Chinese Bank introduces gold and silver coin ATMs

One of the objections we often hear to the Constitutional Tender Act is that it would force the States and their citizens to "buy silver and gold coins" and carry them around in their pockets all of the time. The only way to believe this, is if you believe that you have to "buy Federal Reserve Notes" and carry around hundreds or thousands of dollars in order to buy groceries, pay car payments, pay mortgages, etc.

Of course, you don't. You can use your debit card to pay almost anything nowadays. Bank computer programs automatically compute debits and credits; they can even automatically convert the cost of items from foreign currency to domestic currency, based on whatever the current market exchange rate is.

That's exactly what can be done by the banks under the Constitutional Tender Act's conversion formulas, as this story about getting gold and silver coins from ATMs in China proves. The unfortunate part of this story is that it falls into the modern trap of thinking that exchanging one form of currency -- fiat printed money -- for another form of currency -- gold and silver coins -- is the same as "buying gold or silver coins". If you go into a bank and exchange four $5 Federal Reserve Notes for a $20 Federal Reserve Note, did you just "buy an FRN"?

Of course not. If you exchange $25USD (U.S. Dollar) for $1SAE (Silver American Eagle), you aren't buying a once-ounce silver coin, you're exchanging American legal tender currency. And all you're doing at these Chinese ATMs is exchanging ¥268CNY (Chinese Yuan) for ¥10SP (Chinese Silver Panda) or other denominations -- you're not buying one-ounce silver coins, etc.

Regardless, this story once more shows how the ConTen Act could easily be implemented.

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People in Beijing can now buy gold or silver coins at ATMs after the Beijing-based Hua Xia Bank introduced five of the machines earlier this month, according to Hong Kong's We Wei Po.

The bank installed the five machines at its branches across the city in Xidan, Fangzhuang, Zhongguancun, Dongdan and on Qingnian Road.

The ATMs look like ordinary teller machines but have an additional compartment to dispense the gold and silver coins. The machines currently offer panda souvenir gold or silver coins and Year of the Snake silver coin and plate sets.

A single 1-oz panda silver coin priced at 268 yuan (US$40) is the cheapest item available, while the panda gold coin set is the most expensive at 23,800 yuan (US$3,800).

Buyers can purchase the coins using their bank cards. After they place their orders using the machine's touchscreen, their payments are verified through bank card organization China UnionPay and they can pick up their purchased items through the opening on the lower part of the machine.

If they want to purchase more than 20,000 yuan (US$3,200) worth of items, they will first need to place their ID cards on the machine's sensor to verify their identity before the order can be placed, Wen Wei Po said.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE...

Virginia coin moves closer to reality

Virginia Del. Robert G. Marshall fears that a financial apocalypse is coming and only one thing can save the Commonwealth: its own currency.

The idea that Virginia should consider issuing its own money was dismissed as just another quixotic quest by one of the most conservative members of the state legislature when Marshall introduced it three years ago. But it has since gained traction not only in Virginia, but also in states across the country as Americans have grown increasingly suspicious of the institutions entrusted with safeguarding the economy.

This week, the proposal by the Prince William Republican sailed through the House of Delegates with a two-to-one majority.

“This is a serious study about a serious topic,” Marshall said Tuesday. “We’re not completely powerless.”

So far, only Utah has approved a law recognizing nontraditional currency. Four other states have bills pending this year. Marshall said he is unsure of his proposal’s prospects in the Virginia Senate. One Democrat derided it as a descent into “la-la land.”

But the fact that the debate is happening at all reflects a deep-seated distrust in the very foundation of the country’s economic system — the dollar.

Much of the anger is directed at the Federal Reserve, which controls the nation’s supply of money. Since the financial crisis, the Fed has pumped trillions of dollars into the economy to help avert what Chairman Ben S. Bernanke believed could have been the next Great Depression. Critics worry the Fed won’t ever stop.

Marshall believes that the result could resemble the Weimar Republic of Germany after World War I: a worthless currency, skyrocketing inflation and a crumbling government.

And those are only the problems that the Fed might create. Who knows what other threats may be lurking in the shadowy world of cyberattacks, Marshall said. The Fed acknowledged Tuesday that its computer systems were recently compromised, although the problems did not affect critical operations and have since been fixed.

“This is a lifeboat study; what happens if?” Marshall said.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE...

You can voice your opinion about HJ 590 by contacting your Virginia Legislators. For their contact information, visit: http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform

Tell your Delegate that this bill is about more than politics - it's about VIRGINIA, and saving the money of the citizens of this State!

[VIDEO] Sound Money Program in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Buying gold may be something many of us know is a good idea; but how do you actually buy gold, and how do you spend it when you need it?

The state of Utah has a new program that's designed to make both of those things easier. This morning, Sound Money Director, Larry Hilton, and Tea Party leader, Darcy Van Orden, joined us live in studio to talk about the "Sound Money Program."



ORIGINAL VIDEO PAGE HERE...

"Thomas Jacob on the New Swiss Gold Franc"

The Daily Bell is has this exclusive interview with Thomas Jacob:

Daily Bell: Please tell us about your idea for a gold franc.

Thomas Jacob: Gladly. The idea is the result of my interest in free market economics and especially my conviction that a commodity money is the most effective way to curb government involvement in the economy. The idea is simply to re-introduce an additional gold-coin currency in Switzerland on the constitutional level.

Daily Bell: Is this similar to the idea of a silver libertad being pursued in Mexico?

Thomas Jacob: The similarity is that it is a legal parallel currency and a commodity money. The difference is that the Swiss gold franc will be a privately issued money. The government’s role is limited to defining the appearance and the gold content of the coins and to protecting honest business practices.

Daily Bell: Where are you with your program?

