I read how FDR and the government made it "illegal" for US citizens to won gold. Did the FEDS brake down pwoples doors SWAT style at gun point and take there gold, or just made it a nuisance to use it. Would I be a conspiracy theorist if I avoided putting my hard currency in a safe deposit box at my local bank in fear of the FEDS taking the peoples gold?
It's my understanding that they merely made it unlawful to buy or sell gold, thereby making ownership pretty inconvenient for anyone who wanted to do anything with it other than hoard it - my reading of history isn't encyclopediac, but I've heard nothing about raids to confiscate the stuff.
If things get so bad that the Feds are going through safe-deposit boxes, I suspect that you may not want to be hauling the weight of your gold - there will likely be other, more immediate problems. Then again, I'm rather surprised that there hasn't already been an armed uprising - so take my advice with a grain or five of salt.
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I believe the vast majority of gold was held in safety deposit boxes at the bank so it became easy to confiscate most of it from their owners. The rest I think was voluntarily given up to the bank. I think the owners were compensated for it at market value.
A real conspiracy theorist would put their gold underneath a mattress in Switzerland. Or better yet, move there so you can guard it with a shotgun. All depends on where you sit on the spectrum.
Steve1225:Would I be a conspiracy theorist if I avoided putting my hard currency in a safe deposit box at my local bank in fear of the FEDS taking the peoples gold?
I'd never use a safe deposit box. Many State governments claim to own any "abandoned" boxes and have a habit of drilling out the locks and stealing the contents of many unabandoned boxes.
exile: I believe the vast majority of gold was held in safety deposit boxes at the bank so it became easy to confiscate most of it from their owners. The rest I think was voluntarily given up to the bank. I think the owners were compensated for it at market value.
Depends what you mean by "market value". Prior to the heist, gold was money; an ounce of gold was $20.67. Everyone was required to turn over (almost) all gold in exchange for bank money at $20.67/oz. You could get 10 years for failing to turn it over. The very next day the official value of the dollar was changed to $35/oz (which is still the book value the US Treasury put on their gold today); but of course there was no real market until it was legalized again in 1973, at which point it shot up to much higher value. Were gold-owners in 1933 compensated at market value? I hardly think so.
I read somewhere that the government gave a financial incentive for people to convert their gold into paper money. Like, you'd get $35 in paper money for every $20 you cash in.
And the federal government most certainly did raid everyones' safety deposit boxes for the gold.
Harksaw: And the federal government most certainly did raid everyones' safety deposit boxes for the gold.
That's fascinating - none of the histories I've read about that time mention that, to my recollection - and it'd be blatantly illegal enough to have been noticed. Do you, by any chance, have a cite or reference for this?
exile:I think the owners were compensated for it at market value.
Not really. They turned over their gold at $20 an ounce, and then FDR revalued gold to $35 an ounce. So the people who turned in their gold, suffered an enormous devaluation. Needless to say, anyone who knew in advance, could have profited handsomely, by moving their gold out of the country and then back in after it was revalued.
"All persons are hereby required to deliver on or before May 1, 1933, to a Federal Reserve Bank or a branch or agency thereof or to any member bank of the Federal Reserve System all gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates now owned by them."
http://www.fgmr.com/confiscation.htm
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Right, I meant market value as it was defined on that date. Not it's realistically valued amount which happened later.
liberty student: Needless to say, anyone who knew in advance, could have profited handsomely, by moving their gold out of the country and then back in after it was revalued.
Needless to say, anyone who knew in advance, could have profited handsomely, by moving their gold out of the country and then back in after it was revalued.
Only if 10 years in prison is considered profitable
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