“…Even though the property was originally stolen, that if the victim or his heirs cannot be found, and if the current possessor was not the actual criminal who stole the property, then title to that property belongs properly, justly, and ethically to its current possessor.” – Murray Rothbard
If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it. This should be the soothing mantra for all long term precious metals holders.
With all the options available these days, from traditional physical investing to the self directed IRA LLC, there is no excuse.
Traders and speculators are deal in derivatives. Perhaps all well and good for the moment, until it comes time to cash-in the insurance policy.
Brown’s Bottom
Most of you are aware that Ecuador recently gave up half its gold reserve to Goldman Sachs in exchange for liquidity. Think the country will ever see that gold again?
In a way, it reminds me of Gordon Brown’s gold sale of UK gold reserves over the period between 1999 and 2002. Turned out that gold prices were at their lowest in 20 years, following an extended bear market. Many regard this is as the bottom.
But the point is possession. And no doubt this lies at the heart of the issues surrounding the gold in Fort Knox.
‘Possession is nine-tenths of the law’ is an expression meaning that ownership is easier to maintain if one has possession of something – or difficult to enforce if one does not.
Although the principle is an oversimplification, it can be restated as: In a property dispute (whether real or personal), in the absence of clear and compelling testimony or documentation to the contrary, the person in actual custodial possession of the property is presumed to be the rightful owner. The rightful owner shall have their possession returned to them if taken or used.
The shirt or blouse you are currently wearing is presumed to be yours, unless someone can prove that it is not. The principle bears some similarity to uti possidetis (“As you possess, so may you continue to possess”), which currently refers to the doctrine that colonial administrative boundaries become international boundaries when a political subdivision or colony achieves independence.
Under Roman law, it was an interdict ordering the parties to maintain possession of property until it was determined who owned the property. This could go on forever in the case of fighting the elite banking establishment, or perhaps a foreign vault.
Think big banking corporations can’t figure out a way of implementing this in a crisis or as a preemptive strategy?
Corporate Individuals
Corporate personhood is the legal concept that a corporation may be recognized as an individual in the eyes of the law. This doctrine forms the basis for legal recognition that corporations, as groups of people, may hold and exercise certain rights under the common law and the U.S. Constitution.
The law views Corporations as entitled with many of the rights of individuals. This could serve to temper the power of possession. And perhaps facilitate the inevitable bail in.
For just as my IRA was a distant conspiracy theory only a few short years ago, Cypress was carefully observed by the world financial elite, and is now on the verge of being institutionalized.
Of course, as you know dear reader, there are many hidden benefits of direct ownership.
You own the responsibility. The weight is not insignificant. And nor should it be. It is part of why the metals do not earn dividends. The burden of direct ownership serves as a constant reminder of value in market where price is a deluded concept.
Indeed, possession is the best way to neutralize manipulated price action. The price may change drastically, but nothing changes in the vault.
Some will likely see the turn when possession becomes, not nine-tenths of the law, but rather the onus is on the possessor to substantiate his ownership. This is where the tax man comes in.
CTA (for Jeff)
By the way…if you cannot justify the penalties from cashing out traditional IRA, then at least wrap your accounts in a business entity in order to be “in the system”, but “off the radar”.