officer. The holdings reached about $987 million yesterday, as Comex futures closed at $1,486 an ounce….
“Central banks are printing more money than they ever have, so what’s the value of money in terms of purchases of goods and services,” [Kyle] Bass said today in a telephone interview. “I look at gold as just another currency that they can’t print any more of.”
The numbers here are mind blowing. I would really be interested in two other stats for Texas and Texas A & M:
1. How both schools rank nationally in scholarship awards?
2. How have tuition rates at both schools increased over the last 10 years?
Wow. That’s more gold than most countries have in reserve. Sounds like TU actually has a grasp on Massive Debt + Unlimited Money Printing = Severe Currency Depreciation. For the record Kyle Bass is a very smart man. I may not always agree with him, but when he bothers to say or write something it gets my very serious attention.
My only quibble is that if I had that kinda real money (as opposed to the monopoly money being passed off by the FED) I would probably be storing it offshore. I don’t want to sound paranoid, but this country has a track record of stealing people’s gold when things get really bad economically. 1933-34…
With respect to number 1:
1. Don’t know
2. Yes, they have. The legislature has reduced funding for all universities in Texas over the years, including the schools in the UT and A&M systems.
My understanding of the Permanent University Fund, which manages the oil endowments of the UT & A&M system, is that its income can be spent only on capital improvements. I don’t know what proportion of the PUF comprises the endowments, but the oil revenues over the decades have been critical to the universities.
Thsi is how bad it really is–the first semester of my Senior year at the University of Houston, in 1973, my total for tutiton, fees and 5 home game football tickets in the Astrodome was $147. Tuition at all Texas state universities was $50 a semester. I left Texas in 1974 to go in the military and didn’t return, but I’ll bet its just a tad more expensive today.