[OT] why was private gold ownership made illegal in the US?

Michael Motyka mmotyka at lsil.com
Wed Jul 3 08:50:45 PDT 2002


Anonymous <nobody at remailer.privacy.at> 

>> Just curious, but what was the rationale under which private posession
>> of gold was made illegal in the US?  It boggles the mind...
>
><snip>
>
>However doing a straight devaluation was politically unacceptable
>at the time.  Because the dollar was pegged to gold, devaluing the
>dollar meant in effect increasing the value of gold in terms of dollars.
>This would represent a tremendous windfall to holders of gold.  And gold,
>by and large, is owned by the rich.
>
><snip>
>
>By eliminating private gold ownership, Roosevelt was able to take a
>necessary step to invigorate the economy, devaluing the dollar, while
>reducing the risk of a civil war.  The rich protested, of course, but
>in practice they went along with the measure as they were terrified
>of a workers' revolution.
>
><snip>
>

IIRC many of the wealthy were quick enough to ship huge amounts of gold
to Europe. That is one reason I have heard given that the St Gauden's
$20 gold pices of that era are possibly poor investments - there is a
reservoir of them overseas.

Mike





More information about the cypherpunks-legacy mailing list