Posted on 04/21/2012 9:11:46 AM PDT by Lorianne
The Utah Legislature on Thursday passed a bill allowing gold and silver coins to be used as legal tender in the state — and for the value of their precious metal, not just the face value of the coins. State backers said they hope the move will help insulate Utah from a potential monetary slide as countries question the value of the dollar. Others, casting their eye nationwide, said it could spur a broader move by Congress or states to readopt a gold standard.
"Utah, if the governor signs this particularly, they’re going to change the national debate on monetary policy and get us back to basics,” said Jeffrey Bell, policy director for Washington-based American Principles in Action. Mr. Bell has been in Utah to help shepherd the legislation through. Utah’s bill allows stores to accept gold and silver coins as legal tender.
It also exempts gold and silver transactions from the state’s capital gains tax, though that does not shield exchanges from federal taxes.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Hmmmm...you would think a store owner could accept any form of payment he/she damn well pleases to accept. I like the notion, but why is the law even necessary?
http://www.galmarley.com/framesets/fs_commodity_essentials_faqs.htm
Gold : prices, facts, figures & research
Commodity Numbers FAQs
How much gold is there?
In the world there are currently somewhere between 120,000 and 140,000 tonnes of gold ‘above ground’. To visualise this imagine a single solid gold cube with edges of about 19 metres (about three metres short of the length of a tennis court). That’s all that has ever been produced.
Divided amongst the population of the world there are about 23 grams per person, about 1.2 cubic centimetres each. This equates to about $250 - $350 worth per person on Earth, depending on the current price.
Thanks Lorianne.
###
Yes.
I would be happy to provide comprehensive primary eye care for a full year to a patient for a single Krugerrand.
Going Galt?
I meant VOLUNTARILY accept of course. Obviously it wouldn’t work for all transactions, however I also note that gold coins come in smaller quantities like 1/10 ounce, and of course change could be given in normal legal tender.
We passed similar legislation in GA a couple of years ago. All tax bills etc can be paid with gold and silver coins in the state of GA.
No I’m agreeing with you. The payment level I mentioned is, for many patients, NOT an underpayment, so I was not ridiculing your position.
Further, I’d be happy to take precious metals for payment and would be certainly be willing to give rapidly devaluing Kenyan Currency in change.
Thanks, after I posted I thought maybe I read you wrong. Kenyan currency indeed. :)
Ha, it’s not necessary for citizens. Go in the other direction — it’s to keep the Feds from shutting down businesses and arresting people for “counterfeiting”.
Where do I sign up?
Speaking of counterfeiting, coin dealers/collectors have been finding lots of counterfeit gold and silver coins in the last couple of years. Thanks to China, of course.
I know you’re a ‘gold-bug’ (like me) and know this already, but many regular folks don’t.
Imagine trying to buy something at Wal-Mart with a silver/gold coin? The cashier would have to call the manager over with his scale, micrometer and date-book to measure and weigh the coins. Plus, old worn out coins do not contain the full amount of the precious metal they started out with. Total confusion would ensue.
With that said, I love the idea of what Utah is proposing and hope it spreads throughout the nation.
Where you been? Haven’t seen you here in a while.
I got real busy with work starting last March or April or so and hardly posted at all almost through the end of the year. I think blam or jet_jaguar is doing the Goldbug Ping List most of the time these days.
But this year is way slower than last year and I have time (maybe too much time) to virtually lounge about here in various FR threads.
"This bar was purchased by staff of a scrap dealer in xxxxx, UK yesterday. The bar appeared to be perfect other than the fact that it was 2gms underweight. It was checked by hand-held xrf and showed 99.98% Au. Being Tungsten, it would not be ferro-magnetic. The bar was supplied with the original certificate.
"The owner of the business that purchased the bar only became suspicious when he realized the weight discrepancy and had the bar cropped. He estimates between 30-40% of the weight of the bar to be Tungsten."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/tungsten-filled-1-kilo-gold-bar-found-uk
23g of gold is worth a lot more than that nowadays. It’s roughly 3/4 ounce (1 troy ounce = 31.1035g).
I think silver would be a much more practical medium- less prone to wear and larger low-value coins can be minted. Prior to 1969 all Canadian dimes and quarters were silver, at the same size as today’s coins, and the value of the metal was within shouting distance of the face value.
Utah should offer their own gold/silver certificates as legal tender.
Or they could team up with like-minded states to produce multi-state certificates.
Big difference between what governments can demand in payment of official debts and what people can accept in payments between themselves.
In other words, the US has been off the gold standard since Nixon and citizens couldn’t legally pay off a government debt if they wanted to because government can only demand payment in gold or silver. (Confiscating property, is not demanding gold or silver in payment)
If citizens want to barter between themselves, in any fashion, they certainly don’t need a law for that as they determined value and acceptance.
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