Urban Survival Planning - Gold and Silver Buying and the Confiscation Debate

An Anonymous Reader has left a comment on a previous post concerning the how the Government's new requirement on sellers issuing 1099's for commodities purchases over $600 can be used basically to "register" Gold and Silver for future easy confisciation by the Government.  Anonymous said....."I'm sure this was accidental and they have no intention on confiscating your gold after TSHTF. As a famous person once said "We have to pass the bill so we can find out what is in the bill"! LOL"

Another Anonymous Reader, not realizing the LOL (Laugh Out Load) sign off, said........"I disagree with the above statement. Just remember Argentina. They confiscated gold, silver, savings accounts, retirement accounts. They stated that they would then redistribute the total funds in a monthly payment equal to everyone. Even those that had nothing to begin with. If you didnt take the offer you would not get anything. Hmmm,... wonder why Our government has been studying Argentina's actions. In todays state of policies and affairs you can not ever trust the Government to do whats Right, they do whats best for them and the government."

You have to understand how and why Gold was confiscated in the past in order to make a determination if it is possible in the future.  My point is if you don't want anyone to take it away, then don't let them know about it in the first place...hence the purchasing of Gold and Silver in small amounts from multiple sources.      


The shortest route to understanding possible Government Confiscation of Gold and Silver is through an excellent short article published on http://www.silvermonthly.com/   entitled:  "Government Confiscation of Gold: It Happened Before — Could It Happen Again?"  Some of that article is posted below:

Confiscation all dates back to the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) of 1917. That year, President Woodrow Wilson signed the “TWEA” into law, forbidding American individuals and businesses from engaging in trade with “enemy nations.” The world’s functional gold standard, which had overseen tremendous global economic growth in the early years of the twentieth century, was effectively halted by the outbreak of World War I, and the stage was thus set for the Great Depression and World War II.

Shortly after taking office sixteen years later, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102 into law, prohibiting the “hoarding” of gold. Under this executive order, Americans were prohibited from owning more than $100 worth of gold coins, and all “hoarders” (i.e. people who owned more than $100 worth of gold) were forced, by law, to sell their “excess” gold to the government at the prevailing price of $20.67 per ounce.

Then, once the government had all the gold, FDR revalued the dollar relative to gold so that gold was now worth $35 an ounce. By simple decree, the government had thereby robbed millions of American citizens at a rate of $14.33 per ounce of confiscated gold, which is why most historians agree that the Gold Confiscation of 1933 is the single most draconian economic act in the history of the United States.

Like inflation, deflation also begets (perpetuates) more of itself, and as prices dropped, it became wiser for the possessors of money to hold it rather than spend it, since prices would be lower the next day — and even lower the day after that — ad infinitum.

Since no one was spending money, businesses went under and people were out of the work, thus making the situation worse. In response, FDR knew what needed to be done — prices needed to be stabilized. On this, few would disagree. The exception economists take is with the implementation the president chose to pursue.

UrbanMan's comment:  See any similarity to today's economy?

Under FDR, private ownership of gold was effectively barred.  The only exceptions were coinage worth $100 or less, or collectible coins, industrial uses, and jewelry.  Gold could not be “hoarded” as a significant investment, and all “hoarders” were made to sell their gold to the government.

The Federal Reserve itself — a private banking cartel more so than an arm of government — was not excluded from this requirement either, as made clear by the Gold Reserve Act of 1934. That legislation required the Fed to surrender all gold and gold certificates held, to the United States Treasury.

Finally, the dollar was revalued, and U.S. Dollars was then redeemable at a rate of $35 an ounce, as opposed to the old gold standard of $20.67. However, it’s important to note that only foreign bankers and international governments could redeem their dollars for gold — private gold ownership was still illegal in the U.S. until the end of 1974.

The effect revaluation had on the U.S. dollar was an instant depreciation of 41%. Thus, prices were pushed back up again, in nominal terms, at least. What the long-term effects of this action would have been in the absence of World War II will never be known, but within a few years, the U.S. war economy was humming.

Following the end of the second great war, the U.S. stood alone as an economic super power, virtually untouched by the Axis or Allies, while most of Europe lay in ruins. It all made Roosevelt’s coercive and unconstitutional acts look ingenious, but scholars from the left and right continue to debate whether they were truly wise or if the New Deal was bailed out by global externalities.

Gold Confiscation: Could it Happen Again?

Although the U.S. dollar is constantly under pressure, the U.S. government continues to stockpile debt, and impossible-to-fulfill entitlement commitments loom on the horizon, the idea that the U.S. government would try to confiscate citizens’ gold today or anytime in the foreseeable future certainly seems spurious at best. After all, the government did so in the past in order to recalibrate the gold standard, which we have not been on since 1972.

