Posted on 03/22/2011 10:33:23 AM PDT by RWB Patriot
This weekend, a North Carolina man was convicted of minting and circulating “Liberty Dollars” and “Ron Paul Dollars” that were valued based on the gold and silver they contained. The man, Bernard von NotHaus, now faces up to 25 years in prison and the forfeiture of $7 million worth of gold and silver that was taken by police in a raid.
The U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case explains:
“It is a violation of federal law … to create private coin or currency systems to compete with the official coinage and currency of the United States.”
But what’s wrong with competition? As long as there’s no fraud or counterfeiting – which NotHaus has not been convicted of – I would think that individuals should be allowed to use whatever currency they want.
(Excerpt) Read more at stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com ...
I guess the FEDS just don’t like someone who shows the public how valueless their dollar has become.
Putting ‘USA’ and ‘Dollar’ was not a very smart thing to do ...
How are his coins different from Barter? Barter is legal and one would be bartering his coins for goods and services.
Putting ‘USA’ and ‘Dollar’ on the coins was not a very smart thing to do ...
Our G.I. obamabucks can not take competition with actual cash value currency.
Ohhhh, did he print ‘USA’ and ‘Dollar’ on them? I didn’t see that in the article.
If the guy had printed gold coins with Snoopy or Bugs Bunny on them, he wouldn't be going to jail. Heck, he could even have called them "currency" or "legal tender". Casinos do it all the time, with no ill-effect. Instead, he printed coins with the "$" sign, and phrase that almost mirrors "In God We Trust" and several other points of similarity. That was his problem.
No matter how dumb or stupid a guy is he can be assured of finding lots of support here.
Every crook in the world would be happy to pass his own “currency”. What next, some one passing shinplasters will find support among the deluded?
Who verifies the gold or silver content of a coin?
Gullibility is not limited to the Left it appears.
Yea!It was dumb,But only the Feds can legally counterfeit our money.
Stoessel should review a little US history particularly the era of “Wildcat” banking after Jackson destroyed the Second Bank of the United States.
I know that someone 100 yrs ago in San Francisco “minted” their own money and people accepted it. I can’t think of the name, though
The way they seized the stuff makes it pretty clear that the gold and silver was genuine. My question is what happens to it afterwards? I will say I was on his mailing list for awhile out of curosity but if I had purchased any of his gold and silver coins I would have probably taken them to a jeweler to get them tested.
In economic terms they are totally different. Barter requires a double coincidence of wants. If I'm a chicken owning pickle wanter I need to find a pickle owning chicken wanter in order to make a trade. Because they are valued commonly, coins can serve as a medium of exchange thus solving the double coincidence problem. It's the whole point behind money and arguable anything that can serve as a medium of exchange can, at least in theory, be accused of competing with government money.
Handing over your country to a private banking cartel in 1910 was not a smart thing to do either. The Framers warned us.
You didn't see it because it's not in there. I would expect better work from Stoessel, I guy I ordinarily really like. This particular story is an example of shoddy reporting, at best. At worst, he's being intentionally deceitful.
Who verifies the value of government money?
The Constitution gives Congress the sole power to coin money and regulate its value. This guy was clearly working outside of constitutional bounds. I just don’t think terrorism was the right charge.
Abandoning the dollar does not make any sense. Nor is it that simple.
There are over 200 years of economic development, infrastructure, language and technology that fits into this equation.
Globally, the language of business is English and dollas US. The greatest innovators and inventors are still in the US.
They are not in the mideast as the marso muslim hussein wants us to believe. He is over the top on his muslim outreach and support of the caliphate.
The wildcat banking problem took care of itself. Or rather, the market took care of it. Review the history of Suffolk Bank, which served as a private bank note clearing house and effectively cleaned up the New England banking industry.
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