Capital Controls, Gold Confiscation, Bank Holidays, and Everything Else
By Gus Demos
Perpetual Assets
May 15, 2015
Not a day goes by that we don’t have clients asking us about hypothetical future possible government actions. Ranging from mandated retirement asset allocation, to Gold confiscation, to Bank Holidays, etc. The questions are always reasonable, given the fact at the end of the day the government has quit a few guns, and hence can pretty much do whatever it desires. Financial draconian legislation has been passed around the globe. So there is no harm in speculating possible outcomes. Where the harm lies is in becoming axiomatic on what the outcomes shall be.
I always attempt to answer the questions consistently, and that consistent answer is “I don’t know” Its impossible to predict exactly what the future holds, and we cannot give consultative advice based on hypotheticals. I usually turn to a Socratic hyperbole and ask “what if they start taking first borns?” or “what if they start putting people in ovens?”. Although both scenarios are highly exaggerated they illustrate the same point. Every person has their own tyranny threshold. One person’s version of being compliant is another person’s of being led to the slaughter. We can’t predict how it plays out, but we can prepare for possible outcomes and if the time arrives have the free will or liberty to decide if we’ve had enough.
Every person is in a different present situation based on numerous variables in their lives, and every person has different fears and theories. There is no one size fits all. There does exist, however, a method to hedge as much of your wealth as possible from any and all entities. It isn’t ever our intention to be vague, but at the same time we refuse to mislead or to imply we have a crystal ball. All that being said, I leave you with a quote once heard that comes to mind when summarizing… “When evil rules, good men must become outlaws”
