Well if you ever needed PROOF that gold is not money but rather simply an asset class, all we need do is look at what governments are doing. They are hunting for anything of value. We are likely going to see a migration of assets from Europe to the USA as took place prior and during World War I and World War II. Even Germany is now altering laws under the pretense that they are suddenly concerned about protecting cultural heritage. Under the pretense of updating legislation on the Protection of Cultural Heritage (Cultural Property Protection Act), they are targeting collectors RETROACTIVELY.
Germany's new proposed legislation is radical and highly destructive. It is going much further than FDR's confiscation of gold. A new bill states: “This amendment not only aims at combating illicit traffic in cultural objects in Germany, but at limiting ways of funding of terror organizations that are more and more financed by illegal excavations at archaeological sites as well as by the illicit trade in that cultural material.”
This of course is a theory that has never been demonstrated to be real with a single transaction ever taking place. Obviously, there will be some registration fee as well. The citizen must provide photographs of every item at their own expense and they must describe where they hold the object. They must immediately report the movement of any such object. Any sale must be reported for how much and to whom. It is a great smoke screen for shutting down the ability of collectors to move. All collectors in Germany must now report whatever they have to the government.
The law is being applied retroactively. In section 32.3, it reverses the burden of proof and it will assume the item is illegal “if the date of exportation cannot be furnished or ascertained.” That means anything in collections for hundreds of years can be confiscated without proof of when it was exported historically. Then the state confiscates any property that cannot be proven under the assumption of guilt and then section 39 stipulates “the person that has been divested of the safekeeping” must pay for the entire cost of the government confiscating your assets. Dealers have the burden to check all items for its “cultural value” in excess of €2500 and for its archaeological heritage value if greater than €100. The dealer must photograph every item and report the seller and buyer. Then section 46 requires dealers to retain records for 30 years.
