If the president tried to steal the peoples gold during this so called depression he would have to either break into those peoples houses or banks where their privately owned gold is kept, or he would have to steal the gold kept by the United States of America, if indeed the U.S. does have any "public" gold stored in government facilities. Does the U.S. have a supply of gold kept stored somewhere in the U.S.? If the U.S. does have a supply of gold kept somewhere, why does our economy operate on fiat money? Why doesn't the Congress print and coin money instead of the federal reserve board? Who actually has the peoples gold? Wasn't there all ready a president who stole all the peoples gold and didn't the people let him get away with it?
On March 9, 1933 Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act, sold to the people as an Act allowing the federal government to close down insolvent banks, reorganize and reopen those banks strong enough to survive. The Bill gave the Secretary of Treasury by way of amendment to the Trading with the Enemy Act, the authority to confiscate the gold of private citizens. On April 5,1933 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6012. The order required that most people surrender their gold on or before May 1, 1933. Artists, dentists and jewelers and other such artisans were exempted from this order that expected to forbid: "the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates."
The punishment that followed if someone defied Executive Order 6012 was a 10,000 dollar fine, (166,664 if adjusted for inflation in todays economy), or a prison sentence of up to 10 years or both. The threat of imprisonment not withstanding, there was only one prosecution under EO 6012 and it was ruled invalid by a federal judge on a technicality. The case involved a New York City attorney who had on deposit in a Chase National bank more than 5,000 ounces of gold. Campbell attempted to withdraw the gold but Chase National would not return Campbell's gold so he sued the bank for his gold. The very next day, a New York City prosecutor filed charges against Campbell for failing to register his gold. While the case against Campbell failed, the authority of the federal government to seize gold was upheld..
This case forced Roosevelt and Congress to pass the Gold Reserve Act on January 1, 1934. This Act required that all gold certificates and gold bullion held by the federal reserve be surrendered to the Department of Treasury. What this law essentially did was outlaw the private ownership of gold and the people were required by this Bill to surrender their private stock of gold to the Department of Treasury where it in turn was stored at facilities such as Fort Knox. These "laws" were relaxed by the Johnson Administration and on April 24, 1964 private investors were once again "allowed" to buy gold certificates.
It is interesting to note that before 1964 all money printed by the Federal Reserve were Federal Reserve Notes that clearly stated: THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE, AND IS REDEEMABLE IN LAWFUL MONEY AT THE UNITED STATES TREASURY, OR AT ANY FEDERAL RESERVE BANK. Now that Federal Reserve "note" simply says this: THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. What is the difference between the two? Once, a dollar could be exchanged for wealth and now it can't.
What is "lawful money"? Lawful money is what is accepted as wealth such as gold and silver. Lawful money such as gold and silver has its own intrinsic value. The Federal Reserve Notes issued before 1964 had value because they could be exchanged for either gold or silver. The Federal Reserve "note" today has no contractual obligation to exchange lawful money on demand and therefore has no wealth and is as valuable as the paper it is printed on. This is fiat money, which is not the same thing as lawful money. Fiat money? Where's the beef? Where's the money? Show me the money!
In order to understand what has happened to the peoples gold, it is important to understand the evolution of money in the United States, the evolution of banking in the United States, and the evolution of the federal government in the United States. It is also important to understand the history of things such as fiat money in order to understand just exactly what is going on, and even then, its doubtful that this answer can clear up just exactly what is going on, and it is quite possible that no one anywhere knows what the Sam Hill is going on.
It is not enough to say that the dollar is backed by commodities, the dollar must be backed by commodities or it has no backing. Paper money with no commodities backing it is fiat money and the history of valueless or greatly devalued money is at least as long as the fall of the Roman Empire. Indeed, the fall of that empire in all likelihood came about because of their fiat money, or at the very least expedited that fall. While Rome did not rely upon paper money, that empire serves as an excellent example of the problems with the debasement of currency.
At the beginning of the first century, the Denarius, which was the common coinage of Rome, was essentially pure silver. By the time Nero rose to power, that same coin had been debased so that the same coin was only now 94% silver. This was in the year 54 AD, and by 100 AD the silver content of the Denarious had dropped to about 85%. One hundred and nineteen years later the Denarius was only 43% silver and by the time the emperor Philip the Arab rose to power the poor Denarius was only 0.02 % silver and very, very, very, very, few people accepted this worthless coin as a valid exchange for goods and services or as a store of value. There are quite literally hundreds of theories on why the Roman Empire declined and fell, and to be sure, many reasons as to why that empire did fall, but the debasement of it's own currency, as any Marxist knows, is an effective way of fomenting turmoil and unrest.
