hyderconsulting said:
She asked me what the Federal government would do about people using gold and silver to pay for items especially since they outlawed it once back in FDR's days. I told her that what they did back then was not outlaw the use of gold coins but the use of United States minted coins to pay for transactions or debts owed. If you produce your own silver or gold in some form and use it to barter for food with your neighbor then there is nothing the Federal government can do. The key word here is"barter." Am I right or wrong here somewhere :?:
Well it was not just US gold coins that were confiscated by FDR with Executive order 6102 on April 5th 1933. Here is the list of exceptions to the confiscation that were allowed;
A) Such amount of gold as may be required for legitimate and customary use in industry, profession or art within a reasonable time, including gold prior to refining and stocks of gold in reasonable amounts for the usual trade requirements of owners mining and refining such gold.
B) Gold coin and gold certificates in an amount not exceeding in the aggregate $100 belonging to any one person; and gold coins having a recognized special value to collectors of rare and unusual coins.
C) Gold coin and bullion earmarked or held in trust for a recognized foreign Government or foreign central bank or the Bank for International Settlements.
D) Gold coin and bullion licensed for other proper transactions (not involving hoarding) including gold coin and bullion imported for reexport or held pending action on applications for export licenses.
There were additional executive orders and amendments that dealt with this that year and next that further defined the amount of gold one could posses in any form to the $100.00 rule under these exceptions. Amounts greater than that required applying for a special license and you had to show the need. It is worth noting that at the time of this order $100.00 was roughly 5 troy ounces of gold.
Unbeknownst to most is that FDR did the same thing with silver August 9th 1934 with Executive Order 6814 with the exception that individuals were allowed to keep silver coins. This was targeted at “hoarders” of silver as once gold was outlawed people went to silver to protect their wealth, but this caused shortages of the metal for coinage. There was a 500 troy ounce limit per individual.
As some background in 1933 FDR was launching his New Deal to help cope with the great depression. He had the problem as to how to pay for all the government “assistance” he planned. At this time in history gold and silver were still money, even the paper money in circulation could be taken in and exchanged for their equivalent in gold or silver coin. Eliminating the private ownership of gold allowed the government to print paper money without having to worry about runs on banks with people demanding their gold for their paper bills as they became concerned as to a banks solvency. These runs destroyed many banks as they operated on the fractional gold system never having all the gold for the bills that were in circulation.
It is also worth noting that on May 12th 1933 FDR was given the authority to revalue the dollar in gold by the Thomas amendment tucked and hidden in the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. On January 31st 1934 with Proclamation 2072 FDR revalued gold by fixing the value of the dollar at 15 5/21 grains 9/10ths fine from the original 25 8/10 grains of 9/10ths fine gold. This revalued gold from $20.67 to $35.00 per troy ounce, a 40% increase in the value of the gold that he had just confiscated from US citizens (in other words he stole 40% of the peoples wealth). 2 billion dollars of this government windfall was put into a “stabilization fund” the balance went into the general fund of the treasury. That 2 billion by the way is equivalent in purchasing power to 33.48 billion ($33,480,000,000.00) according to the Federal Reserves own calculations today. That stabilization fund wording sure sounds familiar.
We are on a fully fiat system now so a revaluation of the dollar by confiscating gold then devaluing the dollar against it is no longer necessary. All they need do is declare the current money in circulation void and you will need to turn it in at whatever exchange rate they choose to give you in the new currency. This is what is so wrong with fiat money with no intrinsic value. The greatest threat of our government outlawing the ownership of gold again is if people lose faith in the dollar and turn to gold and silver. It would be simple to outlaw it once again eliminating them as competing currencies. I do not think this is highly likely though as few own precious metals as they are fully invested in the dollar unlike in the early 30's when money was gold and gold was money.
I laughed only reading the title of the video.
