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In my role as
Precious Metal information communicator, I am asked dozens of questions each
week, which over the course of a year accumulates to the thousands. My writings tend
to focus on a handful of vital sub-topics, which in turn are molded from the
aforementioned questions. Many RANT topics are devoted to such issues, as is
this one.
Some of the
most common questions I am asked are the following:
1. Why should I
buy physical gold and silver if the government might confiscate it?
2. What use
will physical gold and silver have if the dollar collapses, and anarchy
and/or chaos reigns?
3. What use
will physical gold and silver be if the government bans their use or
institutes 90% windfall taxes?
Many other
variants of these questions are also asked, with the common theme that if
gold could be confiscated,
decreed to be
contraband, or dangerous to
hold, why would I want to own it?
Fortunately,
there is a simple, “catch-all” phrase that consolidates my
answer, which I pose in the form of a question:
WOULD YOU
RATHER HOLD PRICELESS PRECIOUS METALS OR WORTHLESS DOLLARS?
The fact that
these questions are so often asked reflects four decades of brainwashing that dollars
are “money,” when in fact they are nothing more than
government-decreed “currency.” Consequently, a “hole” in most people’s psyche’s prevents
them from making the connection between fiat
currency and REAL MONEY, no matter how plainly it is described.
In many ways, I
equate it to the “Black Knight” scene in Monty Python’s Holy Grail,
when the knight refuses to admit defeat even after his arms and legs are
severed. I often feel I am speaking to the Knight’s stump when
discussing the differences between gold and “dollars,” as the
great majority either do not – or refuse
to –
understand. For instance, when I say “Would you want to own gold if the
dollar collapsed?” their answer is often “what would it be
worth?” not understanding that if the dollar collapsed, it
wouldn’t be worth ANYTHING!
Monty Python – The Black Knight
Editor’s Note: The above video may not be
appropriate for all audiences.
Actually, each
of the three questions above has two answers – one, my projection of what might
occur under such circumstances, and the other the universal answer stated
above.
For example, I
would start answering question #1 with my views of confiscation, which I have
written of exhaustively in the past. In a nutshell, I don’t believe
such an act would be practical,
enforceable, or helpful to the
government’s aims – in fact, to the contrary. That said,
governments have never been known for their common sense, so frankly, there
is no way of truly handicapping the odds of confiscation.
However,
let’s say the government does decree
confiscation – which, by the way, doesn’t mean they would
actually receive any. If so, it would NOT occur until the dollar is under dramatic downward pressure,
possibly to the point of outright COLLAPSE due to a loss of public confidence.
And again, a dollar “COLLAPSE” has nothing to do with its Euro,
Pound, or Yen exchange rate,
but its power to purchase REAL ITEMS OF VALUE, such as gold, food, energy,
and other life necessities. In other words, the ONLY way such a decree would
even be considered -
much less passed
– would be if rampant inflation
was yielding massive social
unrest and national instability.
Under that
scenario – no matter what risks to holding PHYSICAL gold and silver
would be engendered – WOULD YOU RATHER HOLD PRICELESS PRECIOUS METALS
OR WORTHLESS DOLLARS?
In question #2,
I could only imagine a world where the rule of might is the rule of law,
where thieves and gangs rampage the world stealing and killing the
“haves,” as well as the “have nots.”
There’s a good chance such a scenario would be identical to the one
discussed in question #1 (wherein the government decides to confiscate gold),
in which the dollar has already
collapsed in value against REAL ITEMS OF VALUE.
In such
circumstances, one could be literally KILLED for their gold and silver, but I
still ask the question, “WOULD YOU RATHER HOLD PRICELESS PRECIOUS
METALS OR WORTHLESS DOLLARS?”
And finally, in
question #3, one could own
gold and silver but not use
it, at least not in public forums. To me, such a decree is no different from the confiscation discussed in
question #1, except it would not be illegal to own it. Such a scenario makes the least sense
of all, as not only would it just drive up
gold’s worldwide price and down
America’s credibility, but the government wouldn’t
even get to take it from you – unless given up voluntarily, of course. Which would only encourage development of a PM black market, no
different than that of alcohol during Prohibition.
Alcohol Black Market
during Prohibition – Wikipedia
However, in the
big picture, this question is no different than the first two, as only under
a scenario of CURRENCY COLLAPSE and HYPERINFLATION would such decrees even be discussed. People
need to detach the part of their brain that cannot see what the world –
and the dollar – would look like in this scenario, and ask themselves
again, “WOULD YOU RATHER HOLD PRICELESS PRECIOUS METALS OR WORTHLESS
DOLLARS?”
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