In 11th century China, because of a copper shortage, the money was converted from copper to iron. The problem with iron coins was they were easy to duplicate, thus an over issuance of iron coins brought the value down. A bank in the Szechuan province of China began to issue paper money in exchange for the iron coins. This paper money was know as "flying money" because it could just fly right out of your hands. In the beginning this process worked out fine because the "flying money" could be redeemed for gold, silver and even silk. But because of the war with Mongols inflation in China was becoming a problem.
China lost its war to the Mongols and while Genghis Kahn went on to conquer more, it was his son Kublai Kahn who presided over China as emperor and in his early days had some success with fiat money, but as Marco Polo Polo explained to his readers later:
"Population and trade had greatly increased, but the emissions of paper notes were suffered to largely outrun both…All the beneficial effects of a currency that is allowed to expand with a growth of population and trade were now turned into those evil effects that flow from a currency emitted in excess of such growth. These effects were not slow to develop themselves…The best families in the empire were ruined, a new set of men came into the control of public affairs, and the country became the scene of internecine warfare and confusion."
In the Sixteenth Century in France a man by the name of John Law a Scottish economist and gambler, convinced France to adopt a paper money policy called the Livre. As an economist his view was that money did not constitute wealth and was merely a means of exchange and that wealth depended on trade. But, it didn't take long before the people of France lost confidence in this paper money and demanded coins. The value of the Livre dropped by 97% and Law was forced to flee France. Later, in the Eighteenth Century, France again tried to issue paper money called assignats, but by 1795 inflation had risen by about 13,000%. When Napoleon entered the scene he restored wealth to money and introduced the gold franc. Napoleon, being no idiot, understood that gold was the surest way towards economic stability and because of that France was able to enjoy some economic stability. But, in the 1930's France again tried to issue paper money with the paper franc, and it only took twelve years for that paper franc to loose 99% of its value.
The post World War I Weiner Germany experienced one of the worst periods of hyperinflation ever known and it had got so bad that people would actually burn stacks of money for heat. In order for that nation to pay its debts it just kept printing money with out regard for the wealth it lacked. In 1932 Argentina watched their eighth largest economy in the world plummet because of fiat money. In 1992 Finland, Norway and Italy all suffered because of fiat money that sent shock waves throughout Europe. In 1997 the Thai currency failed causing panics all throughout Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong and South Korea. In this Century we are witnessing the Turkish Lira have spasms of hyperinflation similar to that of Wiemar Germany and there is Zimbabwe, once considered the wealthiest nation of Africa now under Mugabe's Control where he is implementing price controls, combined with hyperinflation, leaving many there with out the ability to pay for essential items such as bread and milk.
Wait a minute! Doesn't the United States operate under a fiat money system of currency? Why, it does indeed! Big surprise we are suffering from this so called depression. So called because it is unclear the depression has arrived and the U.S. is still suffering from a recession or so it seems. Many Americans are really angry with Alan Greenspan for not warning the country this would happen and incredibly, Greenspan has responded to that anger by insisting he never saw this coming! Many Americans are angry because they listened to and trusted Greenspan, even praised him for his prescience and now they are suffering. Alan Greenspan is the former head of the Federal Reserve now occupied by Ben Bernanke. It is the Federal Reserve that controls the United States fiat money system.
Before this answer begins to explain the history of the Federal Reserve and what it does, it is important to first understand the federal governments responsibility towards currency. It is the Constitution of the United States of America that mandates that Congress has the power to..."coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard for weights and measure." The Constitution further provides that: "No State shall...coin money, emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debt..." The Constitution was set up this way because the framers of the Constitution knew before Napoleon that the way to a stable economy was to back the currency with valuable commodities. These wise men knew that creating paper money out of nothing would only create havoc on the economy of this nation. They knew this from experience watching the havoc the "Continental dollar" created with its fiat money. They understood that by backing the money with gold and silver meant that any increase in money meant an increase in mining and in any decrease in money meant a decrease in mining and any inflation or deflation would be very gradual over a long period of time.
It should be noted at this point that most people believe that before Nixon took us off of the "gold standard", that we were on a gold standard. Technically this is not true as the U.S. was never on a true gold standard because the dollar was backed by silver and the price of gold then tied to that. The dollar in the early history of the United States was fixed unlike the fiat money of today. In the beginning all other coinage was regulated in relationship to that dollar. It is impossible to regulate the value of something unless you have an exact and fixed standard with which to compare the values. Abstract measures of units wont work any more than they would work on building a house. Imagine if the inch, centimeter, foot or meter were abstract forms of measurement. If the inch like the dollar now was as long as it measured to be, like the dollar is as valuable as what it buys. That house would collapse, as will this economy.
