Griz Bear Comments Call Your Congressman: Support Free Competition in Currency Act

— I hope you will call your U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senators and tell them to support House of Representatives bill 4248, the “Free Competition in Currency Act: To repeal the legal tender laws, to prohibit taxation on certain coins and bullion, and to repeal superfluous sections related to coinage.”

Why would I urge readers to support this bill introduced in Congress just last week? Because it gives Americans the freedom to return to using currency of real value. As it is now, if I save some of my dollars earned for a possible retirement some day - or even to buy a high-priced camera or lens in a year or two - the value in purchasing power of those dollars I save continues to decline. Yes, I could put them in a savings account or invest them in the markets, but what guarantee do I have that the dollar I earn today will still have the same value in terms of purchasing power in a few years? Realistically, I can be pretty sure it will be worth less even if it does earn a little interest.

To illustrate my point, consider that what would have cost me about nickel 100 years ago, will cost me more than a dollar today - 20 times as much. I remember, as a child - and I’m nowhere near 100 - buying candy bars for a nickel which are now over a dollar. What’s happened? Has the actual cost of products increased that much? No, what’s happened is the dollar is worth less because it is no longer backed by silver or gold or anything of real value and the government keeps printing more and more of them.

Even using market prices, the silver in a real silver dollar - like those last minted about 1935 - is worth more than $17 today, to say nothing of collector values. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a true silver dollar, even of low collector quality, sell for much less than $20.

So what does this mean? If I want the dollar I earn today to still have the same purchasing power years down the road, I need to exchange it now for something of durable value so that my purchasing power is not lost to inflation - actually a devalued dollar. One good way to do that is to purchase coins made of gold or silver. The problem with that - other than not usually having the dollars to save for the futuredue to the deflated value of the dollars I earn - is finding real coins to purchase which are priced based on the value of the precious metals in them rather than on a collectible value.

For about 10 years, Liberty Dollar provided one option for buying gold and silver coins based in large part on the value of gold and silver. Though the currency’s founder, Bernard von NotHaus, was careful not to replicate any U.S. Coins and said his coins were for bartering use only and were not legal U.S. tender, the government raided his facilities, confiscated coins, precious metals and equipment and charged von NotHaus with counterfeiting. Apparently his inflation-proof currency was viewed as a threat to the deflated U.S. Dollar. Oddly enough, the law used against the production of the Liberty Dollar was originally drafted to prevent private mints from producing coins with less gold and silver than coins minted by the U.S. Government. Now the same law is protecting coinage and currency of deflated value from coins of real and honest value.

Another new option not yet shut down by the Federal Government is gold and silver coinage minted for the Free Lakota Bank, a new bank that claims all investments will be in genuine gold and silver coinage and not Federal Reserve Notes. It is a non-reserve, non-fractional bank, meaning that it is not a part of the Federal Reserve System and that all deposits are backed with real gold and silver which can be withdrawn in gold and silver coins at any time. Though the relationship is not certain, there is apparently some connection to the Republic of Lakotah, a self-proclaimed sovereign nation within U.S. Borders (in Nebraska, Montana, North and South Dakota and Wyoming according to lines drawn in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty of the U.S. Government with the Lakota Sioux). The bank will reportedly be under the protection of Sioux Warriors. I know nothing of the legitimacy of the bank or of the new republic - one year old tomorrow - but will likely do more research just because it is an interesting development for one who has spent a considerable portion of his life on the Great Plains and even lived for a time within the self-declared borders of the new nation, and with no knowledge of the old treaty even though I often passed through reservations. I guess I’m saying I wouldn’t necessarily invest all my retirement savings in this new banking establishment, but then again, the stock market hasn’t proven too safe for those who have put their hopes for retirement there.

Of course, there is the U.S. Mint. Silver and gold bullion coins can be purchased from the Mint for a small mark-up over current prices on the precious metals in the coins. Theproblem with gold and silver coins issued by the U.S. Mint is that they must first be converted back to Federal Reserve Notes before one would want to spend them. Who would want to spend a silver dollar worth close to $20 for a $1 candy bar?

The proposed bill would not only take away from the U.S. Government its monopoly on producing genuine gold and silver coins, creating competition, it would also open the door for using real money for purchases and allow businesses to accept the coins as payment for products and services by repealing the legal tender laws of the Federal Government. The Constitution (Article 1, Section 10) already prohibits states from establishing anything but gold and silver as legal tender. It’s time the Federal Government allows states and individuals to accept gold and silver coins as legitimate payment for goods and services instead of requiring us to accept the devalued dollars of the Federal Reserve System.

Another part of the proposed law would remove taxes on gold and silver coins. As things are now, states and municipalities collect sales taxes on the purchase of gold and silver coins because they are regarded as collectible goods rather than as legitimate tender. Then, as the Federal Reserve Dollar is devalued and gold and silver coins increase in value in relation to Federal Reserve Notes, they become subject to capital gains taxes. Thus, the Federal Reserve System, devalues its dollars and makes it possible for the Federal Government to steal part of yours if you’ve invested in gold and silver coins.

Finally, the bill would have a retroactive affect on criminal prosecution against those who face charges for seeking to reintroduce a Constitutional currency based on gold and silver.

Will this bill make it out of committee and to the floor in the current session? That’s certainly doubtful. But letting your congressmen and senators know of your support for the bill might at least let them know you would like to see such a bill make it to the floor and be passed in a future session.

It will likely take a lot of pressure on elected officials to get them to even consider a bill which would take away from the government its ability to tax and steal from its subjects. So, call them, write them and put on the pressure.

I’m still wishing that I had the option of being paid in real money instead of Federal Reserve Notes. Though my retirement savings wouldn’t last me a month - meaning I’ll be working as long as I am able to do so - I’d feel better if the dollars I have saved weren’t shrinking in value as government debt grows and the dollar is devalued. Wouldn’t you?

News, Pages 5 on 12/16/2009