It Took a Generation to Forget About Gold
There were two Executive Orders among thousands that had the most impact in the lives of the public. From 1933-1974 the United States Government implemented the removal of gold as money from the minds of the Americans completely shifting the paradigm of the monetary system. No longer did people see the right of holding gold in their possession as a normal act of savings, and it had now become a criminal act that was punishable by law.
The signing of Executive Order 6102 on April 5, 1933, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the initiation of creating a cashless society for the American people. This was proposed to the public as a way of helping the country get her financial stability back during a time of great distress.
This law prohibited the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States. The effect of the order, in conjunction with the statute under which it was issued, was to criminalize the possession of monetary gold by any individual, partnership, association or corporation.
The Great Depression created a great mistrust in the banking system and the public knew that the only way to avoid the pain and suffering, as much as possible, was to withdraw their gold from the hands of the people that caused the crisis. The banks were then being put under much pressure to maintain reserves, while also having to honor the withdrawal of their depositors’ funds from a failing system.
The fractional reserve model which consisted of lending to borrowers from money that wasn’t presently in the vaults, in the form of newly issued credit, exposed the commercial banking system as the true fraud it was.
Since the creation of the Federal Reserve Banking System in December of 1913 the redefining of the United States money was playing right into the hands of the formation and dominance of what would later be considered the too big to fail banks on Wall Street.
Once gold which could be views was out of the way, the Federal Reserve Bank could then be the main supplier of their own monopoly notes which the public would have to accept. The signing of Executive Order 6102 was the official order that removed the constraint on the Federal Reserve which prior too, was prevented from increasing the money supply. The moment the law came into existence our central bank began flooding the planet with their product (Federal Reserve Notes) and it hasn’t stopped since.
The shift of the American paradigm away from the importance of sound money, i.e. gold, to the building of faith in paper money started officially in 1933. During the next 40+ years the United States of America would experience the formation of what Austrian economist would consider the booms and bust of an expanding economy. The furthering of the industrial revolution presented the working class with a feeling of ever increasing prosperity as the standard of living and quality of life improved.
This mental shift away from gold in the public’s hand, appeared on the surface like growth and development in the economy. It was the actually the increase in supply of Federal Reserve Notes and the American public were more than happy to spend and save them. They forgot about the need for gold to keep the Government and Central Bank in check.
Those that participated in this new economy, minus gold, adapted to the role of just using paper money very well. The American people bought into reality a new that gold was gone and that the economy still could function even if they just used Federal Reserve Notes as the only medium of exchange. During the time, the remaining United States Treasury Notes in circulation were being used less and Silver Certificates were on their way out the door in 1968 as well.
The plan to remove gold and silver away from the American public was achieved by the early 1970’s just as President Nixon removed the international redemption of Federal Reserve Notes away from gold as well. The minds of the public had officially shifted from the importance of gold and silver as a storage of value, (i.e. purchasing power) ultimate insurance, and privacy from the monetary and fiscal malfeasance of politicians and bankers.
It had been forty years or an entire generation since Executive Order 6102 was implemented. By this time everyone who was born only knowing gold and silver as money were either retired or deceased. The Baby Boomers (generation born between 1940’s-1960’s) would now lead the way into a solely paper money and digital age of the word ‘Dollar’ being considered just a Federal Reserve Note. The passing of time along with an expanding economy had proved to completely remove the awareness of gold and silver as money from the American psyche. Not much longer after this domestic paradigm shift did the United States Government removed the redemption of the Federal Reserve Notes for gold on the international stage. Instead of nations using gold to purchase energy in the form of oil. Nations now needed dollars to purchase petroleum from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries. This new scheme, labeled the Petrodollar System, was put in place and now the reintroduction of gold was fitting. This time gold wasn’t labeled or referenced as a monetary item but instead as a commodity.
In the winter of 1974, President Gerald R. Ford signed into law Executive Order 11825 repudiating Executive Order 6102. It had been exactly 41 years and 8 months since gold was removed by law from the people’s hands in the form of money. This new law came into effect as the banking system and other financial institutions shifted the usage and role of gold exclusively into a financial product. The implementation of gold and silver as commodities rather than money was the new paradigm that the people would have to get used to.
This transition of monetary metals to commodities has proven to be the greatest tool the United States Government and Federal Reserve Bank could have ever created. The removal of gold for forty years as money and the reintroduction of gold as a commodity has been more than enough to wipe clean the role of gold as money in the public’s mind.
This collusion between banks and politicians in our monetary system has impacted the personal finances and investing done by the American public for the last 84 years. As of today, an overwhelming majority of the population doesn’t even acknowledge or recognize gold or silver as money.
There is a small remnant of people that know their history and therefore take advantage of the opportunity to save and redeem their Federal Reserve Notes while there still worth the exchange. The moment the public is reintroduced to gold and silver as money, will be the time when paper money and digital money become worth even less in purchasing power. At that point those who knew their history and took action will be benefactors of what has turned out to be the biggest generational wealth deception in United States history.
By The Monetary Enthusiast
Source: Rethinking the Dollar
