FDR's Other ‘Day of Infamy': When the US Government Seized All Citizens' Gold

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FDR's Other ‘Day of Infamy': When the US Government Seized All Citizens' Gold​

Posted on April 4th, 2023

December 7, 1941 will forever be remembered as, in the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "a date that will live in infamy." Another infamous date is April 5, 1933—the day that FDR ordered the seizure of the private gold holdings of the American people. By attacking innocent citizens, he bombed the country's gold standard just as surely as Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

On this 90th anniversary of the seizure, it behooves us to recall the details of it, for multiple reasons: It ranks as one of the most notorious abuses of power in a decade when there were almost too many to count. It's an example of bad policy imposed on the guiltless by the government that created the conditions it used to justify it. And the very fact of compliance, however minimal, is a scary testimony to how fragile freedom is in the middle of a crisis.

More:

 
It was the plan all along since the Federal Reserve loaned the US government $80 million in 1913 (or was it $180M? I forget).

If the government paid it back in 20 years the Federal Reserve would 'go away'.

Well, we all know that was never going to happen... so in 1933 the bankers wanted 'collateral' on the fiat they loaned out and what better collateral is there but gold?
 
From the article:
...
Many Americans were cowed by government threats to do the "patriotic" thing and turn in their gold as Roosevelt mandated. But true to the rugged individualism and defiance of tyranny ingrained in our culture, FDR's order prompted widespread noncompliance. Best estimates, suggest that for every one dollar in gold that Americans relinquished, they quietly kept three.

If the federal government tried today to seize the gold holdings of private American citizens, how much do you think we would turn over?
...

The folks that actually have gold these days (aside from jewelry) are the types that understand it's value and history. I'm inclined to think most would be reporting boating accidents to anyone that inquired about their stacks.
 
I'm inclined to think most would be reporting boating accidents to anyone that inquired about their stacks.
Of course they would.

After all, it's a demonstrated fact that approx 2/3rds of all people will do whatever an official looking guy from the gov tells them they need to do.

The first third will gleefully do so, with the second third going along with it in order to save their own butts.
....but no matter how ya cut it, 2/3rds of the people would throw your ass (or mine) in a boxcar if instructed by an authority figure to do so.
 
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