I agree they are not rational, and anyone who has been paying attention knows what they are up to. I suppose they can try, but if “paper money collapses” as you describe it, then by definition they (and everyone else) will have far greater things to worry about.
They may not be rational, but they aren’t complete idiots either. At this point, it’s obvious to even the feeble minded that certain types of politician are determined to crash what’s left of the system, and are no longer representatives of their alleged constituencies. This has been going on for a long time, except that, while you correctly point out the politicians don’t care, the difference today compared with the 1930s is the citizenry doesn’t either.
They can’t effect their nonsense without money, and lots of it. Gold isn’t the answer, it’s part of the question. Whether or not the government confiscates my land, my home, means of self-defense, freedom of religion, peaceable assembly - there I go again, getting all radical!
What about my savings bonds? My 401k? Do they want to criminalize those too? At some point we just gotta dust ourselves off and start over, so in some ways this kind of talk is very welcome.
I suppose we could boil it down to a simple, but unanswerable question. I honestly believe they are capable of trying anything they think they can get away with. So the question is, just what do they think they can get away with?
It is (more or less) openly admitted they want to “nationalize” your 401K. Which is confiscation. Do they think they can get away with it? Mmmm, they aren’t yet sure, still waiting for the right circumstances to fall into place.
And while we speculate, we really have no true idea of how bad a worst case scenario could actually be, should it come to that.
This I am certain of, in a severe depression, we can expect a lot more lawlessness on the part of citizens (and don’t forget the 15-20 million illegals). We do not have the morals and values of 1930 that can be counted upon to maintain civilized behavior to the degree of that time. And a lot of us do not have the naive faith and trust in government that our grandparents had at that time. I for one don’t intend to rely on any government institution to protect my family or property.