by Julian D. W. Phillips
This is a snippet from a recent issue of the Gold Forecaster with Subscriber-only parts excluded.
In this the third part of this series we look at the fall of gold as a medium of exchange and the freeing up of gold ownership from August 15th 1974 onwards.
We previously stated that gold ownership was made illegal on 1st May 1933. What we did not tell you and we correct now, was that U.S. citizens, under Order 6102, were to own up to $100 in gold coin [±5 ounces]. Today that would be worth under $5,000 a mere token gesture to real gold owners. It acted as a tiny 'escape valve' to the general body of citizens and did not detract from the fact that effective gold ownership was abolished. So that we fully understand the attitude of governments to gold [which remains real money in times of crisis] we add this paragraph: -
Congress could easily revoke the privilege again. In fact, at no time during this century has the U.S. government recognized the right of private gold ownership. The Trading with the Enemy Act, which President Roosevelt invoked in 1933 to restrict private gold transactions, remains law. Although private ownership of gold in the United States was legalized on August 15, 1974, the power to confiscate gold remains in the hands of the President. The President still retains the right, under the Emergency Banking Relief Act, to "investigate, regulate or prohibit... the importing, exporting, hoarding, melting or earmarking of gold" in times of a declared national emergency. It is highly unlikely that either the Courts or Congress would successfully argue that confiscatory powers are not implicit in the Emergency Banking Relief Act if a currency crisis or other fiscal emergency prompted the President to, once again, nationalize gold.
Safe Haven | Why Did the U.S. government Confiscate Gold in 1933 and Can it Happen Again? - Part 3
