[Starwind]

You keep referring back to post #8 like it has merit. It's parnoia bunk.

I refer to it only as a possibiliity that a two currency system may have been considered before, and hence what is being discussed is not novel. That post also introduces the point about different exchange rates, assuming such dual currency came to pass.

In no way does the Treasury devalue money based on the year it was printed

I don't believe anyone claimed that. However the article 'claims' two sets of currency will circulate, domestic and international and they won't be exchangeable except perhaps at customs and banks and with paperwork to foil money laundering (ostensibly).

If that is true (the point being questioned in this thread) the two currencies would circulate in different economies (domestic and international) and could conceivably be assigned different values by their respective markets. That mechansim - two different markets, not different years, - could devalue the domestic currency.

And that brings up the fact of the serial number. They aren't there only to stop counterfeiting, those numbers are used to track how much cash, or M-1 money, is in circulation.

Two currencies with two sets of serial numbers would not impair the ability to monitor M1, etc.

The author is only basing his claims on the fact we are now putting color into the currency. As I just pointed out, they change the currency all the time.

The author based the dual currency point on a comments from a different individual (Terry Savage) from Lawrence Patterson, not merely a color re-design. Whether that point is valid or not and its consequences (different market values, reporting requirements to exchange at borders, etc) is what I wanted to discuss on this thread.

[sarcasm]

I recall reading that the United States used a two-tiered currency system during the occupation of Germany after World War II. I believe that the occupation dollars had a different colored seal than the currency used domestically and could not be used here.

[Soren]

I think this article is bogus, and it's not the first time I've seen a bogus article by Droke. He had one touting gold miner Silverado right before it went down the toilet.

In a sense, the US had a dual currency system from 1944 to 1971. Internationally, the dollar was convertible to gold at $35/oz, but not domestically (since it was illegal to own gold other than numismatics and jewelry from 1933-1974).

Patterson states, "I want every one...to think carefully about this...because we are coming very, very close to the end of the freely convertible domestic dollar. They cut in value could be as much as 50%...

What does this mean, really? Cut against what? You can't devalue with a pen stroke like FDR did in 1934 when the dollar was convertible.

End of the freely convertible dollar? In today's global economy, it's inconceivable. How would transnational corporations function? How would people travel? How would people with foreign real estate pay their bills?

[Polybius]

If that is true (the point being questioned in this thread) the two currencies would circulate in different economies (domestic and international) and could conceivably be assigned different values by their respective markets. That mechansim - two different markets, not different years, - could devalue the domestic currency.

Actually, if there were any devaluation, it would devaluate the old currency that is now circulating overseas as that currency would be riskier to hold.

Consider the case of the "Hawaii Dollar":

This U.S. currency, with "Hawaii" printed on it, was issued during World War II for circulation in Hawaii. If the Japanese had ever captured the Hawaiian Islands, the U.S. Government could have immediately declared all "Hawaii dollars" to be worthless.

The old U.S. currency circulating overseas has now become the 2003 version of "Hawaii Dollars".

By demonitizing the old currency after a period when it can be exchanged only at banks, the U.S. Government can, at any time of it's choosing, convert the narco-traffiker's and terrorist's cash reserves of billions of U.S. dollars into souveniers that would be bought and sold in the "Obsolete Currency" category on eBay.