On Mises Weekend, interview with Claudio Grass on the upcoming (November) Swiss referendum on whether or not to repatriate gold, and relink the Swiss Franc to gold (raise it to 20% gold backing)
Summary of some of the main points:
-
up till late 90s, Swiss had to have 40% of currency in gold (gold back currency)
-
was "modernized" in 2000; dropped gold link
-
the centralized govt in Bern has tried to take power away from cantons (like our States)
-
very de-centralized system is part of the Swiss cultural DNA (hey, can't we recapture this?)
-
they also sold 60% of their gold reserves back in 2000 (!)
-
now with Germany asking for gold back, (and being bascially nixed by the Federal Reserve Swindle Syndicate) more and more Swiss are maybe starting to wake up
-
"our bureaucrats have been buddying up to Brussels"
-
"we currently have a peg to Euro (soft peg) exchange rate of 1.20" (which means Swiss suffer from the importation of Euro inflation)
-
Deist: is it likely to pass? "Good question.... people are starting to question things.."
-
"A lot of Swiss people realize they are losing liberty inch by inch..."
-
"Distrust is growing about politicians in Switzerland."
-
Deist: Aftershocks if passed? "If we vote yes", it would have a huge impact."
-
the Swiss Central Bank owns 1,040 tonnes of gold now, 70% stored in Switzerland, 30% in Canada and UK
-
1,600 tons sold, back in 2000
-
so no gold reserves left in the US
-
Switzerland currently holds 7% in gold reserves, referendum says hold 20%
-
if we pass, and start buying gold, it would have a huge impact
-
If it does not pass, we have brought up the right questions
-
the swiss recently down-voted national health care, and a national minimum wage, so it should not be under-estimated how the Swiss are going to vote on this gold question in November
A great rundown by Jeff Deist (President of the von Mises Institute, Alabama) and Claudio Grass (Managing Director of Global Gold):
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/10/will-swiss-take-back-their-gold.html