I thought the below opinion on the possibility of gold confiscation by the government like FDR did might be of interest to you goldies. The answer was in response to someone asking about confiscation and suggesting that possibly platinum might be a safer investment.

"Terry Coxon responds…

I don’t think there is much risk of gold confiscation. FDR was elected on a balanced-budget platform. When he decided to devalue the dollar, capturing the profits that otherwise would have gone to gold owners seemed like an easy score for the Treasury.

Today the dollar is not on the gold standard. So why would the government confiscate gold? The only motive I can imagine would be to collect something the government could sell on world markets to support the dollar against other currencies. But now that the U.S. and the U.S. government are such big international debtors, a declining currency has big advantages. It devalues the debt owed to foreigners. And it’s convenient for U.S. exporters. Note the U.S. government’s current complaint about China: China won’t let its currency appreciate, i.e., they won’t let the dollar depreciate.

As to platinum, it’s better than GM bonds, but it’s not a robust substitute for gold. Like silver, it’s both a precious metal useful for storing value over long periods and an industrial metal. In an inflationary depression, store-of-value demand would go up, and industrial consumption would decline. With gold, the story is much simpler. Store-of-value demand would go up, and industrial consumption doesn’t much matter.

If someone is worried about gold confiscation, he should consider buying gold in an industrial form, such as 18kt wire. Or buy an “art object.” A solid-gold Statue of Liberty would be nice."