Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,
Weekends and holidays are the perfect time to catch people off guard…
Like a street thug committing a mugging, capital controls blindside most people – otherwise, they wouldn’t be effective.
The government declares a surprise bank holiday and shuts all the banks – mere hours after they denied they were even thinking about such actions.
They impose capital controls to stop citizens from taking their money out of the country.
Cash-sniffing dogs, which make drug-sniffing dogs look friendly, show up at airports and border crossings.
At this point, your savings are like a lobster in a trap. It’s not hard to see what comes next…
Once a desperate government has your money within its reach, it’ll find a way to take as much of it as possible.
Don’t be surprised if your local currency suffers a massive devaluation, bank deposits are suddenly worth a fraction of what they were just yesterday, or the government imposes an emergency tax.
Whatever the method or pretext, the outcome is always the same: a wealth transfer from you to the government.
This familiar story has played out in many countries in recent years. The pattern is clear and should surprise no one the next time it happens.
It’s all but certain governments in financial trouble will turn to capital controls as a desperate, misguided solution–with devastating consequences for ordinary people.
Argentina, Lebanon, Venezuela, Iceland, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, China, India, South Korea, and governments in countless other countries have recently imposed capital.
The lesson from these examples is capital controls can happen anywhere and anytime.
Although it seems unthinkable to most, there is an excellent chance capital controls are coming to the US–they’ve happened before and could happen again soon.
Remember, in 1933, through Executive Order 6102, President Roosevelt forced Americans to exchange their gold for US dollars under penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine (or more than $242,000 in today’s debased confetti).
Of course, the official government gold exchange rate was unfavorable. It amounted to around a 41% confiscation of purchasing power.
The US government continued prohibiting private ownership of gold bullion for 41 years until they reluctantly allowed the plebs to own it again in 1974.
So, there is a clear historical precedent for implementing capital controls in the US, especially during a crisis.
Today, it’s self-evident the fiat currency system centered on the US dollar is self-destructing at an alarming rate.
After more than 52 years, it’s long past the end of its shelf-life, like a carton of spoiled milk.
Even the global elites running the system can see that and openly talk about what they want to come next.
That’s why there’s all this talk about a Great Reset… and without a doubt, capital controls will be part of it.
All it would take is a crisis–real or contrived–or some other pretext and the stroke of the president’s pen on a new executive order.
Expect it to happen.
Why and How Governments Impose Capital Controls
Capital controls are government restrictions on how people can use their money–something that should be abhorrent to anyone who believes in property rights and a free society.
Here’s how capital controls work…
Governments might allow people to buy foreign currency (or gold) only at an “official” rate that they set, which is always less favorable than the free-market rate. The difference between the fake official rate and the real free-market rate amounts to a wealth transfer to the government.
Another form of capital controls is steep taxes on international money transfers or purchasing foreign assets.
Governments could also flat-out prohibit ownership of foreign assets or moving any form of wealth outside the country.
No matter what flavor they come in, capital controls always help a government trap money within its borders so it’s easier for them to take.
A propaganda campaign is also necessary to gaslight people into believing such actions are required to protect the average person.
Expect politicians to make disingenuous claims to make them appear as saviors instead of aggressors.
The mainstream media will amplify this false narrative and demonize those opposed to capital controls as disloyal citizens or worse.
What Happens After Capital Controls
Capital controls are always a prelude to something worse.
That’s because once governments trap money inside a country, it’s probably only a matter of hours before there is wealth confiscation. Anything they don’t steal immediately, they box in for future thefts.
That’s why you must act before they impose capital controls.
How much time do you have?
While it’s impossible to know, acting well in advance is advisable. It’s better to be a year early than even a minute late.
However, there is one common feature I’ve noticed when countries impose capital controls that indicates the situation is imminent. It’s like someone waving a big fat red flag.
That warning sign is a government official denying that they are considering imposing capital controls.
Whenever you hear a central banker or politician say something won’t happen, you can almost be sure it will happen. And probably soon.
Coming from a bureaucrat, the real meaning of “no, of course not” is “it could happen tomorrow.”
It’s like the old saying: “Believe nothing until it has been officially denied.”
These deceptions have a purpose: Politicians and central bankers must surprise the public to get the desired results.
When you hear the official denial, you probably have only a matter of hours before they impose capital controls. Urgent action is required.
Four Ways To Beat Capital Controls
The solution is simple.
Place some of your savings outside your home country so it’s not trapped when the government imposes capital controls. It will be waiting for you safely on the other side.
Below are four ways you can do that.
First, obtain a foreign bank account. Capital controls imposed in your home country are unlikely to affect a bank account in another country.
Second, real estate in a foreign country is an excellent way to store significant capital abroad. Your home government won’t be able to seize it without a literal act of war.
Third, another solution is physical gold bullion coins held in a non-bank vault in a friendly foreign jurisdiction.
Last, there is Bitcoin, which is like kryptonite to capital controls.
Bitcoin is the most portable asset in the world. It’s a digital bearer asset that can achieve final international settlement in 10 minutes for pennies.
Anyone with a smartphone can use Bitcoin to send and receive value anywhere in the world–capital controls be damned.
Going through airports and crossing borders with Bitcoin is much more practical than other forms of wealth.
If you hold Bitcoin on your phone, laptop, or flash drive, it can be accessible to border agents if they search you and you reveal your password. However, those things are much less conspicuous than gold or stacks of cash.
Further, many popular Bitcoin wallets use a 12-word phrase to recover your funds. If you memorize the 12-word phrase, you can potentially store billions of dollars worth of value just in your head with nothing else.
That’s why Bitcoin skyrockets in popularity in countries with capital controls.
Conclusion
The current dollar-based monetary system is on its way out. Even the central bankers running the system can see that.
They are preparing for what comes next as they attempt to “reset” the system. It’s a virtual certainty they will impose capital controls.
I suspect it could all go down soon… and it won’t be pretty for most people.
We are likely on the cusp of a historic financial earthquake…
One that could alter the direction of the US forever and mark the biggest economic event of our lifetimes.
Yet few people are aware of what is happening.
And even fewer know how to prepare.
That’s exactly why I just released an urgent new report with all the details, including what you must do to prepare. It’s called, The Most Dangerous Economic Crisis in 100 Years… the Top 3 Strategies You Need Right Now. Click here to download the PDF now.
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