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THE Asset Confiscation Thread (merged)

What's on your mind?
General interest discussions, not necessarily related to depletion.

Re: Can the government legally confiscate your assets?

Postby frankthetank » Wed 07 May 2008, 22:53:28

I'm with Kpeavey... Although i think chaos will be spread far enough that it will be hard to do anything... I'd worry more about your neighbors then your government. I rarely see a cop around here and i'm in the city. Most of the military is stuck overseas for another 100 years...
lawns should be outlawed.
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Re: Can the government legally confiscate your assets?

Postby sittinguy » Thu 08 May 2008, 11:53:18

I agree with frankthetank, If it gets so bad they start confiscating stuff, it will be so bad they won't have the resorces to do it.
The thing that scares me is with the internet and credit card staements it will be easy to find out who has what. Hell, I bought gold off ebay, my credit card is loaded with FD food, propane tanks, water filters, ammo, and there is more coming soon. I'm screwed. They wont even have to look, they could just show up with a list of exactly what I have a say, hand it over.
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Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby Cashmere » Fri 19 Sep 2008, 22:46:57

I don't own bullion/bars of PMs because there has always been the threat of confiscation. Of course, there is historic precedent for gold confiscation. In short, the last time there was severe pressure on the dollar, FDR confiscated gold and made its ownership illegal.
That move had at least 2 functions:
1. Bolster the govs asset position by converting paper promises into hard metal assets.
2. Force people to maintain their wealth in dollars, thereby propping up the value of the dollar.

The trigger for the confiscation was the Great Depression and the widely held opinion that the dollar was an unsafe store of wealth. So as I sit here and take in the nationalization of FF and AIG, the unprecedented flooding of markets with Central Bank funny money, and now, the first coup de grace, the soon to be legalized transfer of taxpayer money to banks under the pretext of "removing illiquid long term investments" to allow banks to regain liquidity, I can't help but wonder, "how long before the government, under the pretext of stabilizing the dollar, demands the exchange of bullion for dollars?"

When you consider that only a few percent of the population actually has any substantial PM bullion in their possession, getting a law passed, or using an executive order, would be trivial. So I say 2 years. Make it December 31st, 2010. That's the date I offer you. Do you go under or over on that date?
Last edited by Ferretlover on Wed 01 Apr 2009, 16:26:56, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Merged with THE Asset Confiscation Thread.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby smallpoxgirl » Fri 19 Sep 2008, 22:52:34

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cashmere', 'T')he trigger for the confiscation was the Great Depression and the widely held opinion that the dollar was an unsafe store of wealth.


Do you have a reference for that? Because that's not my understanding of what happened at all. As I understand it, the trigger was the perception that the money supply was inadequate. The motivation for the confiscation and the subsequent change in gold price was to increase the supply of dollars. A lot of gold bugs talk about wanting a gold standard currency, but also cry about the Roosevelt confiscation. As far as I can see they're part and parcel of eachother. If you have a gold standard currency, and your money supply is inadequate, the only way to increase the money supply is to obtain (i.e. confiscate) more gold.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby mattduke » Fri 19 Sep 2008, 23:00:29

If you haven't owned gold since 2000, your wealth has already been confiscated.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby mattduke » Fri 19 Sep 2008, 23:04:45

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', ' ')If you have a gold standard currency, and your money supply is inadequate, the only way to increase the money supply is to obtain (i.e. confiscate) more gold.

The fundamental theorem of money is that any quantity of money is sufficient. Prices adjust accordingly. The gold confiscation was due to the legalization of fractional reserve banking, where multiple property titles to gold are legally loaned for the same ounce in the vault, leading to inevitable crisis.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby smallpoxgirl » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 00:25:38

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mattduke', 'T')he fundamental theorem of money is that any quantity of money is sufficient. Prices adjust accordingly.


