Honest Money Constitutional Amendment

Should the people be free to transact unimpeded in any currency they choose?


  • Total voters
    68
If you give people the choice between what is Easy and what is Right, the majority will choose what is Easy.
It is not “easy” to have your purchasing power stolen by the printing press.
So uh, what happened in England after the 16th century that turned their monetary base into a fiat currency system?
Banksters got government forced monopoly on counterfeiting, and thus bankrupted England in under 100 years. After that they’ve done the same in US.
Based on that last quote I just had I dont think that Banks should be sticking their noses in Government Business,
True.
and the money creation process is the business of government,
Wrong. I think it was a flaw in the original Constitution where the government was allowed to coin money. Anyhow, the Constitution never gave power to the government to FORCE people to transact or not to transact in a certain medium of exchange among themselves.
Again, money is nothing, but another commodity that people happened to use as a medium of exchange. Anyone who can issue aluminum, copper, sugar, milk, gold, silver or timber, should be able to issue money, because money is but another commodity!
 
When I had a bit if extra money (yeah, i know its really debt, but...) I used to play this online game called Ever Crack. This game has its own economy, all digital, all fiat, but hey it was a game. I tried to earn money by completing quests and found that it took way too long to ever be able to afford what any of the other players were demanding for their wares. (Sell only system, no bidding or anything) So I tried to follow suit, and hoped to be able to make some in game money by selling the stuff I got on doing quests at their retarded levels. No one bought my wares, even though they were priced cheaper than anyone else on the Broker at the time. The people I was trying to undercut then undercut their prices, and so did everyone else. Eventually, the price of these not so high demand items were available by the thousands, and the price completely bottomed out. Then I got this idea, since they were so cheap at the time, I could just buy out everyone who's price was less than what I would want to sell that item for. Being that the items for sale had a price that couldnt go any lower, and although I didnt have a lot of in game currency, I could easily afford to buy everyone out. And I did. I turned right back around and jacked up the price by about a hundred times as cheap as it would go. By comparison, in real world economics, I jacked up the price of my wares from one penny a pop, to a dollar, and the sweet spot was that since I had bought everyone out, I had no competition. I couldnt set the price too high because people wouldnt buy, cant sell it too low, I wouldnt make any money. And wow did it sell. Selling at this new price with no competition, people were being forced to buy from me. I was making money hand over fist.

After a while, I had enough money that I could afford to start getting into higher priced items. Originally, the prices that I manipulated were on extremely common items that anyone that didnt want to pay my price could go outside their city, and spend ten minutes of work collecting for themselves. With more money available now, I started getting into the price manipulation of less common items, that charged more. They didnt sell quite as often, but when they did sell, it compensated for the time it took to sell. It was quite easy. All I had to do was to make sure I didnt have any competition anywhere in my price range by buying everyone out that was a competitor, and jack up the prices. The more money I made, the higher priced stuff I was going after. I made so much in game cash that I didnt know what to do with myself. And all I was doing was logging in for about fifteen minutes a day, buying out my competitors, and jacking up the prices and cashing in. I made more money than most people made in their entire character history by manipulating the system to work for me.

As one of the richest characters in my rather large guild, and at the time, no interest in selling what I was making to other players for real world money, I just threw in game cash at people who I thought could use it. New players, guild members, etc. I was bored with the game, but still logged in frequently enough for logging in every two or three days to result in nothing short of a couple of platinum pieces per day.

But those days were short lived. When I got laid off, I had to cut back on all my unnecessary expenditures and had to cancel my account. So that money is still in my characters account, it is just unavailable until I give sony more money to have access to it. Not that it is actually worth anything.

If the way the Free Market is supposed to determine the value of currency and money in the real world, then I want absolutely nothing to do with it. It is too easy for people in the right positions to manipulate.
 
When I had a bit if extra money (yeah, i know its really debt, but...) I used to play this online game called Ever Crack. This game has its own economy, all digital, all fiat, but hey it was a game. I tried to earn money by completing quests and found that it took way too long to ever be able to afford what any of the other players were demanding for their wares. (Sell only system, no bidding or anything) So I tried to follow suit, and hoped to be able to make some in game money by selling the stuff I got on doing quests at their retarded levels. No one bought my wares, even though they were priced cheaper than anyone else on the Broker at the time. The people I was trying to undercut then undercut their prices, and so did everyone else. Eventually, the price of these not so high demand items were available by the thousands, and the price completely bottomed out. Then I got this idea, since they were so cheap at the time, I could just buy out everyone who's price was less than what I would want to sell that item for. Being that the items for sale had a price that couldnt go any lower, and although I didnt have a lot of in game currency, I could easily afford to buy everyone out. And I did. I turned right back around and jacked up the price by about a hundred times as cheap as it would go. By comparison, in real world economics, I jacked up the price of my wares from one penny a pop, to a dollar, and the sweet spot was that since I had bought everyone out, I had no competition. I couldnt set the price too high because people wouldnt buy, cant sell it too low, I wouldnt make any money. And wow did it sell. Selling at this new price with no competition, people were being forced to buy from me. I was making money hand over fist.

