142 THE BiG DROP
attack. In 1933, President Roosevelt devised a plan to increase
the price of gold in dollars, effectively a dollar devaluation.
But he had a problem. If he increased the price of gold while
Americans owned it, the profit would go to the citizens, not
the U.S. Treasury. He knew that he had to lie to the American
people about his intentions in order to pull off the theft of the
century.
So Roosevelt issued an emergency executive order confis-
cating the gold at about $20.00 per ounce and then revalued
it to $35.00 per ounce, with the Treasury getting the profits.
On Jan. 15, the Swiss National Bank pulled a similar stunt.
Last November, the Swiss citizens voted on a referendum to
require an informal link of the Swiss franc to gold. The Swiss
National Bank argued against the referendum on the ground
that it would cause them to break the peg of the Swiss franc
to the euro.
The people believed them and voted “no” on the referen-
dum. But now the Swiss National Bank has broken the peg
anyway. The price of gold is spiking as a result, but the Swiss
citizens have lost the benefit of that because the referendum is
now a dead letter. The Swiss National Bank lied to the Swiss
people about their intentions with regard to the peg.
The lesson of history is that citizens should own some gold,
store it safely and not believe government and central bank
lies. In fact, we could see more investors fleeing to the safety of
gold in the coming months as trust in central bankers wanes.