That works great in theory. The practice isn't always so tidy. The reason is this. The purpose of money, is to be a medium for exchanging value. It improves on the barter system by allowing more straight forward transactions. I can now trade a goat to someone who raises chickens without having him having to come up with twenty chickens at a time, or me having to take twenty at a time. The problem is that people also save money. They hoard it as a way of storing value. This leads to the problem of the wealthy person sitting on large amounts of money, while the poor person doesn't have access to any.

This was one of the big problems that lead to both Shay's rebellion and the Whiskey rebellion. The frontier farmers raised crops, traded with each other, and lived productive lives, but they had no access to gold. The gold was all hoarded by the coastal merchants. What little gold the farmers did manage to come up with got siphoned off to pay taxes. The farmers ended up unable to get access to gold in quantities sufficient to pay their taxes and their lands were seized. The coastal merchants then paid the taxes, took the land, and made the farmers into tenants. One of the big demands of the Shays was currency reform so that they would be able to get access to currency and pay their taxes. The Whiskey rebellion sprang up because a different group of frontier farmers figured out that they could make whiskey and transport it to the coast and trade it for gold. They were then bringing it back to their communities, trading it around, and paying their taxes. Alexander Hamilton wanted their land and passed a Whiskey tax to stop them from doing that.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby mattduke » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 00:31:55

"Hoarding" is not a problem. It's another propaganda word used by those who would like to inflate. All gold is always owned at all times by someone. All gold in existence is part of someone's hoard. All gold is always hoarded. Some people choose to save more gold. But they can only do that by producing products and selling them, while not consuming products themselves. If a few choose to own more gold than average, it is no problem. The only difficulty I see in your story was caused by taxes.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby seldom_seen » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 01:22:14

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mattduke', 'I')f you haven't owned gold since 2000, your wealth has already been confiscated.

Heh. Well said.

The United States is a completely different place then it was during the great depression. Then you had a mostly homogeneous population of more or less patriotic individuals...who probably felt that trading in their gold for dollars sucked, but it was going to help the economy and it's people.

Fast forward to now. The US has morphed in to a sort of borderless, trans-national criminal enterprise. At the bottom of the pyramid you have the illegals stealing your social security number, your ID and tax dollars. At the top of the pyramid you have Wall street stealing your 401K, your pension and your currency. These facts are not lost on the middle section that sees the general drift towards total corruption.

If there was some "executive order" for people to turn in their gold it would be laughed at. It's just not going to happen. The .gov would have to go door to door searching everyone's house...the logistics of which are unfathomable. Even then, people would just hide their gold somewhere else.

As mattduke pointed out there is much easier ways to confiscate your wealth.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby SILENTTODD » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 02:13:14

I have some gold. I am ashamed to say I don't own more of it especially since I was a devoted Howard Ruff listener back in the late 70's and early 80's. And even then knew he was right in the long run when other people were openly mocking him.

Gold is one of those things that is very easy to hide. You can bury any place. It doesn’t corrode even in salt water. I personally favor American Eagles and Canadian Maple Leafs over ingots because in the future if you want to trade or use it in payment, no one will question the assay value.

If you’re really afraid of confiscation, start buying silver coins. You can get old American Silver coins by the bag full at gun shows near you. They never confiscated them even in the depression
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby ReverseEngineer » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 03:35:57

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seldom_seen', '
')If there was some "executive order" for people to turn in their gold it would be laughed at. It's just not going to happen. The .gov would have to go door to door searching everyone's house...the logistics of which are unfathomable. Even then, people would just hide their gold somewhere else.


You could certainly HIDE it, but you couldn't actually USE it to buy something you could EAT. As soon as you turned up at the Black Market with a Krugerrand or an American Eagle, you would be discovered as a "hoarder". POOF, your house gets descended on by Black Vans with guys with Metal Detectors searching every square inch of your house, while you get shipped off to the Concentration Camp.