However, our government has become increasingly bold in its refusal to be restrained by the Constitution, and following the return to limited government (at least in rhetoric) by the Reagan administration in the eighties, the Constitution has been all but ignored by subsequent administrations and congresses.

The government might want to reenact gold confiscation, and most congressmen would feel no moral compunction about doing so, but logistically, it would seem virtually impossible in today’s globally interdependent and well-connected economy.

Investors might need to beware, however, if certain interest groups on the left and right get their way and begin building walls, both literally and figuratively, around the country in an effort to block that global interdependence. Protectionism and higher taxes led to the greatest depression in U.S. history, and along with it came gold confiscation. It would probably take a similar impetus for such a sequence of events to happen again.

Urban Survival Equipment - Reader Comment on 5.11 Tactical Pants

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received this comment from Outlander777 on the recent post concerning 5.11 Tactical Pants,...."I have not worn the 5.11 tactical pants. I have though worn their class (a) police office uniform pants. I have recently purchased several pairs of their class (B) officer duty pants for winter wear (camping/hiking/fishing/treking and for my Bug Out Bag). They are 60 poly and 40 wool. Great weight for winter and when colder just add long johns under them. They have taken a lot of abuse and just wash them and wear/dry them. The crease stays in they don't scream military or cop just look good. So with you review I will purchase a pair of the tactical pants and give them a try. Thanks for the review. (side note 5.11 is having a clearance on many items. I got my pants for 5.99 each)."

UrbanMan replies: Outlander 777 I hope you think the 5.11 Tactical pants or the TDU pants are worth it,...I think at $5.99 you got a deal. I get mine free as an issued item, but don't wear them too much. I like your comment "they don't scream military or cop", as I think this would be an issue during a collapse with various agencies and organization running around; groups or mobs maybe looking for government targets, etc. Just doesn't pay to draw attention to yourself.

I also think plain old Wrangler or Levi pants in tan, brown or green are good choices for durable wear as well. Just not a whole lot of big pockets!

A little know fact is that recon teams in Vietnam used to wear blue jeans dyed black due to their durability in heavy brush as well as the black color maybe giving them a second or two of cover when they ran into their black pajama clad enemy counterparts on a remote trail.

I have a set of green 5.11 TDU pants vacuum packed and in my BOB. I rolled up a set of good socks and a t-shirt inside the pair of pants then used a food saver to vacuum pack them to reduce the size. This works well.  Be safe.

Question on Survival Techinques, Tactics and Procedures for Drone Attacks

UrbanMan received the following question from PNW, ....."This is one for Urban Man, I haven't seen this scenario posted on any blog yet: I was reading in the WSJ about increased drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan when I realized I may need to consider a defense/survival tactic regarding that. What if, under whatever scenario you can imagine, that became an aspect of the TEOTWAWKI? -PNW"

I have had very little to do with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's or drones), and absolutely nothing to do with the type of armed drones that wreck the occasional havoc on Islamic Fundamentalists in Waziristan that we read about from time to time.

But, okay, I'll bite on this hypothetical question on what would I do to combat drones if used against me by a rogue government or if this country was taken over by foreign forces.

I believe it was in the excellent Survival series "Enemies: Foreign and Domestic", drones were used by an oppressive government, and then sometimes in support of foreign troops on U.S. soil to combat "rebels", who were of course U.S. Citizens desiring a measure of peace and the opportunity to live with unalienable freedoms that Americans have came to know, and in some cases, take for granted.

If I remember correctly, the "rebels" in this series used a combination of Techniques, Tactics and Procedures (TTP's) to lessen the effectiveness of the drone attacks. Some of those TTP's included: having informants in the ranks of the rogue government to pass information on drone capabilities and current focus on aerial patrols and targets; using covert and clandestine surveillance on drone launch sites to alert when drones were becoming airborne and when they have landed; and, target (direct action against) drone operators or the drone operations centers/launch airfields.

Using the best covered and or concealed routes for movement and locations for base camps; using heavy duty vinyl ponchos and rain suits to minimize thermal signature to neutralize the drone's thermal cameras; get real good at traveling undercover of a legitimate activity.

Other than that my friend, what can you do? If anybody has some TTP's on drone defense that is applicable to an open and unclassified forum like this, then there are probably many of us who would like to hear from you.

Urban Survival Planning - Econmic Collapse Accelerates in Fall

Wow! Do not know how this got by me until today, as this article was published on 29 September, a week ago.. I was in a debate with a couple people about, in their perception,....that the economy was back on track,.....and the flowers are blooming,.......the birds are singing, etc. They basically had their heads in the sand. The following is part of a much longer article that Giordano Bruno wrote for Neithercorp Press, which can be found in it's entirety at
http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=812

Combined with recent skyrocketing Gold and Silver prices, Mr Bruno makes good sense. I know what is possible and I hope a collapse is averted, but there just too many indicators otherwise. Take heed my friends.

