What would happen with the private ownership of gold if the $ returns to the Gold Standard?

So, the government could issue gold (and maybe silver) certificates? I’ve been working overseas and made a pile of cash which I am afraid will be eaten by inflation if I sit on it. I don’t know where to put it. At this point the idea would be to buy gold to preserve the value of my savings. I’m gritting my teeth and watching gold head upwards. I’ve read that there is a pyramid of investments and that in times of uncertainty that money migrates upward. The capstone is gold. I know there are currencies that are not as volatile as the U.S. dollar. What are some of those? I’ve heard Canadian and Australian dollar are in better shape than U.S.

They don’t have to do that in advance. They just close the banks. When they reopen there can be somebody standing there to see whatcha got.

There is a book written by an Argentinian who witnessed the crisis there. They converted all dollar accounts to the local currency. They locked the banks. The well connected extracted their money in dollars out the back in footlockers. If your valuables were in safe deposit boxes -too bad. Then they set a withdrawal limit of $(equivalent) a day. You spent your days looking for an ATM with cash in it.
I’m in Iraq. On payday all our translators withdraw all their money in dollars and carry it. That is what people do who don’t trust their government and banks.

I don’t think that has to do with the fact that it’s gold. That has to do with an attempt by the government to stop money laundering. You have to declare amounts above 10k which 5 ounces of gold would probably exceed or close enough.

I’m not sure what they would do about jewelry though. In the middle east gold jewelry is sold by weight/quality. I’m not sure what they would do if you had a few feet of gold chain. Dumb they ain’t.

Canadian would be a fine choice, like their government backed paper (bonds). Canadian gold/silver miners that pay a dividend would be a good place to park cash. Or do three things, bonds, mining stocks and some physical gold/silver.

It will be a wild ride so try not to get shaken out of a position once you buy in. About 2016 you can re-access what you are doing, by that time maybe the regular stock market might be on its way up after US government bonds give no return but corporate stocks will via price gains and dividends.

Good luck.

I am saying that the global population today is indifferent between holding an ounce of gold or $1,797. At that price, there are just as many people willing to trade dollars for gold as there are people willing to trade gold for dollars.

1. If we were to implement the gold standard today with the goal of keeping the dollar stable relative to gold, we should set the price at $1,797 / oz. gold. (If we set the exchange rate at $8,000 / oz. gold as you suggest, people -- including me -- would tender our gold to the federal reserve in exchange for $8,000. The federal reserve would have to print a lot of money -- think: inflation -- to do that, but the government would get a lot of gold, too.)
2. Running a gold standard isn't tough. Supply liquidity when people are tendering gold -- reduce liquidity when people are withdrawing gold. I could do that job with an Excel spreadsheet and open market operations and be home by noon every day. Unfortunately, there's no political will to have a gold standard. Keynesians believe that some inflation is good.

It blows my mind that you really seem to believe that the real price of gold is 4-5x what the free market says. How did you get smarter than the other 5 billion independently acting actors in the global economy. Trust me, I'm a buyer of gold even at $1,797 / oz. I believe the free market price is really $1,797 / oz. and I'm not getting a special deal, but I also believe that the government will continue printing and supplying more dollars to the economy than it can absorb and that the market clearing price will be more than $1,797 next year.

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