Weekends and holidays are the perfect time to catch people off guard…
Like a street thug committing a mugging, capital controls blindside most people—otherwise, they wouldn’t be effective.
The government declares a surprise bank holiday and shuts down all the banks—mere hours after denying any such plans.
Then come the capital controls, preventing citizens from moving their money out of the country.
Cash-sniffing dogs—less friendly than drug-sniffing ones—suddenly appear at airports and border crossings.
At that point, your money is like a lobster in a trap. It doesn’t take much imagination to guess what comes next.
Once a desperate government has your money within reach, it will find a way to take as much of it as possible.
Don’t be shocked if your local currency suffers a massive devaluation, your bank deposits are suddenly worth a fraction of yesterday’s value, or an emergency tax is imposed.
Whatever the method or excuse, the outcome is always the same: a wealth transfer from you to the government.
This familiar pattern has unfolded in countless countries in recent years. No one should be surprised the next time it happens.
Governments facing financial trouble almost certainly resort to capital controls—a desperate, misguided solution with devastating consequences for ordinary people.
Just look at the recent history: Argentina, Lebanon, Venezuela, Iceland, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, China, India, South Korea—and many more—have all imposed capital controls.
The lesson? Capital controls can happen anywhere, anytime.
Though unthinkable to most Americans, there’s a high chance they’re coming to the US. They’ve happened before—and could happen again soon.
Remember, in 1933, President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 6102 forced Americans to exchange their gold for US dollars under threat of a 10-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine (over $235,000 in today’s debased confetti).
The official exchange rate? Unfavorable, of course—amounting to a 41% confiscation of purchasing power.
The US government then banned private ownership of gold bullion for 42 years—only allowing the plebs to legally own it again in 1975.
This isn’t speculation. It’s historical precedent. And history shows governments, especially in crisis, reach for capital controls.
Today, it’s clear the fiat currency system, centered on the US dollar, is crumbling.
Since Nixon severed the dollar’s last tie to gold in 1971, we’ve endured over 50 years of this experiment. Like spoiled milk left far past its expiration date, the fiat system has long outlived its shelf life.
Even the people running the system can see it—and they’re openly discussing what comes next.
That’s why there’s so much talk about resetting the monetary system… and without question, capital controls will be part of it.
All it takes is a crisis—real or manufactured—or a convenient excuse. Just a stroke of the president’s pen on a new executive order, and it’s done.
Expect it to happen.
Capital controls are always a prelude to something worse.
Once governments trap money inside a country, wealth confiscation is usually just hours away. Anything they don’t steal immediately, they lock in for future grabs.
Before FDR as in 1930 gold was used as currency. A $20 gold piece could buy you a new suit. Pretty dumb to ban gold until 1975.
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