Bernanke Alert!!!

[Charles Mackay]

I don't know if any of you listened to Bernanke's speech to the Economic Club of New York? After the speech he took a Q&A where Martin Feldstein asked him what he had learned from his studies of the Great Depression that he could apply now. Bernanke said that the two good things that FDR did were firstly to "relieve" the country from the constraints of the gold standard and secondly to declare a bank holiday in which banks couldn't reopen until they were sound.

Well folks... there you heard it from the horse's mouth! The two "good things" were confiscating the citizens gold under threat of a $10,000 fine and imprisonment, and also closing your bank! These are the "GOOD THINGS" that FDR did!!! I guess he didn't have the guts to say devaluing the dollar by 75% after buying the people's gold was a "good thing" also!!!

Folks, you must keep your gold outside the U.S.. Keep it in Switzerland or at least in Canada. GoldMoney.Com is good or The Central Fund of Canada (CEF) or Perth Mint Certificates in Australia....OR ??


Here is the Q&A video:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=891160288&play=1

[Nicolasd]

Re: Bernanke Alert!!!

In your opinion , what are the odds that other countries will harmonize with Ben 'key learnings' ?

[ASH]

Re: Bernanke Alert!!!

Well folks... there you heard it from the horse's mouth! The two "good things" were confiscating the citizens gold under threat of a $10,000 fine and imprisonment, and also closing your bank! These are the "GOOD THINGS" that FDR did!!! I guess he didn't have the guts to say devaluing the dollar by 75% after buying the people's gold was a "good thing" also!!!

No gold standard today. Therefore, just because Bernanke thinks confiscation and repricing of gold was good policy in 1933 doesn't mean he thinks it is good policy today. He may not even think it relevant.

And no -- this is not me arguing that confiscation absolutely will not happen. I'm just pointing out that since Bernanke was a serious scholar of the Great Depression, his judgements about the policy of the day probably depend upon the specific context. If you are of a mind to fight deflation by creating money, then the gold standard is a pretty significant context.

If they come to take my gold, I assume it will be because they need a hard basis for a new currency -- or to use in exchange for vital foreign trade -- and not for the reasons of 1933.

[walenk]

Bank Holiday

In 1933 only solvent banks were allowed to reopen. How many solvent banks are there today? :cool:

[tk55]

Re: Bernanke Alert!!!

Don't need confiscation...just look at ETF's and Futures for proof; assuming to a large extent what I'm reading about *physical* delivery on the retail front is true.

Been betting my friends in the biz drinks (thus bragging rights) that we get Exchange holidays (synonymous to a bank holiday in this day in age IMO) in the not-to-distant-future, so I concur that we'll see that.