Thomas Jacob: Dr. Ulrich Schlüer from the biggest party of Switzerland, the SVP [Ed.: Swiss People’s Party aka Democratic Union of the Centre], introduced a parliamentary initiative on March 8 – incidentally, the same day the Utah parliament [legislature] passed their gold law.

At the same time a group of dedicated politicians and economists, including I, have founded the gold franc association to coordinate the activities to help realize the idea on a non-partisan basis.

Daily Bell: What are the next steps?

Thomas Jacob: The appropriate commission will discuss the proposal probably in the winter session. They will either accept and work on it or it goes directly to the parliamentary floor. Should they also unexpectedly have no interest, we will start a popular initiative. With 100,000 signatures the voters can vote on it directly, independent of whether the politicians like it or not.

Daily Bell: Are you hopeful?

Thomas Jacob: No, I am confident. The time is right; the issue simple. We are talking about freedom of choice in monetary matters, something that cannot be opposed in good faith. It is not primarily about attacking today’s monetary system, but giving people the freedom of choice. If today’s monetary system remains as good as today’s authorities claim it is, they shouldn’t worry – if it isn’t, we, the people, shouldn’t be forced to use it.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE...

"The Constitutional Tender Movement in Georgia"

by William Greene, Ph.D.
ConstitutionalTender.com

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In early 2009, I was teaching a course on American Government at Gainesville State College here in Georgia. As I was going over with my students the powers prohibited of the States in Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, we hit upon this one: “No State shall… make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts”.

A student in the back of the room raised his hand, and asked, “What does Georgia use for paying its debts – money owed to the State, and by the State?”

“Federal Reserve Notes,” I replied.

“Not gold or silver coins?” he asked.

“No, not gold or silver coins. And no, Federal Reserve Notes are not backed by gold or silver coins, either.”

He raised his hand again. “Which States DO use gold and silver coins for paying State debts?”

“None of them,” I answered. “They all use Federal Reserve Notes, which were declared to be ‘legal tender’ by the U.S. Congress.”

“When did we pass a Constitutional Amendment to change this requirement in Article I, Section 10?” He had a puzzled look on his face.

My answer seemed to puzzle him even more. “We didn’t.”

It was quiet in the classroom at that point. I waited. I didn’t have to wait for long.

“How have the States gotten away with that?”

I didn’t have an answer to that question. And it bothered me...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE...

"Gold Standard or Nixon Standard"

by Gary North, LewRockwell.com

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On Sunday, August 15, 1971, Richard Nixon unilaterally brought to an end the last trace of an experiment in international monetary affairs that stretched back over a century. He announced that the United States government would no longer abide by the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement to deliver gold at $35 per ounce to any government or central bank.

What he abolished was not a gold standard. It was a government promise standard. There was never a gold standard in the nineteenth century or early twentieth century. It was always a government promise standard. It was as reliable as government promises...

...A free market gold standard should be the result of two legal arrangements: (1) open entry into the money business, (2) the enforcement of contracts. Gold would become one common currency. So would silver, if history is a guide. The government would get out of the money business altogether. It would claim no unique authority over money. It would decide the monetary unit in which to collect taxes – nothing more. It would enforce contracts, meaning lawful voluntary exchanges in which no fraud is involved.

This would decentralize and privatize money creation. It would also privatize and decentralize the fraud of counterfeiting. It would pit bankers against bankers, who would participate in bank runs against suspected banks. It would decentralize the enforcement against fraud.

By removing monetary sovereignty from governments, this arrangement would permanently keep fraud from becoming centralized and a matter of law. It would keep the fox of government away from the chicken coop of money creation. It would make impossible any replay of the string of broken contracts, 1914 to 1971, which marked the government promises standard which masqueraded as a gold coin standard, then a gold exchange standard, then a Tricky Dick Nixon standard...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE...

"Monetary Reform: The Beginning of the Beginning"

by Charles Kadlec
The @DailyReckoning

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Fundamental reform of the world’s monetary system has begun. It is way too early and too amorphous to be front-page news. We are only at the beginning of the beginning of a popular effort to restore gold backed money to the center of economic activity.

Defining a dollar, or a British pound, as a fixed weight of gold was an innovation that further increased the usefulness of money. You could take currency and trade it for something you needed, or you could trade that money for a fixed weight of gold. As a general proposition, paying with paper money was no different than paying with gold, except paper money was more convenient to carry...

...Forty years ago, that order was up-ended by President Richard Nixon’s decision to sever the final link between the dollar and gold. For the first time since Sir Isaac Newton established the British gold standard in 1717, all of the world’s major currencies during a time of peace were free to float against one another and to fall in value against precious metals. The consequence has been a debasement of the dollar and all other currencies, an ever more cyclical economy, a 40-year hiatus in real wage increases for American workers and a growing fear of yet more financial crises created by monetary instability.

As a consequence, support is growing to repeal tax and other legal barriers that effectively prevent people from using precious metals as money.

In March, Utah repealed its capital gains tax on gold and silver coins it will recognize as legal tender. Twelve other states are considering similar legislation.

Then, in June, Senators Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced the Sound Money Promotion Act that would remove the 28% federal tax on gains realized in the use of gold or silver coins recognized as legal tender for use within a state.

Now, in Switzerland, efforts are underway to create an official Gold Swiss franc (GSF) with a set of coins, each with a fixed content of gold. The proposed constitutional change would permit private institutions to issue an unlimited number of coins whose appearance, content and weight of gold, and definition would be under the supervision of the Swiss government...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE...

VIDEO: Ben Bernanke and Ron Paul face off over whether or not gold is money

Well, let's join the ever-accelerating march towards hyperinflation:

Subcommittee Chair Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX): “Do you think gold is money?”

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: “No.”