Jonny Bahrain Sends Us More

Reader Jonny Bahrain (in Bahrain) sends us the below reactions to gold, black markets, Fascist Thugs and comments:

In case anyone isn't already aware, Robert kindly posts on my behalf because the Blog website here is in Arabic - international VPNs are banned - and I cannot see how to register an account so bear with me until I find an Arabic speaker to assist me.

Robert: I've only read the Freegold article but I will endeavour to read more over the next few weeks. I agree that private gold could be used to recapitalize America but perhaps it's something the US government would prefer to handle it themselves (more below). But I will happily read the article - have you got a link?
Also I was really at a loss for ideas with what someone could do with their 'wealth' if they liquidated their gold holdings; I suggested land off the top of my head as I thought of the potential for self farming. Couldn't you live on the land and let someone else work it???

The: I guess you're right, if someone was to sell their gold it would probably be best to buy up things you think could be useful and being lucky enough that you were proved right. For instance, if energy will become prohibitively expensive - due to collapsing $ and/or peak oil - buying up lots of spare parts and opening a shop that and can repair/service bicycles might be a good business. This may be better outside the US as bicycles are already popular methods of transport in cities used by large numbers of commuters wanting to avoid unnecessary expenditure and to get some exercise (I have no idea about this in the US).

Salacious and Roberto: I don't doubt that a black market for PM's may arise and neither will the authorities when implementing any PM controls; in fact this will likely be preempted.

One question for you: what currently happens to goods seized as 'profits from criminal activitiy' in the US? I know in the UK if the police seizes cash, cars, or even houses from people that are convicted of criminal offences and it's deemed that those possessions were obtained from criminal activity, they get to hold auctions and keep the proceeds! If it's not already the case there is no reason this could not be implemented as I believe the withdrawal of many constitutional rights is done under the pretext of national security using a definition of terrorist acts that is almost synonymous with criminality.

So to me the difference between the current (illegal) marijuana market and potential illegal private gold market is that the government stands to make a huge financial gain if it seizes seizes say 10-20 oz of 'illegal' private gold holdings in a single raid - their only cost being the SWAT team. I believe that they burn the seized grass so their outcome is only a financial cost, namely the DEA's expenses. 

This brings me on to something else that interests me. It's fairly clear that the police in America has become militarised and I believe this trend will only accelerate in the years ahead. Furthermore I hold the view that conventional militaries will undergo significant restructuring, namely because: governments need to drastically cut spending; asymmetric warfare has already become the new modus operandi in foreign theatres, employed against hidden enemies wearing no uniforms and who hide among large civilian populations (see insurgents in Afghan, Iraq, Palestine etc); governments will have a much more unstable domestic security situation to deal with.

IMO the way the US (and other bankrupt Western governments) will deal with overseas battles of the future will likely be through highly effective and lower cost methods similar to those employed by their 'terrorist' enemies: 1) cyber-warfare; 2) utilising the 'cloak and dagger' tactics currently used by elite Special Forces teams, consisting of small, flexible, covert strike teams that can assassinate or capture people at low financial/casualty cost and high success rate supported by private armies like Blackwater. I propose this will leave large numbers of trained soldiers surplus to requirements and will result some competing to undergo additional training and thus remain with the overseas military, with the (probably large) remainder to be transferred to the domestic security apparatus to keep the peace at home or join the private military companies as mercenaries to support government(s) where needed. This vastly larger and more brutal domestic US domestic security force would be more than capable of putting a huge dent in a PM black market and raising much needed revenue for the government if that is what is wanted.

I appreciate the above proposition may seem highly speculative but it fits with my personal view that the once Land of the Free will (ironically) become the most fascist and least free country in the world within the next decade, followed very closely by others such as the UK.

<sigh>

Jonny Bahrain