Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site cepu.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!houxz!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!bmcg!cepu!scw From: scw@cepu.UUCP Newsgroups: net.legal Subject: Re: Legal Tender and the U.S. Government Message-ID: <312@cepu.UUCP> Date: Thu, 12-Jul-84 11:38:47 EDT Article-I.D.: cepu.312 Posted: Thu Jul 12 11:38:47 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 18-Jul-84 02:17:12 EDT References: <256@ihopa.UUCP> <16@ssc-vax.UUCP> Reply-To: scw@cepu.UUCP (Stephen C. Woods) Organization: VA Wadsworth Med. Center; LA CA Lines: 62 In article <16@ssc-vax.UUCP> eder@ssc-vax.UUCP writes: >[9 July 1984] > [section of the constitution and a reasonable analysis of same] > > Now, the question is, how must FRN's be treated? They are required >to be accepted for 'all debts, public and private', and for payment >of taxes at[...] due to inflation). Thus, a FRN is only worth 10-20 >cents. You can also assume that gold/sliver has inflated in value (more people than oz. gold/sliver, and the ratio gets wors as time goes on). > If you can get your employer to pay you in silver dollars, or arrange >to have a bank deliver such to you for your paycheck, you could claim >your income for federal[...]ust the sale price downward accordingly. >The seller could avoid showing a gain on the sale, and you might get >property taxes reduced on the basis of the sale price. An interesting idea, but not very practical (see end of article). > > The reason governments like paper money is they can make as much >of it as they like. Every paper currency or debased coinage in history >(over 2000 years) has inflated to zero value, which is what they are >actually worth. Actuall this is a reasonable statment, but for a different reason. > Governments can't make gold and silver, thus are forced >to be more responsible about spending. The U.S. silver dollar stayed >at the same value from 1793 to 1964. I'm sorry but this is just not so, there have been several periods of inflation in the interum, in particular during the Civil War (The War of Southern Independence, for those from south of the Mason-Dixon line) brought on by paper currency printed to pay for the war, however the Au$ and the greenback still remained tied together, and greenbacks were all convertable to silver at a 1 to 1 ratio after the war. > Compare that to the 66% that the >dollar has lost since 1967. Gold and silver emerged among commodities >as the preferred form of money because of high value/unit weight, >scarcity, stability (gold mined 2000 years ago is still around, I have >100 year old silver dollars that look brand new. compare to average life >of $1 paper money, which lasts 18 months.) The typical life expectancy of a circulating coin is 10 years. And there is a new type of paper money made from that plastic/paper (the stuff that looks like paper but feels sort of greasy, and you can't tear it at all) that should last even longer that coins (as an aside somewhere in Europe (Ile of Man??) they have been expermenting with it, when they tested the folding/unfolding cycle (paper lasts about 10K cycles) the gave up after 500K cycles). > , and most importantly, >general acceptance. > > When all else fails, people will still accept gold and silver. They >were used by Vietnam boat people, for example, to buy escape. The >government would have you believe that gold is a 'barbarous relic'. >If that is so, then ask yourself why the US still owns 200 million ounces >of the stuff. Interesting, almost $300 per person, sure lets go back to the Gold standard and not have any money in circulation at all (remember a large chunk of that will be horded). -- Stephen C. Woods (VA Wadsworth Med Ctr./UCLA Dept. of Neurology) uucp: { {ihnp4, uiucdcs}!bradley, hao, trwrb, sdcsvax!bmcg}!cepu!scw ARPA: cepu!scw@ucla-cs CORRECTED location: N 34 3' 9.1" W 118 27' 4.3"