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"extraordinary power to confiscate property" Confiscate property? Gold coins were to be traded for $20.67 per ounce, not simply taken. No confiscation occurr
by betterunix 14y ago
"extraordinary power to confiscate property"
Confiscate property? Gold coins were to be traded for $20.67 per ounce, not simply taken. No confiscation occurred; the nation simply ended the practice of using gold currency by taking it out of circulation.
- sageikosa 14y agoI believe the idea is the "trade" was forced. Choice on when and how to dispose of one's property is what having property is all about.
- dreamdu5t 14y agoForcing someone to sell you something isn't trade, it's theft. If I steal your TV, then give you $5, I still stole your TV. Confiscating people's property is the act of a despot.
- rayiner 14y agoCompensated compensation is explicitly sanctioned in the Constitution.
- bmmayer1 14y agoIt explicitly mentions just compensation. A sub-market price isn't just.
- rayiner 14y agoIt was traded in at the fixed conversion rate between gold and U.S. dollars.
- notdrunkatall 14y agoA rate which was fixed by the buyer, with no protestation allowed by the seller.
- bmmayer1 14y agoHear hear
- Cushman 14y agoWhat if it's not a TV, but a human being? Just pointing out there are some concepts more sacred than property.
- dreamdu5t 14y agoPlease explain how confiscating people's gold was necessary to save someone's life. How is the life of the person stealing worth more than the person he is stealing from?
- Cushman 14y agoI think that's a red herring. First, slavery is not death and removing someone from slavery is not saving their life. Second, if it could be proven (though I doubt anyone has the means) that confiscation of gold sped economic recovery significantly, being responsible for many millions of lives saved in the past seventy years, would you accept it was the right thing to do? I suspect your answer is "no", and if so I wonder if you have any idea why.
- enraged_camel 14y ago>>Forcing someone to sell you something isn't trade, it's theft. [citation needed]
- letney 14y agoFrom the Wikipedia article: "The price of gold from the Treasury for international transactions was thereafter raised to $35 an ounce ($587 in 2010 dollars) resulting in an immediate loss for everyone who had been forced to surrender their gold." That is theft, plain and simple.
- rayiner 14y agoIt would've been theft if the conversion rate was raised before the confiscation but people were paid out at a lower rate.