The Gooberment KNOWS who everyone is who owns any possessible Gold at the moment, all the transactions for buying it and the delivery point the Fed Ex truck brought it to are in the database. You cannot hide that you have this stuff from the Gooberment. When they need to take it to cover their losses, they will. Not so many of such people the Gooberment can't quickly hunt them down.

Even those who have not invested in Gold, but rather invested in buying a great Bunker in Idaho with every toy imaginable and 5 years worth of Gas, Propane and Split Wood are of course Hoarders also. Of course the Gooberment knows where you are, its right there on the Satellite picture.

No wealth is really safe at the moment. if you are not in a position of Power with a vast army at your disposal, your wealth is going to be confiscated in some way, whether it is through inflation or taxes or direct stealing of your assets. The Gooberment is BANKRUPT. They NEED money to survive themselves.

Unfortunately, in terms of REAL wealth, there just is not that much out there in real savings to confiscate, all there really is is a lobt of DEBT to confiscate. You cannot bleed money from a stone. You CAN bleed people for their blood though.

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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby EnergyUnlimited » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 05:17:37

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ReverseEngineer', 'Y')ou could certainly HIDE it, but you couldn't actually USE it to buy something you could EAT. As soon as you turned up at the Black Market with a Krugerrand or an American Eagle, you would be discovered as a "hoarder". POOF, your house gets descended on by Black Vans with guys with Metal Detectors searching every square inch of your house, while you get shipped off to the Concentration Camp.

False.
During communistic time US dollars were widely and successfully used as shadow currency in Eastern Europe, even if there was a threat of long imprisonment for doing so.
The same would hold true for gold.

Best metal detectors can only work down to about 3m down so adequately deep hole is solution here.

If you encased gold in steel tubing, metal detector would show rather steel then gold. So you could hide your gold in plumbing installation or in steel made construction elements of your building for example.

So, I think any such executive order would be grossly defeated, given current circumstances.
And if it is not possible to use it as shadow currency for whatever reason, it would be deeply hidden until better times came.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Gooberment KNOWS who everyone is who owns any possessible Gold at the moment, all the transactions for buying it and the delivery point the Fed Ex truck brought it to are in the database. You cannot hide that you have this stuff from the Gooberment. When they need to take it to cover their losses, they will. Not so many of such people the Gooberment can't quickly hunt them down.

Obviously, those who are buying gold should not leave any paper trail behind.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby ReverseEngineer » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 05:31:18

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', 'O')bviously, those who are buying gold should not leave any paper trail behind.


So how would you go about hiding such a "paper" trail now? In the days of the Communists, there were no computers and electronic databases recording shipping trails. Now there are. Can you somehow buy a ple of Krugerrands and get it to your house without leaving ann electronic trail behind? I'd love to hear how that might be done.

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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby EnergyUnlimited » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 05:40:05

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ReverseEngineer', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', 'O')bviously, those who are buying gold should not leave any paper trail behind.


So how would you go about hiding such a "paper" trail now? In the days of the Communists, there were no computers and electronic databases recording shipping trails. Now there are. Can you somehow buy a ple of Krugerrands and get it to your house without leaving ann electronic trail behind? I'd love to hear how that might be done.

Reverse Engineer

1. Buy second hand (learn how gold looks like first to prevent disappointment).
2. Travel abroad and buy there.
3. Use false ID while proceeding with transaction or buy anonymously, if such option exist in US.
You can certainly buy gold anonymously in Europe.
4. Ask relative or friend who is about to leave US permanently to buy it for you.
5. Buy now and report it stolen few weeks later.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby ReverseEngineer » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 06:05:08

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '
')1. Buy second hand (learn how gold looks like first to prevent disappointment).
2. Travel abroad and buy there.
3. Use false ID while proceeding with transaction or buy anonymously, if such option exist in US.
You can certainly buy gold anonymously in Europe.
4. Ask relative or friend who is about to leave US permanently to buy it for you.
5. Buy now and report it stolen few weeks later.


