Is Gold Really a Good Investment?

IS GOLD REALLY A GOOD INVESTMENT?

You can’t turn on the television these days without seeing a commercial reminding you of the obvious – the economy is going down the toilet and you need to invest in gold to protect yourself from inflation.

I’m not a financial advisor – Can’t even claim that I once played one. I’m merely thinking aloud (or on paper) and submitting what I’m wondering about. Perhaps some of you investment gurus can offer your point of view on the subject.

I digress. Each time I hear the gold pundits expose the need for me to invest in gold I’m reminded of what happened on April 5, 1933, by then President (and darling of the Democrats), Franklin D. Roosevelt. For those of you like me who weren’t actually around at the time, he signed an executive order “forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion and Gold Certificates within the Continental United States”. It criminalized the possession of monetary gold by any individual, partnership, association or corporation.

The justification given was times were hard and the stalled economy was getting worse, ergo Lord Roosevelt decided you couldn’t own gold. U.S. citizens were required to deliver their gold to the Federal Reserve on or before May 1, 1933 – less than 30 days after the signing of the order. You would be given $20.67 per troy ounce in exchange.

What happened if you decided the government couldn’t do that to you and you refused? You would be charged under the Trading with the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917, as amended on March 9, 1933 and would be subject of a penalty of up to $10,000 (which would equate to adjusted amount of about $167,000. by today’s figures) or up to ten years in prison, or both. Most folks who were in a position to own a lot of gold simply transferred it into Swiss bank accounts.

Oddly enough there is a thought in the back of my mind that says the current occupant of the White House and his ilk have shown there is nothing off-the-table when it comes to bending or breaking the law when it comes to acting like a dictator.

Take his recent taping of a fund raising commercial in the map room of the White House to raffle $5.00 tickets to have dinner with V.P. Joe Biden. Are you kidding me! That would be funnier than going to the Improve Comedy Club. It’s hard to say what Ol’ Joe would say. Although the Constitution says you can’t use the White House for anything other than official business and the map room is for official business, only, the ‘coolest’ Prez ever has deemed it’s ok because it’s in the residential portion of the People’s House.

The economy is in shambles, the prognosis is anything but good, unemployment is over nine percent (and much worse in the areas of the country ran by Liberals) and I have no doubt in my mind that this President wouldn’t blink twice at pulling an FDR on us. But that’s just me.