The dollar being silver in the early history of the United States, and being silver it had its own intrinsic value so the dollar was not on a gold standard. From the beginning the price of gold was fixed being tied to silver and because of this, the United States has never truly had a free market. It was Alexander Hamilton who convinced Congress to make the silver dollar and fix the price of gold and in 1791 it was Hamilton again who charted this nations first central bank with the First Bank of the United States. In order to pay for this bank Hamilton recommended an excise tax and raising the taxes on, among other things, whiskey. This is the source of the infamous "whiskey rebellion." Those opposed to the bank were Jefferson, Madison and most emphatically Jackson. As an part of the charter agreement, that charter would have to be renewed in twenty years.
That charter expired in 1811, however and despite the fact that Madison was initially opposed to the First Bank of the United States, in 1816 he revived it in the form of the Second Bank of the United States. It was the war of 1812 that created a high inflation that convinced Madison and Congress to establish the Second Bank of the United States and in the End it was President Jackson that destroyed that bank even before letting the charter expire. Many historians claim it was the closure of the Second Bank of the United States combined with Jackson coining policies that led to the panic of 1837. Whether Jackson is responsible or not, it is always the banks that are involved in these panics. Always.
It should be noted that both the First and Second Banks of the United States were privately owned banks and not owned by the government. The same is true of the Federal Reserve banks, all privately owned. It was in 1913 that Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act and with it created the third central banking system in the United States. On a side note; Congress also passed the 16th Amendment in 1913. This system of Federal Reserve is what is called a "quasi-public" bank. Public because it comprises a presidentially appointed Board of Governors in Washington D.C. and has a Federal Open Market committee. The banks are privately owned.
It was the financial panic of 1907 that allowed to sell the people on the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve was created to ensure that panics like the one in 1907 would ever happen again. There are many who believe that the Federal Reserve actually caused the Great Depression. Economists from the Austrian School of Economics have always maintained that the Federal Reserve is unnecessary, and counterproductive by interfering in the economy. This particular school of economics argues that interest rates should be naturally low during times when peoples focus is on saving money because the amount of money available for lending is in excess, and when people have high credit debts, then the lending rate should be higher because the amount of available money to lend is low. By setting a baseline lending rate, these econom9ist argue, this amounts to centralized economic planning which is the hallmark of communist and socialist economies. According to the Austrian Business Cycle Theory, fiat money is unsustainable because it is predicated on exponential expansion which is somewhat problematic when faced with limited natural resources.
It was Milton Friedman, a prominent figure in the Chicago School of Economics, who argued that the Federal Reserve caused the Great Depression because they contracted the money supply at the very moment that markets needed liquidity. Indeed, our current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Barnanke had this to say about Friedman's criticism:
"I would like to say to Milton [Friedman] and Anna [J. Schwartz]: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again."
Yeah...right. The current financial crisis is due in a large part because the former Chairman of the Fed. Alan Greenspan kept the lending rate so ridiculously low. Because the lending rate was kept lower than the rate of inflation there was no financial incentive for the people to save their money, indeed saving their money only ensured devaluing it. The people in effect, became slaves to consumerism and as long as they buy stuff the dollar should remain strong. Yeah...right. The dollar has been nothing more than an I.O.U. debt that has been passed on from one generation to the next at least since 1972 when Nixon took us of the "gold standard".
And what of the gold? Where is all that public gold? How much gold is store in Fort Knox? There are people who claim that the vast majority of gold once stored in Fort Knox has been removed and shipped to the Bank of England in 1968. There is supposed to be at least 8,500 tonnes of gold stored in Fort Knox, is there? Rumors persist, however, that an official audit of that gold has not been done since the Eisenhower administration. Is the United States bankrupt? A United States Congressman from Ohio made this speech on the House floor on March 17th, 1993:
Subject: The Bankruptcy of The United States
United States Congressional Record, March 17, 1993 Vol. 33, page H-1303
Speaker-Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House:
"Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11.. Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth hopefully, a blueprint for our future. There are some who say it is a coroner's report that will lead to our demise.
It is an established fact that the United States Federal Government has been dissolved by the Emergency Banking Act, March 9, 1933, 48 Stat. 1, Public Law 89-719; declared by President Roosevelt, being bankrupt and insolvent. H.J.R. 192, 73rd Congress m session June 5, 1933 - Joint Resolution To Suspend The Gold Standard and Abrogate The gold Clause dissolved the Sovereign Authority of the United States and the official
capacities of all United States Governmental Offices, Officers, and Departments and is further evidence that the United States Federal Government exists today in name only.
