Posted on 11/13/2012 3:53:15 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
State Rep. Jerry O’Neil, R-Columbia Falls, is spooked enough about the country’s fiscal picture to request that his legislative pay come in the form of gold and silver coins.
In a letter sent to Montana Legislative Services this week, O’Neil cites Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, which states in part that no state shall “make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts.”
He said that in his 10 years as a legislator, he considered it a “trivial matter” and he “did not want to be branded as a fanatic over an issue of no consequence.”
But now he says he is looking at the value of the dollar “in a new light.”
The country’s $16 trillion debt “is a warning sign we can only ignore at our peril,” he wrote. “It is very likely the bottom will fall out from under the U.S. dollar. Only so many dollars can be printed before they have no value.”
Contacted at his Columbia Falls-area home, O’Neil said that he did not contact Legislative Services prior to sending the letter to see if there may be any logistical barriers to providing his legislative pay in gold and silver.
He said he doesn’t know what to expect in the way of a response.
“They might just go to the coin shop and get me gold and silver coins, or they might say I have to do it myself,” he said. “I don’t know.”
O’Neil said he is largely trying to make a point and get “people to start thinking about what will happen if our money collapses. Also, I would like the state to think about the logistics of actually following the Constitution when it comes to gold and silver coin.”
The clause that he cites in the Constitution fell to irrelevance in all states, O’Neil believes, starting with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.
“One of the arguing points of passing that was to make money more elastic,” he said.
In his letter, O’Neil points out that he does not want to be paid at the face value of $50 American Eagle gold coins or $1 silver American Eagle coins. He stipulates that he should be paid at their market values, currently $1,801 for the gold coin and $35.28 for the silver coin.
“Let’s say I made $1,800 in a month. They could give one gold American Eagle” or multiple silver American Eagles, he said.
“Hopefully this will be an example for our Montana citizens and prompt them to also have some of their own wealth in money that has intrinsic value,” his letter concludes.
he would still be paid the same
It was only years later that I learned about the Weimar hyperinflation. I was appalled at the idea that someone could have worked hard, saved his money, only to find that his lifetime savings were no longer enough to buy a postage stamp.
Looks like we're well on the way there ourselves.
How about a nice Burl Ives recording?
It is sad that this Republican is so profoundly ignorant. After the establishment of the Federal Reserve, the confiscation of Gold by FDR, and the 40,000 laws that have been interpreted as nulifying the Bill of Rights, his chances of getting paid in gold (at face value,) is essentially ZERO.
The average d******t (47%) has an excuse; an elected politician does not.
He isn’t being paid with “state coined money”, so there is no violation of the constitution.
I didn't say he was; I was replying to a poster who said "if states want to issue their own money, it has to be gold or silver" -- the issuance of gold/silver is called coining, that is prohibited in the portion of the Constitution I cited.
At the rate we’re plunging into debt and inflation, a massive economic and societal collapse is just a short drive down the block. Prep for it...
He didn't want paid at face value, but at market value; see the penultimate sentence.
Here’s an idea.
Take your paper money and trade them in for gold coins.
See, that wasn’t so hard.
He doesn’t care about the coins, he cares about calling attention to the issue
That is precisely what I thought of as soon as I saw that headline and was going to find and post a link to that video on here. :-)
It always was
That looks like some of the money I was using in Argentina years ago. It was mind numbing.
This short explanation should be taught in every Economics class and be incorporated into every oath of office.
This video is good at explaining things, I think.
I like it. It’s a way to raise awareness of the problem. Too many legislators think we can run the printing presses forever.
We need to grow the political backbone to address this issue head on.
I like it. It’s a way to raise awareness of the problem. Too many legislators think we can run the printing presses forever.
We need to grow the political backbone to address this issue head on.
It don’t get no better than Burl Ives.
Used to continue to say"...and is redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury or any Federal Reserve Bank."
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