TLDR ; the government finessed the people (surprise) with a huge transfer of wealth by not allowing people to possess large amounts of gold(be there own banks) and confiscating it all, then by proclamation increasing the value by roughly 75%, profiting handsomely and devaluing the dollars they exchanged to citizens for it in the process
Executive Order 6102 required all persons with more than 100$ equivalent in gold to deliver on or before May 1, 1933, all but a small amount of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates owned by them to the Federal Reserve in exchange for $20.67 (equivalent to $433 in 2021)per troy ounce. Under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, as amended by the recently passed Emergency Banking Act of March 9, 1933, a violation of the order was punishable by fine up to $10,000 (equivalent to $209,000 in 2021),up to ten years in prison, or both.
The main rationale behind the order was actually to remove the constraint on the Federal Reserve preventing it from increasing the money supply during the depression. The Federal Reserve Act (1913) required 40% gold backing of Federal Reserve Notes that were issued. By the late 1920s, the Federal Reserve had almost reached the limit of allowable credit, in the form of Federal Reserve demand notes, which could be backed by the gold in its possession.
BTW since 2020 the required reserves of cash on hand per amount deposited is zero.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/reservereq.htm
The price of gold from the Treasury for international transactions was then raised by the Gold Reserve Act to $35 an ounce (equivalent to $733 in 2021). The resulting profit that the government realized funded the Exchange Stabilization Fund, established by the 1934 Gold Reserve Act. More about the ESF https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/206/ESF-Annual-Report-for-Fiscal-Year-2021.pdf
A New York attorney named Frederick Campbell had one deposit at Chase National Bank of over 5,000 troy ounces (160 kg) of gold. When Campbell attempted to withdraw the gold, Chase refused, and Campbell sued Chase. A federal prosecutor then indicted Campbell on the following day (September 27, 1933) for failing to surrender his gold. Ultimately, the prosecution of Campbell failed, but the authority of the federal government to seize gold was upheld, and Campbell's gold was confiscated.
The Gold Reserve Act of 1934 made gold clauses unenforceable and authorized the President to establish the gold value of the dollar by proclamation. Immediately following its passage, Roosevelt changed the statutory price of gold from $20.67 to $35 per ounce, thereby devaluing the US dollar, which was based on gold. That price remained in effect until August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon announced that the US would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value.
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