jtomm: Very profound statement on the nature of Bitcoin. Back to gold. What worries me is nearly all purchases of gold and other precious metals can be easily traced by the Government. They can examine the records of metals merchants and credit-card companies, for example. And if it is illegal to own gold, as U said, U are a criminal for owning it.
I guarantee you, though, that most people didn't turn in their gold after FDR banned personal ownership of it. If anything, they buried it in their back yard or concealed it otherwise.
Due to the internet and electronic records, that would no longer work.
Caution: I am wading into politics.
If we had a Federal Government run by people like the mayor of New York, and that is NOT impossible, U could forget private ownership of gold.
In fact, the middle class would have to flee the country, as the middle class Venezuelans did when Maduro came to power.
Marxists do not have a middle class. This is an extreme example, but ANYTHING is possible.
If there are enough layoffs due to AI or a poor economy, or both, there is NO doubt in my mind that we could have a Marxist Government, especially if scores of millions of millennials and Gen Zer's are unemployed.
I have made an argument for owning Bitcoin. People who own Bitcoin could flee to another country and use their Bitcoin to obtain necessities (and luxuries).
The above is not an attack on any political party or beliefs. Just brainstorming a worst-case economic scenario.
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