General•South Carolina tries to institute Gold Standard

• • sepslugseven
  • February 17
  • Permalink

  http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/02/17/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6217403.shtml

  South Carolina Rep. Mike Pitts has introduced legislation that would mandate that gold and silver coins replace federal currency as legal tender in his state.

  As the Palmetto Scoop first reported, Pitts, a Republican, introduced legislation this month banning "the unconstitutional substitution of Federal Reserve Notes for silver and gold coin" in South Carolina.

  In an interview, Pitts told Hotsheet that he believes that "if the federal government continues to spend money at the rate it's spending money, and if it continues to print money at the rate it's printing money, our economic system is going to collapse."

  "The Germans felt their system wouldn't collapse, but it took a wheelbarrow of money to buy a loaf of bread in the 1930s," he said. "The Soviet Union didn't think their system would collapse, but it did. Ours is capable of collapsing also."

  The lawmaker believes that a shift to an economy based on gold and silver coins would give the state a "base of currency" should that collapse come. As one expert told the Scoop, however, his bill would likely be ruled unconstitutional because it "violates a perfectly legal and Constitutional federal law, enacted pursuant to the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, that federal reserve notes are legal tender for all debts public and private."

• • Justin
  • February 18
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  Awesome! Glad to hear he's taking a stand against government spending and inflation (also know as hidden taxes)

• • sepslugseven
  • February 18
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  Yeah but he is clearly ignorant to the needs of his constituents as he claims to represent them. You can't just stabilize one states currency by re-attaching it to a gold standard and discontinuing use of the currency of the rest of the country. How would they financially interact with the rest of their country and world? Are they going to have an exchange rate to allow them to spend their currency in the rest of the states? If so then what will that exchange rate be tied to? Many currencies are tied to the dollar, and that is how the world determines the value of it.
  
  As usual it is just far more complex than any patriotic cliche can convey. It is a subtle intricate debate that is as much philosophical as it is scientific.
  
  If he did it as a chess move in order to create awareness for the problems with the Federal Reserve, understanding that there is no chance it could pass, and understanding that it would have nearly impossible implications even if it did pass somehow, then I applaud him. I just hope people don't take it literally, because to withdraw from a common monetary system with the rest of the states is to attempt financial secession.
  
  

• • sepslugseven
  • February 18
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  And it would clearly be attached to the value of the gold, but that is still a complicated (and flexible) standard, and who owns all the gold?

• • aaron
  • February 18
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  And not to mention when people mess with money, tricky things can happen.

• • sepslugseven
  • February 18
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  i know, let's take back our minds first, but like I said, I do appreciate the chess maneuver in terms of educational PR. It's like an ominous message that you get from a random do-nothing character in an RPG, but it is a glimpse into the direction the game is headed.

• • aaron
  • February 18
  • Permalink

  I love the game