http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?flash=yes&action=press_release&ID=710

(So I wrote to an expert to sort it out!)

Lew, [of http://lewrockwell.com/ (anti-state, anti-war, pro-market), the Mises Institute, and famous Libertarian]

(1) Perhaps you’d care to comment about the nonsense spewing out of the gubamint about money. There’s no doubt that the NORFED has struck a nerve. NORFED ain’t fooling anyone, but it’s a good cover story. If the mint has exclusive, then why do we have the Federal Reserve in the process?

(2) Note that the gubamint has added the word “exclusive” in their rendition of the Constitution.

(3) Now that the Barbara Streisand is out of the way, here’s my tough ramble. Somebody’s Law (Say, Shea, or something with S) “bad money drives good out of circulation” would say that if I have a FRB and Liberty Dollar, that I’ll spend the FRBie as fast as I can because it’s intrinsically worthless. Is there ever a time when good money can drive bad out. If there is no case, then there is no way for NORFED’s money to push out the FRBie. Comment?

(4) My take on NORFED is NOT that they were fooling anyone, but that they were trying to retake the word dollar (i.e., thaller). And, charge a commission for it.

(Marketing 101 teaches you can’t take a word that someone already owns in the marketplace of the mind. It’s like Ford trying to take QUALITY from Mercedes, or SAFETY from Volvo. Ain’t gonna happen!)

Now everyone is entitled to earn the sweat of their brow, but the escalating value of their “dollar” was confusing at best. The NORFED MLM quality turned people off. Me too.

Wouldn’t we be better off with a new unit of currency. Let’s call it the dinar (that should get everyone’s shorts in a knot!). And define it as an ounce of gold. The golden dinar. Same thing for silver. The silver dinar is one ounce of silver. Maybe it should be in metric units?

OK, I’ll make it metric! The golden Ludwig will be 0.0283495 of a kilogram of gold. Similarly our Rothfarb will be 0.0283495 of a kilogram of silver.

Wouldn’t “we” be better served by using straight bullion coins as money? Makes the accounting easier in the sense that the hidden tax of inflation can’t bite us. Instead of financial reports in dollars, they be in Ludwigs or Rothfarbs.

Comment?

(5) Can you ever envision us getting out the fiat currency mess we are in? Short of a reichmark style inflation, an overthrow of the Federal Reserve System or some version of a French Revolution, how will could might it happen?

Just a dumb injineer that got two Ds in two college economics courses. And, was smart enough to keep my mouth shut in my post grad mba courses!
Fjohn