In recent years, the Indian government has tried one ploy after another to gain control of the temples’ gold. The most recent ploy was a programme whereby the temples could deposit the parishioners’ gifts to Lakshmi in banks. The gold would then be melted down and the temples would be given cash in an amount that would exceed the value of the gold.
But, returning to India, those running the temples tend to be distrustful of governments. Most are also distrustful of bank storage, although some do store gold in banks. The majority of the gold that they hold, however, remains in the temples.
Elsewhere in the world, governments of most western countries have succeeded in convincing roughly half of their populations that wealth is evil and shameful. It’s okay for a rapper to wear several pounds of gold jewellery, but it’s immoral for the average person to have a few eagles or maple leafs stored for a rainy day.
That means that the average man’s wealth is at greater risk. Governments tend to be parasitic creatures with no moral compass whatever. They’ll do whatever they can to diminish the power of the individual and to separate him from his wealth. The system of taxation is essentially a shakedown operation.
The only limiting factor in any government taking everything you have is that political leaders do worry about their image. They want to appear to serve the electorate so that they can be re-elected. So, they have to tread lightly. They can even force their citizens to pay tax on income derived from another country by implying that if tax is not paid, the income must have been gained through money-laundering.
They can take your possessions through civil asset forfeiture if they can imply that you are suspected of having committed a crime. And they can take away your “inalienable” rights if they can suggest that you might be suspected of terrorism connections.
Likewise, they can take away your gold. All they need do is convince the majority of people in your country that your ownership of it is somehow evil. To date, no country has fully succeeded in doing this.
But, recently in the West, this idea has been growing some legs. The socialist ideal has been blossoming in the EU, US, Canada and elsewhere in the former Free World and, along with it, the irrational concept that “earned wealth is evil” has been taking root.
Pop stars and sports figures can have monetary reward heaped upon them without being in any danger of social persecution. And politicians can have expenses that run into the millions annually, plus a host of benefits that are unknown in the private sector.
Yet, the owner of a business, however small, is looked upon as someone who has somehow looted the populace if he sells a good or service for the purpose of profit.
And that astute observation is from an academic (not a businessman) who grew up in Harlem.
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