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This is a snippet from a recent issue of the Gold Forecaster
with Subscriber-only parts excluded.
As the fourth part of this series we now look at this question: "What circumstances
will the world monetary system be in, in the event of the Confiscation of
Gold by Central Banks?"
Then...
The
circumstances that led to the confiscation of gold in 1933 were dire. Firstly,
the time was Post-Depression and the States had a huge need for the expansion
of the money supply. Secondly, the dark clouds of war had started to gather,
as Hitler took power. So the money supply had to be expanded, yet be capable
of holding its value, when the global scene would have lead to simple un-backed
paper money not being accepted. Gold however, was even accepted between enemies,
as it would be today. What pushed government to take gold away from its citizens?
It was seen as a time of national need. It was the need to reinforce the basic
credibility of paper money! This was sufficient justification to government
necessitating the imposition of patriotic duty on its citizens with regard
to gold. Where patriotism was not as strong as the personal need to preserve
one's wealth, a threatened term in prison fortified those individual's patriotism.
And now!
And have no doubt that the same would be true today, were gold confiscation
to take place.
Today, most of individual wealth is held in Corporations, Funds, banking institutions
and other legal entities and not by the individuals themselves as was the case
in 1933. Today, corporations and Funds would be threatened in the same way
as they were then and with potential imprisonment for the Officers of those
legal entities. Few of these Officers would be prepared to go to prison on
client's behalf! Experience in other parts of the world shows us that these
Officers would hand over the gold in their charge, immediately, if such a law
were passed, with little to no regard for the beneficial owner.
Let's stress that point; when it comes to money, a nation's interests sit
heavily above those of its citizens. Holding gold is therefore a privilege,
not a right, in the eyes of government.
For U.S. Citizens:
Today we live in a global market where U.S. citizens are able to move their
funds overseas without restraint. In 1933 only the wealthiest of individuals
could even contemplate moving funds out of the States. Now they can invest
in any Stock Exchange or other Financial Market in the world, without being
held back by the U.S. Government. The concept of restraining U.S. citizen's
foreign investments has not been on the page until now. Recently President
Obama indicated that U.S. Corporations operating overseas would have to pay
U.S. Tax on their overseas income. The days of reinvesting profits in Capital
Expenditure before suffering U.S. Tax [payable on repatriated profits only]
appear to be numbered. President Obama made it clear that his Administration
sees a need for the U.S. to benefit directly from overseas investments annually.
He further feels that U.S. citizens overall should benefit from these profits
and not just the corporation and those it employs overseas. No doubt, the concept
of U.S. Tax on overseas corporation profits will take a firmer hold irrespective
of the benefits of keeping profits as capital for development overseas. President
Obama is certainly of the opinion that U.S. owned overseas assets should directly
benefit U.S. citizens at home, first!
This
lays the ground for Capital / Exchange Controls if the $ declines precipitously,
or the U.S. financial empire worldwide, declines, as it seems set to do so.
At worst, the U.S. will see what the U.K. saw, the splitting of the $ into
two types, one for Trade transactions and the other for Capital movements [at
a discount to the Trade $]. In the U.K. it was titled the "Dollar Premium".
Such a situation would see the U.S. $ in retreat in terms of other currencies
too. The role of gold in adding to the credibility of the $ internationally
at that point would be crucial. As the U.S. dollars returned home from $ surplus
holders [such as China] there would be a dire need for local credibility to
the currency to be enhanced. This could precipitate gold confiscation, again.
As it is, even U.S. citizens living overseas have to declare to the U.S. Tax
Authorities their worldwide income. Even where the individual U.S. citizens
held all their assets overseas, we would expect the Administration of that
day to attempt to coerce the repatriation of their gold home to the States.
If these individuals had assets at home, these could be seized if they failed
to comply with the repatriation and confiscation of their gold. Where U.S.
based citizens held assets abroad they too could face home confiscation of
assets if they did not repatriate their gold.
As it is, through the I.R.S., foreign held assets are already reported by
U.S. citizen's world wide. Hence, the reporting and control mechanisms to attack
non-governmental ownership of gold are fundamentally in place and can be extended
without too much difficulty, to control all who wish to remain U.S. citizens.
What price Patriotism?
That
is why the gold Exchange Traded Fund, The Ultimate Gold Fund has been
designed to accommodate U.S. gold owners, holding their gold in Switzerland,
to ensure that their gold cannot be confiscated!
More to come next week - "For citizens of other countries" - "Does
the U.S. have rights in other countries, over their citizen's wealth?"
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