Monthly Archives: November 2007

My email box has been abuzz recently with reports coming from various sources about the recent federal government raid on the Liberty Dollar.

There are charges of money laundering, mail fraud and wire fraud, the validity of which cannot be assessed until evidence is presented. However, it seems the main issue here is the legality or illegality of a private entity issuing gold and silver coins and certificates that are redeemable for gold or silver (effectively, warehouse receipts). As to that issue there seems to be little question that it is perfectly legal. This raid seems to be linked to the earlier warning by the U.S. Mint saying that “the Liberty Dollar violated the Constitution and warned consumers against using them unsuspectingly.”

It seems clear to me that the Constitution does not prohibit private minting of precious metal bullion “coins.” The only question about the legality of their circulation is whether or not the person trying to spend them misrepresents their nature to the prospective acceptor. 

In any case, the opening paragraph of the AP article is telling. The author, by calling the currency “illegal” has already tried the case and found it to be so. Is this a case of prejudicing the public mind before any evidence has been presented? Judge for yourself. – t.h.g.

Feds Raid ‘Liberty Dollar’ HQ in Indiana

Here is an Associated Press story By RYAN LENZ. Read the entire story: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jZHepUhX3cYLnSqZV2tm_byrun3AD8SV1B5O2

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) – Federal agents raided the headquarters of a group that produces illegal currency and puts it in circulation, seizing gold, silver and two tons of copper coins featuring Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Tis article describes a very important turn of events.  I recommend you read it in its entirety – Good As Gold

It is an amazing story about an attempted IRS persecution that seems to have backfired.

Did you know that the United States has two systems of money? We have on the one hand, the Federal Reserve Note debt-money system, and on the other, gold coins that are issued by the U.S. Mint in face value denominations of $5, $10, $25, and $50.

Here’s an excerpt from  the article:

In 1985, Ron Paul and other congressmen challenged our country’s currency system, which was monopolized by Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) — the familiar greenbacks in American wallets. The congressmen successfully pursued the Gold Bullion Coin Act, which required the U.S. government to mint and place gold coins in denominations of $50, $25, $10 and $5 into circulation based on demand. The coins are made of 91.67 percent pure gold.

The interesting point is that now the dollar has two conflicting definitions, one is really a non-definition – it’s whatever the mismanaged Fed note will buy. The other is a concrete definition based on a specified weight of gold. It is such concrete definitions that central banks and legal tender acts are intended to obliterate. The fact is, that since these coins carry a face value denominated in dollars, they are not mere bullion, but LEGAL TENDER.

The Gold Bullion Coin Act mentioned above provides that, A fifty dollar gold coin that is 32.7 millimeters in diameter, weighs 33.931 grams, and contains one troy ounce of fine gold.  Therefore,  it follows that a dollar is equivalent to one fiftieth of an ounce of fine gold.

If you were to be paid 50 dollars per week in U.S. gold coin that would make your annual income $2,550. The equivalent value in Fed notes at current gold prices would be around $40,000.

The story describes an employer who did just that, he paid his workers in gold coins, which made their earnings fall below the minimum income required to be reported to the IRS for income tax purposes. The IRS brought criminal charges against him and his workers but got not a single conviction.  Read the full story by Mike Zigler in Liberty Watch magazine, here.