Dr. Edwin Vieira’s Amazing Crystal Ball, 2006

This is too true.

My Great Grandfather owned several businesses, and acres of land (hundreds) in Northeast Philadelphia. He was ruined by the stock market failure and the government’s seizure of his metals…after he had his pocket picked by the government, they levied heavy taxes on his land holdings , that he could not pay…they seized all of his property and left my Great Grandparents paupers.
Great Grand Pop lost everything and died leaving my Grandfather to take care of his mother in a tiny home by the Tacony Palmyra Bridge until her death. My Grandfather went to work in the remaining factory, and my father also took up factory work, and started his own business in the 60s.
It resulted in my father’s family hating Roosevelt and being staunch Republicans for the past 2 generations.
I have nothing but sympathy for my Great Grandfather….

“Doubtlessly, too, politicians, the big media, and other of the Establishment’s mouthpieces would employ their tried and true “divide-and-conquer” strategy, to turn Americans against one another.”

Most Americans probably fall somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum: center, center left or center right (and most are pretty tolerant regardless of their political and religious views). Yet, the media so often seems to showcase those with extreme views. Perhaps the hysteria regarding the AIG bonuses and confiscatory tax which was passed by the hypocritical pitch fork wielding mob in the House are a prelude of things to come.

G & G’s house and barn burned down to the ground during that time.
They couldn’t buy a bucket to milk the cow cuz there were no buckets to buy.

Excellent LD, and thanks for undertaking the review.

I knew that FDR had seized gold, and also have read that many people refused to respond to the demands and hid their gold [that might be more difficult today, given technological advances, but I don't know].

But here’s the thing that is disturbing.

The demonization of people who buy or own gold has already begun; powerful interests, indeed, the Governor of Missouri, have already begun to demonize those who “own gold” in this country. Recently, one organization in Missouri issued a security report demonizing Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr and Libertarians, people who own gold, people who fly American flags, and those who are strongly pro-2nd Amendment as “anti-American” and “terrorists.”

Don’t think this is a reality? The Governor of Missouri and the organization which issued this report have now had to apologize to Bob Barr, Ron Paul and Chuck Baldwin publicly, after the three men jointly issue a threat of legal action against them.

But, Americans who are Libertarians, and who might have supported these candidates, or who fit the profile this group and their governor have identified–i.e., those who buy gold; those who fly American flags; those who are strongly pro-2nd amendment, and those who call themselves “constitutionalists”–are still considered a threat to this country by Gov. Nixon of Missouri and this organization, which is currently TRAINING POLICE TO SUSPECT THESE AMERICANS.

That should give all Americans pause. Serious pause. Whether or not you are a libertarian or supported Bob Barr or Ron Paul, you are now suspected of belonging to a MILITIA GROUP, if you are pro-2nd amendment, if you support the Constitution, if you fly an American flag.

When an American who strongly supports the Constitution, flies an American flag, and supports Ron Paul is considered an enemy of the state, we’re in serious trouble in this country. Political speech is protected under the First Amendment, yet this huge story has barely been acknowledged in mainstream media.

AP Story:

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20090315/NEWS01/903150363

Missouri news source:

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20090323/BLOGS09/90323048/-1/RSS13

http://www.infowars.com/missouri-apologizes-to-paul-barr-baldwin-over-miac-report/

Is Edwin Vieira hostile to labor unions?

Here’s another great article about the FDR gold seizure: http://www.lewrockwell.com/anderson/anderson154.html

This is called theft.

I wish congress would talk to Obama like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94lW6Y4tBXs

In 2005, Treasury officials warned that it’s not just gold and silver, but ANYTHING that could be considered a “financial instrument.”

MANCHESTER, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 22, 2005–The U.S. Government has the authority to prohibit the private possession of gold and silver coin and bullion by U.S. citizens during wartime, and, during wartime and declared emergencies, to freeze their ownership of shares of mining companies, the Treasury Department has told the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee.

But gold and silver owners aren’t alone in such jeopardy. For the U.S. Government claims the authority in declared emergencies to seize or freeze just about everything else that might be considered a financial instrument.

The Treasury Department’s assertions came in a letter to GATA dated August 12 and written by Sean M. Thornton, chief counsel for the department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, who replied to questions GATA posed to the department in January. It took GATA six months and some prodding to get answers from the Treasury, but the Treasury’s reply, when it came, was remarkably comprehensive and candid.