After a while, I had enough money that I could afford to start getting into higher priced items. Originally, the prices that I manipulated were on extremely common items that anyone that didnt want to pay my price could go outside their city, and spend ten minutes of work collecting for themselves. With more money available now, I started getting into the price manipulation of less common items, that charged more. They didnt sell quite as often, but when they did sell, it compensated for the time it took to sell. It was quite easy. All I had to do was to make sure I didnt have any competition anywhere in my price range by buying everyone out that was a competitor, and jack up the prices. The more money I made, the higher priced stuff I was going after. I made so much in game cash that I didnt know what to do with myself. And all I was doing was logging in for about fifteen minutes a day, buying out my competitors, and jacking up the prices and cashing in. I made more money than most people made in their entire character history by manipulating the system to work for me.

As one of the richest characters in my rather large guild, and at the time, no interest in selling what I was making to other players for real world money, I just threw in game cash at people who I thought could use it. New players, guild members, etc. I was bored with the game, but still logged in frequently enough for logging in every two or three days to result in nothing short of a couple of platinum pieces per day.

But those days were short lived. When I got laid off, I had to cut back on all my unnecessary expenditures and had to cancel my account. So that money is still in my characters account, it is just unavailable until I give sony more money to have access to it. Not that it is actually worth anything.

If the way the Free Market is supposed to determine the value of currency and money in the real world, then I want absolutely nothing to do with it. It is too easy for people in the right positions to manipulate.


So you'd rather have say 1000 people dictate the value of money for the world (6.5 billion people) than 6.5 billion finding a market value?


Also...when you did this on the game...Did no one have access to other armour, weapons? Did you starve the economy of everything? Could people still function?

If you noticed that a certain commodity was undervalued and you bought up huge sums of it and made huge profits, what is wrong with that?

Life is not fair, it never will be. All we can do is set up the societal conditions that allow people to, through merit, hard work and intelligence make strides according to the demand of the market place. Some will start with a rich daddy, some a poor daddy. Boo hoo. If the market is free, it is exponentially more likely that the poor kid become rich through merit, then if the market is regulated and controlled...The regulators and controllers will always rig the game in their favor.
 
If the way the Free Market is supposed to determine the value of currency and money in the real world, then I want absolutely nothing to do with it. It is too easy for people in the right positions to manipulate.
If you remove government force, then if there is a shortage of an item, the price will go up and give people incentive to produce it more. Your rants against free market make no sense at all!
 
So you'd rather have say 1000 people dictate the value of money for the world (6.5 billion people) than 6.5 billion finding a market value?


Also...when you did this on the game...Did no one have access to other armour, weapons? Did you starve the economy of everything? Could people still function?

If you noticed that a certain commodity was undervalued and you bought up huge sums of it and made huge profits, what is wrong with that?

Life is not fair, it never will be. All we can do is set up the societal conditions that allow people to, through merit, hard work and intelligence make strides according to the demand of the market place. Some will start with a rich daddy, some a poor daddy. Boo hoo. If the market is free, it is exponentially more likely that the poor kid become rich through merit, then if the market is regulated and controlled...The regulators and controllers will always rig the game in their favor.
Exactly. Removing government force, from where it has no moral right of being, wrests the power and control from the scheming regulators, and gives it into the hands of the people via mechanism of free market where it belongs!
 
If you remove government force, then if there is a shortage of an item, the price will go up and give people incentive to produce it more. Your rants against free market make no sense at all!

I must have had a brain dead moment. I forgot entirely about that point. Thank you. Yes, if something goes into short supply and prices skyrocket, smart money invests into producing that service/product to capitilize on the market shortage. The market wins because it gets more of what it needs, the entrepeneur wins because he is rewarded for providing what is needed.
 
As much as I really want to support this, I have to look at the actual definition of "Honest Money System", which yes, I have in my sig even, but I dont really have a clear statement of what it is.

People, including most in this movement, have very little idea what an "honest money system" is or means or how to participate in one.

If they did, they would simply start one. A gold backed decentralized currency system could be implemented by people on this forum in days. But no one is really interested in doing it because they want to see it working before they do it themselves.

Chicken/Egg problem.

People also don't seem to grasp around here why a tax on property is much more preferable to all parties involved than transaction based taxation (this is one thing I'd like to take Ron Paul on with, I'm curious about his position on the idea).

People around here seem to be overly anxious to talk theory but no one is talking how to put these theories to work.
 
I must have had a brain dead moment. I forgot entirely about that point. Thank you. Yes, if something goes into short supply and prices skyrocket, smart money invests into producing that service/product to capitilize on the market shortage. The market wins because it gets more of what it needs, the entrepeneur wins because he is rewarded for providing what is needed.
Exactly! Thanks.
 
If they did, they would simply start one. A gold backed decentralized currency system could be implemented by people on this forum in days. But no one is really interested in doing it because they want to see it working before they do it themselves.

There are government laws that would charge you capital gain and sales taxes on gold every time it changes hands, which discourages people from using it. My amendment repeals this.

