Only terrorists resist fiat money

George Rebane

Some naifs will see the title here as a bit of hyperbole.  Don’t believe it for a moment, and for verification just ask Mr Bernard von Nothaus, American citizen.  He had the temerity to mint silver coins of his own design (pictured here) and sell them to willing buyers.  The buyers subsequently started reselling them on eBay.  This was done in the open, with not a hint of conspiracy.  These silver coins could be bought along with all kinds of silver, gold, and platinum coins that are on the open market at precious metals dealers.

Enter the Secret Service.  For the stated reason that Mr Nothaus was practicing “domestic terrorism”, he was arrested and convicted in federal court, and now awaits sentencing.  The Secret Service banned sale of these coins (more here).  The New York Times recently published a fairly balanced account of Mr Nothaus’ saga with the feds.

What the feds are really terrified of is losing control of the money supply for only one purpose, their ability to tax assets through inflation (see here for how that occurs) since there is no hope of paying our federal debt and unfunded obligations.  They can only be disposed of through milking the middle class and retirees out of their savings, and then paying off the government's obligations in nominally denominated and totally devalued faith-based money.  Anyone making available real money in quantities that can handle commerce is an enemy of the state that has firm plans to bilk its citizens.

It is not farfetched to see a day in the not too distant future when the federal government will reprieve its Depression era diktat and announce that we have only, say, 72 hours to turn in all of our precious metals (including numismatics).  Thereafter, people found in possession of precious metal bullion or coinage will be guilty of a felony, and those attempting to use the same for commercial purposes will be accused of domestic terrorism and suffer draconian punishment (more here).  Again, only naifs will think this to be hyperbole for the simple reason that they don’t know our ruling elites have no other alternative to retain control.

Mr Nothaus is only the first canary in the mine.  Now be a good citizen and go back to sleep.

Comments

[Brad Croul]

Yes, counterfeiting is illegal. Why shouldn't he have been arrested? If he had left off the "$20" and "Twenty Dollars" he would have had a silver "Liberty" medallion.
Nothaus made a foolish decision and is paying the price.

[George Rebane]

BradC 829am - Yes, of course, that would have been in his favor. But there were several other marks and omissions on the coins which would have prevented their being mistaken for legal US coinage. Besides, counterfitting is traditionally considered to be the substitution of a cheap imitation currency or coin that is intended to fool the bearer into thinking he has the real thing. Nothaus did not attempt to fool the bearer, and he also delivered real value in his coins, which is something that our faith-based money ceased doing long ago.

Self-serving legal technicalities aside, I'm afraid the US government is perpetrator of mega-fraud when it comes to issuing something it claims to also be a 'store of value'.

[themikeymcd]

He should have put an avatar of a wheelbarrow on the coins

[Steve Frisch]

I have an idea, lets all coin our own money! We can trust that it will worth something when we want to use it. Where could I use those Rebane bucks?

[George Rebane]

SteveF 859am - Historically, before the Federal Reserve, the country had all kinds of 'bank notes' issued by reputable banks in which bullion was kept that backed the money, and which could be demanded by the banknote bearer at any time.

For reasons which apparently have escaped you, the central government assumed the exclusive power to print and coin money (an unconstitutional imperative). If Rebane could coin money without the feds descending on him, then you could use 'Rebane bucks' to handle all your transactions, because that currency would be backed by bullion. Next question.

[Steve Frisch]

I know the history of banking an currency in the US George...I read a lot. Real historians too! The only problem is we don't live in the 19th century....we live in the 21st century. And that system of bank issues currency before 1863 did not work all that well. It created an unstable system with numerous currency failures. It was a system designed for a pre-industrial economy.

[Steve Frisch]

By the way George common currency comes from the National Banking Act of 1863, not the Federal Reserve Act.

[Todd Juvinall]

George, how could you? The Frisch knows everything about everything, he is a human Wiki! What a hoot!

[Brad Croul]

Do we know how much silver is in the coins? Is there $20 worth? If not, what is he basing the value of the coin on?

[Ryan Mount]

I think the issue here is the fact that he was labeled a domestic terrorist. It's probably not a good idea to mint your own money. That's where he crossed the line.

But if you really want to take out your enemies these days, be sure to call them a terrorist.

[George Rebane]

Re SteveF's 921am - actually our common currency came pursuant to the federal mandates and taxing provisions on state bank issued notes that were imposed after the Legal Tender Act of 1862 (mandating the acceptance of paper money in lieu of gold/silver during war time) and then the National Banking Act of 1863. But even after that, state chartered banks could still issue their own notes, which gave rise to the subsequent federal strictures to nail down a pseudo-common currency the supply and worth of which was still poorly known.

But the point of this post is not the to be deflected by the detailed and sorry path we took from Lincoln's deficit war funding to the 1913 establishment of the Federal Reserve. Instead, my emphasis here is given our current central bank and fractional reserve banking, the government has since then had the impetus and all the tools in place to debase the currency, and, at will, literally steal the savings of its citizens to fund spending that the people will not abide and support through more visible taxing schemes.

This is a power few people understand, and which the government now guards jealously since its perfidious policies are based on its ability to monkey with the money supply. Anyone getting in the way of that by producing what may be substituted for specie is literally an enemy of the state, labeled a 'terrorist', and prosecuted as such. That is the topic I would like to see aired here.

[Ryan Mount]

There's nothing stopping anyone [yet, like FDR did] from conducting business using precious metals, right? There is a problem with pretending to be legal tender of the United States. Right?

Doesn't matter anyway. He's a terrorist. Off to Guantanamo with him.

[Gregory]

I'm not going to get upset about this counterfeiting conviction as the design was derivative of US currency. Had it not put a denomination and instead a claim as to the precious metal content (ie 0.1 oz Au or whatever), no problem.