So, I am supposed to travel abroad NOW, buy some GOLD with American Dollars in London, load it into my suitcases and fly back to the US without this being detected? When ALL suitcases are passed thru metal detectors whether you carry-on or put them in the hold of the airplane? If I put the Kruggerands in my carry on bag, you don't thing the TSA folks notice them in the Xray machine? Heck, they nail me if I have more than a 3 oz container of MOUTHWASH! I have had to hand over Toothpaste tubes to the TSA already on air flights. They REALLY are gonna let me bring back even 2 Krugerands and not note it in the Log Book?

I am SURE reporting it STOLEN is going to work after I manage to get it back home on the flight. Get real. The Minute I tried to use it to buy anything, I am under watch and I am NAILED. If the Gooberment does not want you to have Gold they NEED, they will take it from you.

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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby EnergyUnlimited » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 06:27:48

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ReverseEngineer', '
')So, I am supposed to travel abroad NOW, buy some GOLD with American Dollars in London, load it into my suitcases and fly back to the US without this being detected?

Why London?
Try Mexico and travel by car :)


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') am SURE reporting it STOLEN is going to work after I manage to get it back home on the flight. Get real. The Minute I tried to use it to buy anything, I am under watch and I am NAILED. If the Gooberment does not want you to have Gold they NEED, they will take it from you.

Reverese Engineer

Buy it officially now in US and then report it stolen.
After a year or two you will no longer be on the watch.
In fact you are unlikely to be on the watch at all, until a lot of peoples got that idea. :)
Putting peoples on watch is very expensive in terms of manpower.
Maybe if they expect you to hide few *thousands* of ounces, you would be on the watch.
But if that is 10 or 100 ounces - no way.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby Cashmere » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 08:41:11

RE - I'm pretty sure most coin shops/dealers in the U.S. don't require ID to buy. ID to sell, but not to buy.




People, listen up. Is this the ADD group or something.

UNDER/OVER.

Please give me your under or over relative to my date of confiscation of December 31, 2010.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby Byron100 » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 10:05:55

I vote over, way over. If the US government wants to commit hari-kari, sure, they can try and take everyone's gold. And why stop there...they might as well as take everyone's guns too. And just think of those millions and millions of pot-smokers they'd be able to bust too. They'd have half the country in jail by the time they got done. :roll:

But seriously, if they try and come take my gold (what little I have), it'll be them prying it from my cold, dead hands...as they'd simply not be getting it any other way.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby AgentR » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 10:18:06

I honestly don't think they want it. There's just not enough of it out there to grease the wheels of the machine they've built.

In addition, a gold standard helps prevent inflation; I think inflation is intentional, and part of the plan.
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Re: Under/Over on Gold confiscation . . .

Postby Cashmere » Sat 20 Sep 2008, 10:20:50

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Byron100', 'I') vote over, way over. If the US government wants to commit hari-kari, sure, they can try and take everyone's gold. And why stop there...they might as well as take everyone's guns too. And just think of those millions and millions of pot-smokers they'd be able to bust too. They'd have half the country in jail by the time they got done. :roll:

But seriously, if they try and come take my gold (what little I have), it'll be them prying it from my cold, dead hands...as they'd simply not be getting it any other way.


What % of Americans own bullion? 5%? 10?

Resolution 4210.
Americans, to help their country, will turn in their gold bullion at the rate of X dollars per troy ounce.

A failure to turn in bullion constitutes a felony of the 1st degree, punishable by 10 years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000$.

Any person who deals in bullion will be guilty of a felony of the 1st degree, punishable by 20 years imprisonment and a fine of 200,000$.

As simple as that. And the 90% of Americans that don't own bullion go along with it because they've got nothing to lose.

Then your bullion sits in a tin can in a hole in your back yard for the rest of your life, unusable and not valuable.

I say this not to chaff you or anybody else, but only to point out that, when gold ownership is again banned, gold in the backyard does you no good, while things that were purchased prior to the ban might do you some good.
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