The receivers of the United States Bankruptcy are the International Bankers, via the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. All United States Offices, Officials, and Departments are now operating within a de facto status in name only under Emergency War Powers. With the Constitutional Republican form of Government now dissolved, the receivers of the Bankruptcy have adopted a new form of government for the United States. This new form of government is known as a Democracy, being an established order under a new governor for America. This act was instituted and established by transferring and/or placing the Office of the Secretary of Treasury to that of the Governor of the International Monetary Fund. Public Law 94-564, page 8, Section H.R. 13955 reads in part:
"The U.S. Secretary of Treasury receives no compensation for representing the United States."
Gold and silver were such a powerful money during the founding of the United states of America, that the founding fathers declared that only gold or silver coins can be "money" in America. Since gold and silver coinage were heavy and inconvenient for a lot of transactions, they were stored in banks and a claim check was issued as a money substitute. People traded their coupons as money, or "currency." Currency is not money, but a money substitute. Redeemable currency must promise to pay a dollar equivalent in gold or silver money. Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) make no such promises, and are not "money." A Federal Reserve Note is a debt obligation of the federal United States government, not "money?' The federal United States government and the U.S. Congress were not and have never been authorized by the Constitution for the united states of America to issue currency of any kind, but only lawful money, gold and silver coin.
It is essential that we comprehend the distinction between real money and paper money substitute. One cannot get rich by accumulating money substitutes, one can only get deeper into debt. We the People no longer have any "money." Most Americans have not been paid any "money" for a very long time, perhaps not in their entire life. Now do you comprehend why you feel broke? Now, do you understand why you are "bankrupt," along with the rest of the country?
Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) are unsigned checks written on a closed account. FRNs are an inflatable paper system designed to create debt through inflation (devaluation of currency). When ever there is an increase of the supply of a money substitute in the economy without a corresponding increase in the gold and silver backing, inflation occurs.
Inflation is an invisible form of taxation that irresponsible governments inflict on their citizens. The Federal Reserve Bank who controls the supply and movement of FRNs has everybody fooled. They have access to an unlimited supply of FRNs, paying only for the printing costs of what they need. FRNs are nothing more than promissory notes for U.S. Treasury securities (T-Bills) - a promise to pay the debt to the Federal Reserve Bank.
There is a fundamental difference between "paying" and "discharging" a debt. To pay a debt, you must pay with value or substance (i.e. gold, silver, barter or a commodity). With FRNs, you can only discharge a debt. You cannot pay a debt with a debt currency system. You cannot service a debt with a currency that has no backing in value or substance. No contract in Common law is valid unless it involves an exchange of "good & valuable consideration." Un-payable debt transfers power and control to the sovereign power structure that has no interest in money, law, equity or justice because they have so much wealth already. Their lust is for power and control. Since the inception of central banking, they have controlled the fates of nations.
The Federal Reserve System is based on the Canon law and the principles of sovereignty protected in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In fact, the international bankers used a "Canon Law Trust" as their model, adding stock and naming it a "Joint Stock Trust." The U.S. Congress had passed a law making it illegal for any legal "person" to duplicate a "Joint Stock Trust" in 1873. The Federal Reserve Act was legislated post-facto (to 1870), although post-facto laws are strictly forbidden by the Constitution. [1:9:3] The Federal Reserve System is a sovereign power structure separate and distinct from the federal United States government. The Federal Reserve is a maritime lender, and/or maritime insurance underwriter to the federal United States operating exclusively under Admiralty/Maritime law. The lender or underwriter bears the risks, and the Maritime law compelling specific performance in paying the interest, or premiums are the same.
Assets of the debtor can also be hypothecated (to pledge something as a security without taking possession of it.) as security by the lender or underwriter. The Federal Reserve Act stipulated that the interest on the debt was to be paid in gold . There was no stipulation in the Federal Reserve Act for ever paying the principle.
Prior to 1913, most Americans owned clear, allodial title to property, free and clear of any liens or mortgages until the Federal Reserve Act (1913) "Hypothecated" all property within the federal United States to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, -in which the Trustees (stockholders) held legal title. The U.S. citizen (tenant, franchisee) was registered as a "beneficiary" of the trust via his/her birth certificate. In 1933, the federal United States hypothecated all of the present and future properties, assets and labor of their "subjects," the 14th Amendment U.S. citizen, to the Federal Reserve System.
In return, the Federal Reserve System agreed to extend the federal United States corporation all the credit "money substitute" it needed. Like any other debtor, the federal United States government had to assign collateral and security to their creditors as a condition of the loan. Since the federal United States didn't have any assets, they assigned the private property of their "economic slaves", the U.S. citizens as collateral against the un-payable federal debt. They also pledged the unincorporated federal territories, national parks forests, birth certificates, and nonprofit organizations, as collateral against the federal debt. All has already been transferred as payment to the international bankers.
