Thanks for the ping, Kaslin.
Posted on 09/27/2010 4:41:23 PM PDT by Kaslin
One of the many slick tricks of the Obama administration was to insert a provision in the massive ObamaCare legislation regulating people who sell gold. This had nothing to do with medical care but everything to do with sneaking in an extension of the government's power over gold, in a bill too big for most people to read.
Gold has long been a source of frustration for politicians who want to extend their power over the economy. First of all, the gold standard cramped their style because there is only so much money you can print when every dollar bill can be turned in to the government, to be exchanged for the equivalent amount of gold.
When the amount of money the government can print is limited by how much gold the government has, politicians cannot pay off a massive national debt by just printing more money and repaying the owners of government bonds with dollars that are cheaper than the dollars with which the bonds were bought. In other words, politicians cannot cheat people as easily.
That was just one of the ways that the gold standard cramped politicians' style — and just one of the reasons they got rid of it. One of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first acts as president was to take the United States off the gold standard in 1933.
But, even with the gold standard gone, the ability of private individuals to buy gold reduces the ability of the government to steal the value of their money by printing more money.
I
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Ping
Just ask Congressman Weiner.
Thanks for the ping, Kaslin.
You’re welcome :)
It would have been more informative if he had mentioned what the provisions are. Anybody know?
Gold tells the truth about the insane sending and borrowing schemes of politicians (both parties) and entire societies. It may be hard for freepers to believe but prior to 1971 we settled our trade deficits in gold bullion. That is why we ran no trade deficits
Due to having to inflate due to the Vietnam war too many foreigners were cashing in their US dollars for gold. So Nixon closed the gold window in 1971. So they were stuck with US Dollars. We kept the USD strong so foreigners didn’t mind so much. You can see the evidence by all the $100 bills and other US currency that circulate world wide
USD strength depends on a strong America with a strong military and strong economy. An idiot president like Oboma hurts all this
T4TP!
” One of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first acts as president was to take the United States off the gold standard in 1933.”
I don’t know if that is accurate. Gold was revoked as legal tender and revalued from just over $20/oz to $35, but a gold standard remained for foreign exchange purposes. That eroded during the Kennedy and Johnson years and it was Nixon who ended the last vestiges of the gold standard in 1971.
But the author is right that politicians resented being handcuffed by a gold standard. In its place they stuck the American people with a depreciating dollar.
Sneaking a provision on gold purchases and sales into massive legislation
agreed....he never says what it is....a useless article from a good writer
thanks jaz, gotta pass it to see says nazi p...
The inflation began earlier as a consequence of the Marshall Plan and the dollar’s role as the postwar reserve currency. Huge dollar balances accumulated in Europe, more than the gold standard could support by 1959.
When a national currency serves as the world’s reserve currency a conflict occurs between that nation’s domestic policy and its foreign policy designs. A Belgian named Triffin identified the resulting monetary problem and the Triffin Dilemma is named for him.
When Kennedy took office in 1960 he was confronted with the Triffin Dilemma. To defend the dollar he needed to cut budget deficits and raise interest rates. But that would have put the economy into recession and he wasn’t willing to do it. So instead he opted for inflation, the first hard sign of which was removal of silver from American coinage in 1964. Johnson continued JFK’s policies, adding the Vietnam War and Great Society to all of the spending. Nixon inherited Johnson’s mess, and rather than accept the necessity of recession to defend the dollar he broke its last link to gold.
Foreign central banks were able to exchange their dollars for gold until 1971. That isn’t the same gold standard that existed prior to FDR, but it’s more of a gold standard than existed after Nixon.
1099’s would be required on gold sales.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/gold-coin-dealers-decry-tax-law/story?id=11211611
The answer is right here on FR:
Great summary especially our pulling silver coinage in 1964. Nixon was semi-justified in closing the gold window to finance the Vietnam war. Gov’ts always borrow and inflate during wartime. But also just as much money was spent on Great Society programs...that stuff also compelled Nixon to inflate
Wikipedia says Paul Volcker was the main person who helped Nixon with the mechanics of shutting the gold window
Great article!
He’s so right. Thanks for the ping jaz. Appreciate it.
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