Gold Confiscation: Fact or Fiction?

Most of you may not be aware, but a government confiscation of gold has happened before.  The government really has pulled some shifty moves with the people’s money in the past.  The speculation comes into play when we begin to question the possibility of it happening again. Does the government have the ability to take from the people whatever and whenever they please?  Let’s examine a few main questions when it comes to government confiscation of gold and silver.

History of Confiscation

In a brief history on the subject of confiscation, you should know that it all began with the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917.  Woodrow Wilson basically signed a law saying that Americans were forbidden from trading with “enemy nations”.  At this point in history, every major country outside of the U.S. was pretty much considered an “enemy nation”.  This pretty much halted any gold boom for the American people at the outbreak of WWI and set the stage for the Great Depression and WWII.

Several years later, FDR signed a law prohibiting the so called “hoarding” of gold and Americans were forced to sell their excess gold to the government for a little over twenty dollars an ounce.  Then FDR turned around and set the price of gold to where it was worth thirty five dollars an ounce, forcing Americans to pay a highly inflated price to buy their gold back from the government.  The government basically robbed the general public of their gold and then proceeded to make it available to buy back at a higher price.

Common Misconceptions

One of the common lies that people will use to try to sell you gold coins is that old U.S. gold coins and European coins would not be subject to confiscation if it were to happen again.  What they happen to leave out is that many old U.S. coins and commemorative gold coins are actually labelled as collectibles and would not be subject to confiscation.  Also, the really old coins would be classified as antiques and thus would not be touchable by the government.

Could It Happen Again?

With the many different ugly things our government has been guilty of asserting over the people, should we be afraid of losing our precious metals to a government confiscation once more?  A future government confiscation of gold is highly improbable, but absolutely possible.  Thankfully, due to the fact that many fine gold coins are old and classified as antique, and due to the fact that the dollar isn’t backed up in gold anymore, it wouldn’t be worth it for the government to try to confiscate the people’s gold on any sort of mass scale, so you probably shouldn’t hide your riches just yet.