The government’s authority to interfere with the ownership of gold, silver, and mining shares arises, Thornton wrote, from the Trading With the Enemy Act, which became law in 1917 during World War I and applies during declared wars, and from 1977’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which can be applied without declared wars.

While the Trading With the Enemy Act authorizes the government to interfere with the ownership of gold and silver particularly, it also applies to all forms of currency and all securities. So the Treasury official stressed in his letter to GATA that the act could be applied not just to shares of gold and silver mining companies but to the shares of all companies in which there is a foreign ownership interest.

Further, there is no requirement in the law that the targets of the government’s interference must have some connection to the declared enemies of the United States, nor even some connection to foreign ownership. Anything that can be construed as a financial instrument, no matter how innocently it has been used, is subject to seizure under the Trading With the Enemy Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Having just gone through a controversy about a Supreme Court decision about government’s power of eminent domain, most Americans may be surprised to learn that the Trading With the Enemy Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act could expropriate them instantly and far more broadly without any of the due process extended to parties in eminent domain cases. All that is needed is a presidential proclamation of an emergency of some kind — and of course Americans lately have been living in a state of perpetual emergency.

When the Trading With the Enemy Act was passed in 1917, gold and silver formed part of the official currency of the United States and were essential to ordinary commerce, so perhaps an argument could be made then against “hoarding,” even if “hoarding” could not be well defined. That is no longer the case; the United States has officially disavowed gold and silver as money and they no longer have a meaningful role in commerce. (GATA is working on that.) So gold and silver investors may want to ask their members of Congress to seek repeal of the statutes that give the government the authority to interfere with the private ownership of gold and silver, emergencies or not.

And ordinary citizens with no particular interest in gold and silver may want to ask their members of Congress to reconsider these statutes simply for being wildly tyrannical.

GATA’s correspondence with the Treasury Department is posted on the Internet here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gata/message/3276

“Just as nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances there is a twilight… and it is in such a twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air–however slight–lest we become unwilling victims of the darkness.”

– William O. Douglas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 to 1975

In the unraveling of the Great Depression and lessons that can be learned there were a lot of mistakes made.

What I have said in the past was just repeated by Peter Schiff (Dr. Doom – who was the one Wall Street executive who predicted this credit meltdown as early as 2005 and was mocked for years).

In a free market economy recessions are a natural occurance. They are not created or fixed by Presidents. They are self correcting if government does not interfere. The more that government interferes the longer and deeper the recession and potential of a depression.

The government interventionist policies of Hoover and FDR took what should have been a severe recession and caused The Great Depression: from the protectionist trade policy of Hoover to the government interventionist policies (like the one you described) of FDR.

Obama/Pelosi/Reid are taking us quickly down a road very remniscent of FDR and for no reason other than fulfilling political promises to donors or, in the case, of Obama, fulfilling a socialist mission.

It took a lot of audacity on the part of Obama to say he was left with a trillion dollar deficit (which he fails to mention that he supported as a Senator) when he is intentionally tripling that deficit and lying to Americans that he will halve it. In the end these policies will take us into a spiral of steep inflation and continued recession.

“Roosevelt ordered all gold coins and gold certificates in denominations of more than $100 turned in for other money. It required all persons to deliver all gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates owned by them to the Federal Reserve by May 1 for the set price of $20.67 per ounce.”

http://tinyurl.com/dew2n2
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FDR did not seize anyone’s jewelry or gold fillings or gold used for artistic works.

I don’t see anything about his seizing silver. Is there a reliable link other than to something written by Edwin Vieira?

Vieira’s depiction of FDR this way “following in the cloven hoofprints Roosevelt laid down during the 1930s” make him sound like some nut job right-wing extremist. Sorry, LD. This neo-con view of FDR as the devil is part of what got them into so much trouble in the first place. Trying to undo the New Deal including Social Security will not fly with the American people.

Every major currency left the gold standard during the Great Depression. Great Britain was the first to do so. Facing speculative attacks on the pound and depleting gold reserves, in September 1931 the Bank of England ceased exchanging pound notes for gold and the pound was floated on foreign exchange markets.

Great Britain, Japan, and the Scandinavian countries left the gold standard in 1931. Other countries, such as Italy and the United States, remained on the gold standard into 1932 or 1933, while a few countries in the so-called “gold bloc”, led by France and including Poland, Belgium and Switzerland, stayed on the standard until 1935-1936.

