Billionaire investor warns of coming central bank collapse followed by gold seizure

(NaturalNews) They say history may not always repeat itself, but it often rhymes. The worsening debt scenario in the U.S. and abroad could become a case in point.

It's not something that today's kids will likely learn in civics class (if they even have a civics class), but it was an important event at the time. A few years into the Great Depression, the Roosevelt Administration did something radical with the monetary system, in order to financially prop up the government.

Specifically, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered all gold being held in private hands to be surrendered to Uncle Sam.

With Executive Order 6102, issued April 5, 1933, FDR made it mandatory for anyone holding "gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates" to have them "delivered to the government." FDR said his authority to issue the order stemmed from "Section 5 (b) of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended by Section 2 of the Act of March 9, 1933, entitled 'An Act to provide relief in the existing national emergency in banking, and for other purposes.'" Further, the Order prohibited "the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States by individuals, partnerships, associations and corporations...."

Gold was to be turned into Federal Reserve banks and key bank branches. And while there were exceptions, for the most part the order gave the federal government the authority to essentially confiscate most privately held gold.

Past is prologue with private gold ownership?

These days, a number of financial firms and investment advisors are telling clients and prospective clients that, because of the unpredictable nature of U.S. and global debt, they should invest in physical gold, as a means of diversifying portfolios. But at least one billionaire is warning that, when it comes right down to it, there is every possibility the governments (including the U.S. government) would repeat what FDR did in the 1930s.

In a recent interview with Future Money Trends (listen to it here), Carlo Civelli, a billionaire investment expert from Switzerland, said there likely is no way out for Western central banks that have printed trillions of dollars in fiat money over the past several years, in order to "spend" their way out of the Great Recession (the U.S. alone, as of this writing, is more than $18.1 trillion in debt -- and that's not counting the nearly $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities and entitlements).

Reports SHTFPlan.com:

Over his decades' long career Civelli has either managed or financed over 20 companies, many of which now have market capitalizations in the billions of dollars, so he knows a thing or two about investing during boom times, as well as busts.

In his interview, Civelli warns that the end game will not be pretty, that desperate governments will grasp at any financial straw to prevent collapse -- and that even gold may not be safe.

'Let's live the good times for as long as they go'

"If we all talk about the end game and a scenario of total collapse, I can see the governments telling everybody that your money is now worthless and the bonds you own are now worthless. You all have to take a haircut," he said.

"But would they let the people that own gold get away with it? I don't think so," he added.

Civelli also said that the "way out" of the current fiscal trap known as "quantitative easing" -- the endless money printing -- will be "very difficult" because "nobody's ever done it." Besides, he notes, "the verdict is still out whether the quantitative easing actually did something good or not."

One thing it has done for sure is that it has "prevented the world from collapsing right now."

His best forecast and advice?

"There is no way out, so let's live the good times for as long as they go," he said, adding that gold is much more valuable today than it was 20-30 years ago.

Sources:

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu

http://www.futuremoneytrends.com

http://www.usdebtclock.org

http://www.shtfplan.com