[OT] why was private gold ownership made illegal in the US? (Re: "to outlaw general purpose computers")

Just curious, but what was the rationale under which private posession of gold was made illegal in the US? It boggles the mind... Adam On Tue, Jul 02, 2002 at 08:46:46PM +0300, Marcel Popescu wrote:

Now, I love hyperbole as much as the next guy, but you have no idea what a Chinese-type police state could declare outlawed. I heard about a country that declared illegal people's own gold. Wait, maybe you heard of it too! [Duh...]