“Suppose they confiscate my gold like Roosevelt did?” We’ve heard this a hundred times, I am sure. It’s a coin shop’s favorite spiel. Did Roosevelt confiscate everyone’s gold back in 1933? If he did, how come there’s still a lot of it for sale in a thousand coin shops?
What really did happen? America was in the midst of a severe depression, caused by loose money issued by the Federal Reserve, which has caused the current depression. There was so much ’liquidity’ floating around, like today, that everyone was buying stocks on margins of over 90% at times, which is not happening today, even though the stock market is tremendously over-valued. The stock market was on everyone’s lips and thoughts. Bootblacks and janitors were buying stocks. Stocks would supposedly go up forever, and there was no risk. The stock market crashed, leaving everyone out on the well known limb, like real estate now, owing for stocks which were often times not worth much more than the paper on which they were printed. In fairly quick order, 25% of America was out of work, selling apples on street corners, or doing anything for work or food. Today, the same thing is going on with real estate, with 35% of home owners owing more on their homes than they are worth. This is called being “underwater.” In 1933 their stocks were “underwater.”
Roosevelt wanted to pull America out of the depression, by enlarging government, just like the Democrats and most Republicans, are doing now. Roosevelt didn’t have any money, because the dollars he needed, were backed by gold, and the Treasury didn’t have nearly enough gold to print the dollars Roosevelt wanted for his “programs.” Today, Obama and his Gang are doing exactly the same thing that Roosevelt wanted to do, and that is insert government into everything; mistakenly thinking that more government will undo, what government caused in the first place. Since Roosevelt couldn’t endlessly print money like the Democrats and liberal Republicans can vote for and do now, he had to have gold to back the dollars he wanted to spend for those make-work jobs. Where to get them?
Roosevelt had lots of problems. Farmers wanted higher prices for their crops, and there wasn’t any money around to give them. On March 9th, 1933, FDR declared a “Bank Holiday,” closing all the banks, as a result of runs, with millions of Americans trying to pull their dollars out of banks. Many never re-opened. There was no FDIC then. Banks had made huge loans on what were then virtually worthless stocks, and the loans could not be re-paid, so the banks went under. Today, dozens of banks have gone under, but the now nearly exhausted FDIC bailed them out…so far anyway.
Roosevelt had a brilliant idea. He would order everyone to turn in their gold, in exchange for new paper dollars. On April 5, 1933, Roosevelt issued Executive Order #6102, which ordered Americans to surrender their gold to the government by May 1st, 1933. Violations were to be subject to a $10,000 fine, and as much as ten years in prison. Whoopee! Americans never paid a single dime in fines, no one ever went to jail, and no one ever had their gold confiscated. Executive Orders are unconstitutional in the first place, and if it had ever gotten to the Supreme Court, it would have been thrown out, as were many of FDR’s programs.
At that time, most Americans were carrying gold coins in their pockets in all sizes. From one dollar coins to 20 dollar coins, known as ’double eagles.’ Most Americans were also broke, so they figured that if turning in their gold for an equal amount of paper money would help the situation, they would, and did cooperate. Those who had enough dollars, and weren’t in trouble, said to themselves, ’Hell no, he isn’t going to get my gold.’ Probably 60% turned in their gold which was then at $20.67 per ounce. In those days, a loaf of bread was less than a dime, so the buck went a long way towards feeding a family.
When the gold was turned in, in exchange for paper dollars, ever more paper dollars could be printed, and Roosevelt’s programs could be facilitated. The percentage of backing was reduced at that time, to allow the printing of paper dollars to replace the gold turned in. None of Roosevelt’s programs worked, because like now, all he did was to hire more and more government employees, and government employees only increase the debt, rather than turn a profit for industry, which pays taxes and hires workers, not bureaucrats. On May 7th, speaking on a radio ’Fireside Chat,’ Roosevelt said that he needed the gold, Americans were ’hoarding it,’ and he needed it to print dollars so he could get us out of the depression.
On January 31, 1934 Roosevelt signed into law, the “Gold Reserve Act,” which set the price of gold at $35 per ounce, as opposed to the former $20.67. He had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from Americans who had sent in their gold at $20.67, and which was now $35 per ounce. He had raised the price of gold by 70%, or in reality lowered the value of the dollar by 70%. It has been estimated that Roosevelt had hauled in $7 billion worth of gold, but the depression kept going, until Roosevelt got us into WWII. That ended the depression, of course. My dad hated Roosevelt, as did all Republicans, businessmen, and smart people. I can still hear him calling Eleanor Roosevelt “Old Horseface.”
Did Executive Order # 6012 “seize” everyone’s gold? No! How could anyone know who had it, when everyone had it? Gold coins have no serial numbers like car titles, which need to be registered. #6102 could never have been enforced, and wasn’t. No one ever lost their gold or had it taken from them. Gold isn’t radioactive, so a Geiger Counter would never disclose who has it today. Registered guns have serial numbers and can be confiscated. If that ever happens, and yours are registered, I suggest that you tell the enforcement agency that you sold yours at a yard sale years ago.
Will government ever try to seize your gold? What would be the reason? How would they know who has it? It isn’t needed to back dollars, because trillions of dollars can, and are being printed with total abandon, to pay for outrageous government spending. Gold and silver are merely personal possessions, like tools, books, or DVDs. As a refresher, the Fourth Amendment reads: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated.” Is it illegal to purchase gold and silver to hedge ones self against dollar devaluation? Of course not, any more than if you purchased an antique, rare stamp, or old car. Forget the “seizure” pitch that coin shops try to palm off on you to sell their over-priced numismatics. These guys are a bunch of used car salesmen who will say anything to make a sale. The most brand new gold and silver for the least dollars, is what we sell. We never will call you or bother you, like these guys do, and are totally honest, with an A plus rating from the Better Business Bureau. When push comes to shove, how many ounces you have is what will count, not how old, or in what condition they are. Bullion sells instantly, and doesn’t have to be graded, either professionally, or by some shifty salesman.