A Dark Day In Economic History; Could It Happen Again?

[ozcopper]

SchiffGold.com,

Yesterday (April 5) was the anniversary of a dark day in US economic history.

On April 5, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued EO-6102. It was the beginning of the end for the gold standard.

Many people refer to EO-6102 as a gold confiscation order. But confiscation is probably not the best word for what happened in practice.

In effect, the executive order criminalized owning gold. People caught with more than small amounts of gold could face a fine of $10,000 or 10 years in prison for hoarding the yellow metal. The order required private citizens, partnerships, associations and corporations to turn in all but small amounts of gold to the Federal Reserve at an exchange rate of $20.67 per ounce.

In effect, EO 6102 nationalized gold. But in practice, this did not lead to gold confiscation in the true sense of the word.

Americans turned in gold to the government, but they did so voluntarily as an act of patriotism. And the government gave people dollars in return for their gold. The feds never made any concerted effort to confiscate gold by force. They never went door to door looking for gold. And few were prosecuted under the law. Most of the prosecutions involved people caught trying to sell gold in sting operations.

Today, you?ll sometimes hear people warn against owning gold because the government can just confiscate it again. Some numismatic coin dealers and precious metals pundits also use Roosevelt?s moves in 1933 to instill fear and bolster the sale of what they claim are ?confiscation-free? products.

Of course, it is theoretically possible for the government to confiscate gold. It?s also theoretically possible for the government to confiscate cell phones. That doesn?t mean it will.

Even if you view the Roosevelt executive order as a warning sign, it?s important to understand the political and economic dynamics are much different today than they were in 1933. The world was on a gold standard and the economy was in a deep recession. The nationalization of gold was all about controlling the monetary system.

And it worked.

Today, the Federal Reserve has complete authority to expand the money supply and control interest rates. This is done with or without gold reserves. In other words, the government doesn?t need your gold.

There are numerous reasons to believe gold confiscation is highly unlikely. We outline them all in our new report, ?Confiscation Con: Will the Government Take Away Your Gold?? The report outlines six facts you need to know before you get caught up in government gold confiscation hysteria.

You can download the free report HERE: https://schiffgold.com/research-analysis/gold-confiscation-con/

 

[Administrator]

I'm more concerned that they'll enforce a gov controlled digital currency & social credit system that will micro-manage our everyday lives.

 

[alor]

they can turn OFF people that questions their narratives, its is to be expected of them!

 

[jason1]

Yes they no longer need your gold, as you have stated this was when the dollar was gold backed, the policy was to stop a run on the banks.
the lifted these limitations when the dollar was no longer gold backed and the fed no longer needed the gold in its reserves.
so unless we go back to a gold backed currency this likely wont happen again.

in the great depression people ran into banks swapping their paper money out for the gold at the banks (as they were entitled todo at the time), so  emptying out the vaults, the government didnt have enough gold in the vaults after WW1 to honor every dollar printed, from memory it was about 8-10% more money printed than there was gold. causing inflation, so every time some one asked for their gold amount and hoarding it instead of keeping it in paper it was leaving even less reserves, leaving a shortage in currency and causing the reserve to print more money, devaluing the dollar to gold ratio which i think it almost reached the 40% limit., the removal of gold from vaults was also making even more banks default, who were under huge stress from bad lending practices.

So the government came about and made it that you couldn't do that any more. essentially your only gold ownership in those days was via a piece of paper. aka the USD When mandated you were forced to take your gold into the banks to get the Dollar. if you refused you went to jail via the IRS equivalent, right up to the end of the gold standard.


it does make bit of an argument against the idea of the gold standard, if you want to actually physically hold gold, Other wise as the government of the era proved all you had was just a contract for gold you could never physically hold, in the form of the USD.
Imo id rather be able to trade worthless paper money for physical gold, like now, Vs those days where having government force you to hold worthless paper instead of its value in physical gold.
Edit: I say it was worthless paper under the gold standard, because the ratio was never 1-1 and that you couldnt turn that contract (USD) into physical gold, a contract that wont be honored is worthless IMO.
oh and not to mention, interest rates were often made high so the government could pull more gold into reserves by foreign investments.

  now the price can go up and down against your dollar, depending on the economy, which is a good thing IMO

PS.Im not saying Fiat is better, im saying owning gold under a fiat system is better for the owner of gold.