Remember When the US Government Seized Everyone's Gold?

 Yesterday I posted a "Hell on earth" video featuring Gerald Celente.  He's kind of famous for recommending the three G's..."Gold, Guns, Get-away plan."  He and many others see inflation coming and the destruction of the US Dollar.  I would agree that day IS coming.  However, while I don't argue with the idea to own a little silver and gold in your gun cabinet, I do wonder if these "buy gold" guys have totally forgotten the day when the US government made owning gold ILLEGAL and demanded that every American turn all their gold into the bank in exchange for $20 per ounce?

You don't remember that?  Probably because it happened in 1933 and was in force for 4 decades.

With global financial markets in disarray, many investors are turning to classic safe havens. Gold is trading above US$1,750 (£1,429) per troy ounce, which is the standard measure – more than 15% above where it started 2020. Even after a strong rally since March, the S&P 500 stock market index is down nearly 10% over the same period.

Gold confers familiarity during downturns. Its returns are uncorrelated with assets like stocks, so it tends to hold its value when they fall. It is also a good way of avoiding currency devaluation. It therefore features in any well diversified investor’s portfolio, whether via gold-mining shares, gold funds, bullion or whatever.

Yet there are two slight caveats to viewing gold as a safe haven. Early in an economic downturn, gold prices often plummet with the rest of the market. This is from investors selling gold to offset losses in shares and other assets. We saw this in March, when gold fell 12% in two weeks, then quickly recovered. If the coronavirus causes more market panic, this could happen again.

During extreme crises, governments can also seize people’s gold. There have been some stunning examples of “gold confiscation” in the past. Most memorably, this occurred in the US in 1933 during the great depression – albeit it’s more accurate to call it a nationalisation than a confiscation, since citizens were compensated. The government of Franklin D Roosevelt seized all gold bullion and coins via Executive Order 6102, forcing citizens to sell at well below market rates. Immediately after the “confiscation”, the government set a new official rate for gold that was much higher as part of the Gold Reserve Act 1934.

This was the era of the gold standard, which meant dollars were tradeable for an exact amount of the precious metal. Seizing the metal enabled the government to print more dollars to try to stimulate the economy, and also to buy more dollars on the international markets to shore up the exchange rate.

Many gold owners were understandably unhappy about the gold seizure, and some fought it in the courts. Ultimately, however, the government could not be stopped, and gold ownership remained illegal in the US until the 1970s.

This intervention was not unique, even in contemporary history. In 1959, Australia’s government put a law in place that allowed gold seizures from private citizens if “expedient to do so, for the protection of the currency or of the public credit of the Commonwealth [of Australia]”. And in 1966, to stop the decline in the pound, the UK government banned citizens from owning more than four gold or silver coins and blocked the private import of gold. This was only lifted in 1979.

Here:  How the US government seized all citizens' gold in 1930s (theconversation.com)

So for those folks who think that their gold is going to save them from financial ruin...I would remind you there is only one man who can save you.  And Jesus told us to lay up our REAL treasure in heaven where bugs, weather, inflation, thieves and governments can never touch it.