Unwittingly, America has returned to its pre-American Revolution, feudal roots whereby all land is held by a sovereign and the common people had no rights to hold allodial title to property. Once again, We the People are the tenants and sharecroppers renting our own property from a Sovereign in the guise of the Federal Reserve Bank. We the people have exchanged one master for another.
This has been going on for over eighty years without the "informed knowledge" of the American people, without a voice protesting loud enough. Now it's easy to grasp why America is fundamentally bankrupt.
Why don't more people own their properties outright?
Why are 90% of Americans mortgaged to the hilt and have little or no assets after all debts and liabilities have been paid? Why does it feel like you are working harder and harder and getting less and less?
We are reaping what has been sown, and the results of our harvest is a painful bankruptcy, and a foreclosure on American property, precious liberties, and a way of life. Few of our elected representatives in Washington, D.C. have dared to tell the truth. The federal United States is bankrupt. Our children will inherit this un-payable debt, and the tyranny to enforce paying it.
America has become completely bankrupt in world leadership, financial credit and its reputation for courage, vision and human rights. This is an undeclared economic war, bankruptcy, and economic slavery of the most corrupt order! Wake up America! Take back your Country."
Jame Trafficant was a flamboyant Congressman who irked his own party as much as the oppositions. By 1995 when the Republican controlled the House, Trafficant made more votes for Republican sponsored Bills than Democrat sponsored Bills even though he was a Democrat. In the controversial election that ousted Republican Bob Dorman of California and elected Democrat Loretta Sanchez, Trafficant was the lone Democrat who advocated a new election because of suspicions of "illegal immigrants" voting. Ironically, it was Sanchez who later introduced a Bill to the House to expel Traficant from Congress, of which they did. On April 11, 2002 Trafficant was convicted of bribery, corruption and tax evasion. Scoundrel, patriot or both?
More recently Congressman Ron Paul has had this to say about the Federal Reserve:
"The United States Constitution grants to Congress the authority to coin money and regulate the value of the currency. The Constitution does not give Congress the authority to delegate control over monetary policy to a central bank. Furthermore, the Constitution certainly does not empower the federal government to erode the American standard of living via an inflationary monetary policy."
What the Sam Hill is going on? It is not clear to most, but what seems tragically clear is that if the President of the United States stole the peoples gold, the people would most likely let him get away with it.
People have been jumping out of windows from the moment windows were invented.
During these years, neither the president nor the vice president was elected by the people.
Sometimes people watched or saw battles during the Revolutionary War. This is because the battles were often fought on the home front, right by peoples' homes.
hoover villes were homes that the people lived in during the great depression often made of cardbored and newspapers, on streets, and in parks
Franklin Delano Roosevelt counted on the Brain Trust to help him guide the nation to recovery from the Great Depression. The Brain Trust was a group of his close political advisers, who were renowned for their expertise in various fields.
They were called Hoovervilles, after President Hoover. Many people blamed President Hoover for the Depression.
Hoovervilles were shanty towns that people were forced to live in because they could not afford any proper accomodation during the Great Depression. They were named after President Hoover who was President of the US at the beginning of the Great Depression. Hoover was replaced by Franklin D Roosevelt because he was regarded as a 'do nothing President' meaning he did not put proper measures in place to help the USA out of the Great Depression.
Herbert Hoover
The Great Depression was an economical crisi that effectd peoples jobs and money. some people had to move from town to ton looking for different jobs.
Some were called "Hoovervilles" to indicate that President Hoover was the cause of the Great Depression.
Hoover
Hoover
Important people in the Great Depression are Hebert Hoover (1874-1964) and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945). Hebert Hoover was President during the 1929 Stock Market Crash which many people blamed on him. For this, people nicknamed him Hapless Hoover. FDR, who became President in 1933 is credited for ending the Depression.
Former United States President Herbert Hoover was the do-nothing president, he disapproved of the "New Deal" that former President Franklin D. Roosevelt put up for the solution of the Great Depression, and wanted the people to solve the economic problem themselves.
beacuse during great depression they blamed him for it so great
Humor helped uplift peoples spirits, making it easier to get through the depression
Living during the great depression had a major affect on the mentality many people. A good portion of people who lived during that time do not trust banks. This is likely the result of the many widespread bank failures in the 30s that caused people to lose their life savings. Life during the great depression also lead to a more conservative mentality as people learned to buy only what they needed and save the rest, just in case.