According to later analysis, the earliness with which a country left the gold standard reliably predicted its economic recovery. For example, Great Britain and Scandinavia, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had a silver standard, almost avoided the depression entirely. The connection between leaving the gold standard as a strong predictor of that country’s severity of its depression and the length of time of its recovery has been shown to be consistent for dozens of countries, including developing countries. This partly explains why the experience and length of the depression differed between national economies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#Gold_standard

On the last morning of Herbert Hoover’s presidency, Hoover said to his secretary, “We are at the end of our string; there is nothing more we can do.”

That was not at all FDR’s view of the situation – or of the possibilities for action to deal with the economic crisis.

On the day FDR was first inaugurated as president (in March 1933), the Great Depression had already been raging for a few years; 13,000 of the nation’s 25,000 banks had closed their doors and depositors could not get their money. In 32 states, ALL of the banks had closed sine die; stocks had lost 80%-90% of their value; and there was 25% to 30% unemployment, not even counting women who were not considered part of the workforce. Millions were homeless; many had lost their homes and were moving in with relatives and friends. One third of the nation was destitute

FDR rolled up his sleeves, called Congress back into session and — within 100 days — created and got Congress to pass FIFTEEN MAJOR pieces of legislation.

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When F.D.R. took office in 1933, one third of the nation was unemployed. Agriculture was destitute [farm income had declined by 60 percent], factories were idle [many operating at 15-20% of capacity], businesses were closing their doors, and the banking system teetered on the brink of collapse. Violence lay just beneath the surface.

http://tinyurl.com/ad8y22

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The Depression was one of the most devastating agricultural disasters in American history, and American farmers suffered terribly. In 1934 more than 30 percent of all Americans still lived on farms…. But a combination of natural disasters and human miscalculations devastated American farming in the 1930s. The decade opened with a series of natural catastrophes: in 1930 hail destroyed wheat crops, and 1932 to 1935 were years of unrelenting drought. This, combined with plummeting agricultural prices, ruined countless farm families.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468301232.html

Lightacandle-
Thank you for that information.
My family came through the depression because they were farmers. You reference 30% who could be somewhat self-sustaining.
With our increased population, and far more concentration in urban areas, it would be far more difficult for this society to hold together now, in my opinion.

I guess most Americans thought FDR was doing good things for them; when he ran for a second term in 1936, he won by the 2nd highest percentage in American history.

Even though President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke with tradition and ran for four terms — battling the worst Depression this nation has ever seen plus having to wage war on two fronts (against Germany and Japan) — FDR always won by a larger percentage of the popular vote than Obama just did, even though Obama spent $600 million in his campaign.

Here’s the rundown on the popular vote for FDR:

1932 — 57.41 %

1936 (after four years of the New Deal) — 60.80% — (the second highest percentage in America history)

1940 — 54.74 %

1944 (even when FDR was already a dying man, the American people still elected him) — 53.39 %

= = = = = = = = =

Obama’s $600 million bought him only 52.87 % of the vote, even though his opponent, John McCain, had only $84 million to spend.

President Herbert Hoover said that in the long run the Depression would cure itself.

To which FDR responded that people don’t eat in “the long run; they eat three times a day.”

The GREAT CRASH of the stock market occurred in 1929 when Hoover was president; the GREAT Depression went on for THREE years before FDR became president in March 1933.

Things had just gotten worse and worse and worse during those three years of the Hoover presidency.

FDR gave people jobs, food, and a sense of dignity and security — they had a president who cared about them and about helping them.

I regret we are seeing rightwing revisionist drivel here on what I thought was NOT a rightwing bulletin board.

The one certainty that I have about FDR is that he was revered by my older family members and friends.
They were from both political parties, but they agreed that FDR brought this country through a very dangerous time, much like Lincoln.
They did not have instant communication, and may not have had access to information of today, but they trusted the man to stand for and with them!

FDR has an enduring aura of saving the common man. He was not a friend of small businesses and thus the business=republicans and civil servant=democrats thinking took hold.

There are a myriad of reasons in time that events play out.

The rightwing revisionist goons here will never give up, but I wish they would stop tarring FDR’s legacy with Obama junk. There is NOTHING Obama is doing that resembles anything FDR did. FDR never gave billion dollar bailouts to Wall Street critters and crooks. FDR helped the ordinary Americans, NOT the rich ones.

FDR owed The Big Money Boys NOTHING; they did not help to elect him — but they did help to elect Obama with massive infusions of corporate money into Obama’s campaign.

I guess the favorite president of the rightwing revisionists here would be Calvin Coolidge or Warren Harding.

The point is these rightwing revisionist goons actually don’t know anything but are very determined to spread their drivel.