Restore full faith and value of money
By Michael Abraham
Grabbing my wallet the other day to pay a friend a debt, I discovered I still had a $20 New Zealand bill from our recent vacation there. It is an elegant piece of currency. It is full color, printed on transparent plastic “paper” and is washable and virtually indestructible. There are a number of anti-counterfeiting security features, including an oval “window” with the denomination burned onto it and a watermark of the queen.
My friend didn’t want it; it is useless to him.
 Abraham is a businessman and writer. He lives in Blacksburg.
February 11, 2013 - 6:17 AM
In all seriousness Al,...
“It’s a plan worthy of real consideration.” No it isn’t, it isn’t even a plan worthy of the space it occupied in the newspaper.
1 – why not?
If there is an electric field pulse that wipes out all our computers and electrical power generation equipment, it’s be good to know that we can still head over to Costco with a sack full of gold-backed Commonwealth of Virginia Shekels and buy Central American vegetables and Korean TVs.
If you’re really afraid of the thunderbolt from Zeus, what you need is bottled water, an off-grid means of boiling water, and a month’s supply of canned and dry food. You can live a long time on beans, rice, powdered milk, dried fruit, and Flintstones vitamins.
3 – so you don’t know either, huh?
Maybe we would know had the essay explained it. Or maybe I just lost interest after the first paragraph of nonsense.
If you are truly interested in sound money, NW, and its history, I can provide some links. Let me know; if you are not, please don’t waste time posting on links that lose you after the first paragraph.
(and for the record, I do not support Abraham’s plan, but on practical grounds, not philosophical)
Yes please do provide me a link for information on a state that has set up its own gold-standard currency in modern times. I’d like to read that history.
Well, first, that wasn’t what I offered (you’ve attempted to set up a strawman, but that’s okay), and a gold standard is not what Abraham proposed. In fact, he didn’t propose a currency that was backed by anything of intrinsic value at all (he made mention of metallic-based currency, but was not specific) which is the reason I oppose the measure on practical grounds.
With regards to what I promised, remember the US was on a pure gold standard until 1913 (look at the growth in the 1800s and early 1900s), and a modified gold standard until 1971 (look at the inflation before and since 1971).
Anyway, for a good primer on sound money, here is a book (pdf) by Joseph Salerno, who teaches at Pace University.
http://mises.org/books/sound_money_salerno.pdf
Hope you enjoy it.
You also might want to explore the Ludwig von Mises Institute at http://www.mises.org for more resources.
Finally, as a gift to you, in spite of your attempt at setting up a strawman, Utah has already passed legislation that declared gold and silver(in 2011) to be legal tender, and others are considering it:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/03/pf/states_currencies/index.htm
“…lawmakers from 13 states, including Minnesota, Tennessee, Iowa, South Carolina and Georgia, are seeking approval from their state governments to either issue their own alternative currency or explore it as an option.
…
The state gold rush: Utah became the first state to introduce its own alternative currency when Governor Gary Herbert signed a bill into law last March that recognized gold and silver coins issued by the U.S. Mint as an acceptable form of payment. Under the law, the coins — which include American Gold and Silver Eagles — are treated the same as U.S. dollars for tax purposes, eliminating capital gains taxes.
Since the face value of some U.S.-minted gold and silver coins — like the one-ounce, $50 American Gold Eagle coin — is so much less than the metal value (one ounce of gold is now worth more than $1,700), the new law allows the coins to be exchanged at their market value, based on weight and fineness.”