Indeed, right now just in the USA companies are now sitting on US$2 TRILLION in liquid assets and not using them, out of fear of the declining economy and paying for increasing government regulations/mandates from the Obama Administration. I think there is increasing fear we could see a repeat of what FDR did--force private holders of precious metals to give up coins and bullion blocks but go one step further: seize a large fraction of the companies' liquid asset holdings, essentially centralizing control of the US economy altogether.
If I remember correctly, not only did FDR grab the gold but he also had a tax on “retained earnings” passed to grab even more. His rationale was that the corporations should be using that money to create jobs even if they were precluded from doing it realistically through government interference and control.