Economic Collapse Update: Acceleration in Autumn

Our current economy is a shell game. A grand fraud designed to siphon more and more tangible wealth (not fiat wealth) from the average person and transport it post-haste into the silk lined pockets of a corporate banking minority. The goal? To reduce the self sufficiency of American citizens to the point of total fiscal and social dependence on the top 1% richest men in the world. Conspiracy theory? Not in the slightest. Just a cold hard fact of history. “Feudalism” is, sadly, rampant in the annals of human culture. Anyone who believes that our modern era is somehow different is simply fooling themselves. Elitists seek power over others, they always have and they always will, and, the most efficient way to gain control over the lives of the masses is through engineered imbalances in economy.

Every time you hear the term “bailout”, or “quantitative easing”, just think “wealth transference”. Every dollar that is printed from thin air by the private Federal Reserve and handed to a globalist entity like Goldman Sachs or AIG through our Treasury represents yet another dollar of debt (and another percentage of interest) that you, the U.S. taxpayer, and your children, are expected to eventually pay for without ever seeing any benefits. Right now, at this very moment, you and your descendants for generations to come are being enslaved by forcefully imposed usury. Our country has been “volunteered” for a financial debasement on a scale that dwarfs the Great Depression or even the Weimar catastrophe. We ignore this reality at our peril.

Since the initial meltdown began in 2008, we have seen two and a half years of stall tactics and skewed statistics designed to prolong total collapse while central banks position themselves for optimal gain. Simultaneously, the concrete underlying factors of our economy, including employment and purchasing power, have gone down the tubes. True, the system was an illusion long before its many flaws were openly revealed, and it needs to be dissolved, but should it be dissolved to the advantage of the elites who designed its flaws in the first place, and to the detriment of the rest of us? I think not…

Today, as Autumn 2010 begins to settle upon us, many notable and even dire trends are beginning to break the surface of the water and circle the sinking wreckage of our financial system. I believe these factors signal an extreme acceleration in the possibility of “trigger events”, which we have discussed in previous articles, and herald a new dynamic, a process that will directly contribute to a final breakdown of the present system. Let’s examine these trends now…

Dow Bubble Until November Elections?

If you look back at the history of economic collapses across the world, you’ll find a strange and ironic constant preceding most breakdowns; the disproportionate values of stocks and securities when compared to actual profits and consumer activity. The Great Depression saw record breaking rallies in the Dow and relentless financial propaganda claiming recovery was imminent just before total derailment. In many cases, investor confidence seems to be most heightened just before a brutal plunge. Perhaps it’s the power of reactionary denial, or maybe it’s the increase in false data supplied by establishment economic goon squads.

September has seen a very uncharacteristic stock rally, especially considering the fact that U.S. poverty levels are now at a 15 year high.

UrbanMan Comments: Mr Bruno's article goes on with links and facts to articulate what he is saying. His article continues on until he starts talking about Gold, which jumped up considerably in the last few days.

Gold Is Money Again…Must Be Time For A Collapse...

Finally, we get to the biggest development this fall; the so far unstoppable juggernaut of gold and silver.

Gold is breaking records weekly, sometimes daily, now rushing past the $1300 an ounce mark without batting an eye. Not long ago I predicted gold would hit the $1350 to $1400 mark by this winter, but it seems I may have underestimated the precious metal. $1500 is not out of the question in the next three months, especially if trade laws are passed against China before elections.

Silver has passed the $21 an ounce mark but is still highly undervalued in my opinion. I suspect that we could see a rapid increase in physical silver, akin to a “short squeeze”, before the year is out.

What is driving the new gold rush? MSM economists are apparently at a loss for words (which is rare). Gold criticism and uneducated skepticism has fallen silent lately. It’s hard to argue with the $1300 an ounce gold. Pundits are still bewildered at gold’s success, especially since they rely on disingenuous CPI and inflation data from the Federal Reserve and the government to make their deductions. This has led them to assume that an excessive sense of “fear” has pervaded markets and created a bubble in gold. They can’t seem to grasp that the bubble is not in gold, but in fiat currencies and the stock market, and this is why gold is on the rise.

Central Banks, primarily in Asia, are snatching up gold weekly. We all know about China’s unparalleled gold buying, but there are many other countries turning to PM’s as well. Thailand has apparently been buying gold in large quantities under the radar, improving their reserves by as much as 20%: