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Adrian Ash: When governments steal gold
10:45a ET Sunday, December 9, 2012
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
In a new essay, Bullion Vault's research director, Adrian Ash, tells three fascinating and little-known stories of how governments confiscated gold: fascist Italy in 1935; Nazi Germany in 1939 with the assistance of the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements, two organizations of barely greater integrity that are still around; and -- how can we not call it "fascist"? -- Britain in 1966.
Ash concludes: "The moral of these tales? Because gold is no longer central to the world's monetary system, so-called 'confiscation' looks like a very 20th-century phenomenon today. But that may well change. Exchange controls such as Britain had in the 1970s (and which Italy didn't lose until 1999) are more likely -- because people, like governments, want to own gold when they fear inflation, financial strife, or political crisis. Holding it at home could expose them to theft or coercion. If they hold it safely at arm's length overseas, even a secure democratic jurisdiction requires clear ownership if you are retain control."
Ash's commentary is headlined "When Governments Steal Gold" and it's posted at Bullion Vault's Internet site here:
http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/gold-confiscation-120720125
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Opinion Around the World Is Changing
in Favor of Gold -- Find Out Why
When Deutschebank calls gold "good money" and paper "bad money". ...
http://www.gata.org/node/11765
When the president of the German central bank, the Bundesbank, pays tribute to gold as "a timeless classic". ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/09/24/signs-of-the-gold-stan...
When a leading member of the policy committee of the People's Bank of China calls the gold standard "an excellent monetary system". ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/10/01/signs-of-the-gold-stan...
When a CNN reporter writes in The China Post that the "gold commission" plank in the 2012 Republican platform will "reverberate around the world". ...
http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/key-blogs/1563-china-post-the-gop-gold...
When the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy of the U.S. House of Representatives twice called on economist, historian, and gold standard advocate Lewis E. Lehrman to testify. ...
World opinion is changing in favor of gold.
How can you learn why and what it will mean to you?
Read the newly updated and expanded edition of Lehrman's book, "The True Gold Standard."
Financial journalist James Grant says of "The True Gold Standard": "If you have ever wondered how the world can get from here to there -- from the chaos of depreciating paper to a convertible currency worthy of our children and our grandchildren -- wonder no more. The answer, brilliantly expounded, is between these covers. America has long needed a modern Alexander Hamilton. In Lewis E. Lehrman she has finally found him."
To buy a copy of "The True Gold Standard," please visit:
http://www.thegoldstandardnow.com/publications/the-true-gold-standard
Join GATA here:
Vancouver Resource Investment Conference
Sunday-Monday, January 20 and 21, 2013
Vancouver Convention Centre West
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
http://www.cambridgehouse.com/event/vancouver-resource-investment-confer...
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