U.S. asset managers worried Obama could confiscate gold

History Repeats Itself

U.S. asset managers worried Obama could confiscate gold


Lawrence Williams
Mineweb.com
June 11, 2010


Speaking at the FT Silver conference in London yesterday, lead-off speaker John Levin, HSBC Bank's Managing Director, Global Metals and Trading (HSBC is one of the world's top precious metals traders and its vaults in the U.S. and Europe hold huge holdings of gold and silver bullion) recounted conversations with some of the U.S.'s top asset managers controlling massive amounts of capital asking if HSBC had the capacity in its vaults to store major gold purchases. On being told that the bank's U.S. vaults had sufficient space available he was told that they did not want their gold stored in the U.S.A. but preferably in Europe because they feared that at some stage the U.S. Administration might follow the path set by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and confiscate all U.S. gold holdings as part of the country's strategy in dealing with the nation's economic problems.

While in Mineweb's view such a move is unlikely, one needs to bear in mind that President Obama is a keen follower of Roosevelt's views and policies and that the very fact that some asset managers controlling huge volumes of money feel that such a move is possible is a significant factor - and one that is perhaps heightened by the huge amounts of money flowing into gold at the moment in both ETFs and bullion.

As a reminder to readers - Section 2 of Roosevelt's Act read as follows: 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 or coming into their ownership on or before April 28, 1933, except the following:

(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.

S&F OP

Now why would that be a surprise to me ??

I wonder how far that would go with the people?

I can Just imagine Obama saying that gold hoarders are all terrorists and anti American.

Gold is the currency of terrorism, and everyone should surrender their physical gold (and silver) to the wealthy elite.

So be a true patriot, and inform on anyone you know that owns gold.

reply to post by monkeySEEmonkeyDO


You can bet the criminal tyrants you call a federal government will come for the gold when the prices gets high enough.

They will either outright steal it at gun point or they will tax it into oblivion.

Either way, they will come.

They are a gang of thieving criminal looters.

They will do what looters do.

Originally posted by Silver Shadow
I can Just imagine Obama saying that gold hoarders are all terrorists and anti American.

Gold is the currency of terrorism, and everyone should surrender their physical gold (and silver) to the wealthy elite.

So be a true patriot, and inform on anyone you know that owns gold.

Well That one made me Laugh pretty Good !
But thats most probably what would Happen in such a case !
Gonna call up GrandMa and tell her to keep her mouth shut ... least she loose her Gold Teeth

Originally posted by mnemeth1
reply to post by monkeySEEmonkeyDO

 

You can bet the criminal tyrants you call a federal government will come for the gold when the prices gets high enough.

They will either outright steal it at gun point or they will tax it into oblivion.

Either way, they will come.

They are a gang of thieving criminal looters.

They will do what looters do.


Sure right about that ! Martial Law would give them the Hand they need to supposedly do it Legally (Amazing how laws benefit Criminals ) OPPPS did i actually say that ?

Originally posted by Rocker-Mtl

But thats most probably what would Happen in such a case !

That is pretty much what did happen last time.

Basically America is broke, and anyone hoarding gold for personal wealth preservation is a traitor. Rather like hoarding food in a lifeboat ?

The only thing holding back the US government would be justifying gold confiscation in a democracy, when in many countries (falsely) considered less free than America, their governments are actively encouraging private gold ownership.

When the elite have totally plundered the public with bailouts, and raiding as many large pension funds as they can, they will turn to confiscation of gold.
It is the classic historic behavior of despot governments in times of total financial collapse.

Back during the Depression, it was actually a criminal offense to be caught w/ gold! People were spending time in prison for it!

Originally posted by Silver Shadow

Originally posted by Rocker-Mtl

But thats most probably what would Happen in such a case !

That is pretty much what did happen last time.

Basically America is broke, and anyone hoarding gold for personal wealth preservation is a traitor. Rather like hoarding food in a lifeboat ?

The only thing holding back the US government would be justifying gold confiscation in a democracy, when in many countries (falsely) considered less free than America, their governments are actively encouraging private gold ownership.

When the elite have totally plundered the public with bailouts, and raiding as many large pension funds as they can, they will turn to confiscation of gold.
It is the classic historic behavior of despot governments in times of total financial collapse.

I actually Totally agree with you ! Sorry if my reply made it seem different

So be a true patriot, and inform on anyone you know that owns gold.

The above statement made me laugh ... although really not funny at all

What Gold?

If GATA is correct, most of the gold in several reserves around the world has been laundered into the market to keep the price of precious metals down.

If true, this is a much bigger problem than your article suggests.

An even bigger secret is that China, apart from now being the world's largest gold producer, is secretly buying up gold bullion bars as fast as it can on the open market.

A very large shipment of gold bullion from a London gold depositary was found to be gold plated tungsten bars, when the Chinese tried to remelt it into smaller bars.
Google will find you much more on this huge scandal.

gold-quote.net...

As you might imagine, that caused a huge fuss, and many more of the same fake bars have since turned up in European vaults.

The serial numbers on every one of those fake bars were traced back through previous owners, and ALL originated from Fort Knox during the Clinton years.

Draw your own conclusions, but the poo is about to hit the fan, BIG TIME.

We are seeing the beginnings of a huge world wide gold rush, as paper assets collapse around the world.

Hey that fear tactic worked wonders with gun manufacturers. They started spreading rumors around that Obama was going to take their guns away, and gun sales skyrocketed. So I guess they are trying to do the same thing with gold.

So go ahead, push that fear, all it will do is make gold prices go through the roof.

Originally posted by whatukno
Hey that fear tactic worked wonders with gun manufacturers. They started spreading rumors around that Obama was going to take their guns away, and gun sales skyrocketed. So I guess they are trying to do the same thing with gold.

So go ahead, push that fear, all it will do is make gold prices go through the roof.

The president can't take guns away from us.

However the Supreme Court can.

And he has nominated 2 anti-gun judges.

If a conservative justice retires or dies while Obama is in office, the American public will no longer enjoy a 2nd amendment.


[edit on 11-6-2010 by mnemeth1]

reply to post by mnemeth1


The SCOTUS can no more take away the guns, or gold from the American people than the POTUS can. There is acquiescence and there is non-acquiescence. One of the most famous incidents of non-acquiescence was when President Andrew Jackson ignored a SCOTUS ruling, and of his blatant contempt of court, Jackson said:

"They have made their decision, now let them enforce it".

Millions against nine old coots hardly seems fair at all.



[edit on 11-6-2010 by Jean Paul Zodeaux]

[edit on 11-6-2010 by Jean Paul Zodeaux]

They can pass laws, but enforcing them may not be that easy.
Especially if it raises public outrage.
We are almost at that point, but not quite.

If it did happen I suppose it would release the US from the Tungsten scandal...

It’s one thing to counterfeit a twenty or hundred dollar bill. The amount of financial damage is usually limited to a specific region and only affects dozens of people and thousands of dollars. Secret Service agents quickly notify the banks on how to recognize these phony bills and retail outlets usually have procedures in place (such as special pens to test the paper) to stop their proliferation.

But what about gold? This is the most sacred of all commodities because it is thought to be the most trusted, reliable and valuable means of saving wealth.

A recent discovery — in October of 2009 — has been suppressed by the main stream media but has been circulating among the “big money” brokers and financial kingpins and is just now being revealed to the public. It involves the gold in Fort Knox — the US Treasury gold — that is the equity of our national wealth. In short, millions (with an “m”) of gold bars are fake!

Who did this? Apparently our own government.

All that glitters is not always gold..the tungsten scandal

seeker401.wordpress.com...

reply to post by Jean Paul Zodeaux


Dammit, I am sorry I brought up guns as an analogy, I should have known it would bring out the gun nuts immediately. I was just saying the FEAR that Obama would take away something causes that something to become more demanded.

Shesh oh Pete people.

reply to post by whatukno


Your feeble presumptions only underscore your profound arrogance. I have never owned a gun in my life and have no desire to own one in the future. Of course, if people like you keep getting elected to Congress I just might have to change my mind on that.

While I can't provide much information on the topic at hand, but in regards to Roosevelt's 1933 gold actions...

I could be wrong, but I believe what Roosevelt did was require money using the gold standard to be turned over, that includes any gold coins, and exchanged for the new post gold standard currency.

Also when the Emergency Banking Act passed, people were asked to bring in there hoarded currency to the banks to help stabilize the situation. As the system would fail if everyone kept their money stashed at home.

Like I said, I could be wrong.

EDIT TO ADD:

Funny tidbit from the Emergency Banking Act is Title V, Section 501.

"Appropriation of $2,000,000 to the President for carrying out this legislation."

Seems like FDR got a $2 million pay off for passing the act.

[edit on 6/11/2010 by ThaLoccster]

The reason for the first gold confiscation no longer exists so it seems a little far fetched that they would bother to go after private investors when they could simply purchase it on the market if they wanted to.

The government hasn't seemed to be concerned with how much money it's printing since monetary velocity is going down or how much red ink is used; so while I can see some reasons for it, it seems like a far too heavy handed option for the moment.

Perhaps when 2011 hits and taxes go up (among other things) we might see this more as a possibility.

Either way, buy gold privately rather than from a dealer, keep it safe and don't talk about it.

Peace
KJ