People also don't seem to grasp around here why a tax on property is much more preferable to all parties involved than transaction based taxation

I believe property taxation is immoral as it violates some of the fundamental principles of liberty. Please see (Taxation Constitutional Amendment http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=252192)
 
People, including most in this movement, have very little idea what an "honest money system" is or means or how to participate in one.

If they did, they would simply start one. A gold backed decentralized currency system could be implemented by people on this forum in days. But no one is really interested in doing it because they want to see it working before they do it themselves.

Chicken/Egg problem.

People also don't seem to grasp around here why a tax on property is much more preferable to all parties involved than transaction based taxation (this is one thing I'd like to take Ron Paul on with, I'm curious about his position on the idea).

People around here seem to be overly anxious to talk theory but no one is talking how to put these theories to work.

Don't be so sure of that, friend.

;)

I for one do my very best to walk the walk.

I am gearing up for precisely what you just said. Perhaps my young age allows me to easier let go of the world that once was and grasp what is coming. But I will do my best to lead those that want to follow towards something of honesty and prosperity.
 
There are government laws that would charge you capital gain and sales taxes on gold every time it changes hands, which discourages people from using it. My amendment repeals this.

Just use www.ripplepay.com

Let's start the money system and worry about the laws later. We don't need gold, we can use any real property.

I believe property taxation is immoral as it violates some of the fundamental principles of liberty. Please see (Taxation Constitutional Amendment http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=252192)

So the fruits of my labor aren't property?
 
Just use www.ripplepay.com

Let's start the money system and worry about the laws later. We don't need gold, we can use any real property.
Good point!

So the fruits of my labor aren't property?
Of course they are! If you read the link, you would see that, income, sales and property taxes are immoral as they violate the Benson Principle. (Taxation Constitutional Amendment http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=252192)
 
Good point!

Of course they are! If you read the link, you would see that, income, sales and property taxes are immoral as they violate the Benson Principle. (Taxation Constitutional Amendment http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=252192)

Ok, read some of the thread. I too think voluntary contributions should be the standard. But how do we decide what to give? Public property I assumed would be purchased from private people with money "volunteered".

A great idea, but how do we implement it? How does each person decide what is "fair" or proper for him to give? If we could solve this riddle, RPF'ers could model that "giving system" and start our own "pseudo government" for the advancement of liberty.
 
Ok, read some of the thread. I too think voluntary contributions should be the standard. But how do we decide what to give? Public property I assumed would be purchased from private people with money "volunteered".
Some public property like highways, parks, the sea, do not need to be purchase from private people. They are already public.

A great idea, but how do we implement it? How does each person decide what is "fair" or proper for him to give? If we could solve this riddle, RPF'ers could model that "giving system" and start our own "pseudo government" for the advancement of liberty.
If you use the services of the court, it being public property, part of the expense could be paid by the offending party.

National Defense? That could be paid from public property user fees, and of course with voluntary contributions, especially in the times of war. People that are not willing to voluntary pay for their national defense deserve to be conquered!

What is "fair" in public property user fees can be decided by the voice of the people, as long as the law applies to all people equally, respecting their unalienable rights.
 
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Some public property like highways, parks, the sea, do not need to be purchase from private people. They are already public.

If you use the services of the court, it being public property, part of the expense could be paid by the offending party.

National Defense? That could be paid from public property user fees, and of course with voluntary contributions, especially in the times of war. People that are not willing to voluntary pay for their national defense deserve to be conquered!

Perhaps, but a culture with ingrained gun rights and locally co-ordinated militias can certainly defend themselves...
 
People, including most in this movement, have very little idea what an "honest money system" is or means or how to participate in one.

If they did, they would simply start one. A gold backed decentralized currency system could be implemented by people on this forum in days. But no one is really interested in doing it because they want to see it working before they do it themselves.

Chicken/Egg problem.

People also don't seem to grasp around here why a tax on property is much more preferable to all parties involved than transaction based taxation (this is one thing I'd like to take Ron Paul on with, I'm curious about his position on the idea).

People around here seem to be overly anxious to talk theory but no one is talking how to put these theories to work.

/agree

One of the biggest reasons I want this so badly is that everything else is completely controlled or heavily influenced by money. The concept of an Honest Money System is, in my book, absolutely #1 most important thing we can do to fix it. No need for me to go into my limited knowledge of details of what we have currently and the fact that it doesnt work or why.

How about this. Romans initially outlawed Interest on debt. That wasn't in the Constitution. Did the Romans have the right idea, or is prohibiting interest period not a part of an Honest Money System?

---

I'm not an economist, and I can't really come up with any good arguments for why the free market shouldn't be allowed to control the value of money, but that by no means says that I concede the debate, just that I know I am gonna get my ass kicked.

Why shouldnt the Free Market be allowed to determine the value of money? I dont know. Ask Ben Franklin, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Washington, so on and so forth.

And ya know what else? When the free market didn't have control, and Congress did its job and stayed mostly within the limits of the Constitution in the powers granted to it, the stability of money while government was coining and issuing and regulating the value of, well that worked out pretty well for a hundred years. Give it to the Free Market and you might just as well set up the charter for the next Central Bank yourself. The value of the currency for about a hundred years (not counting the two other Central Banks we had and let their Charters expire) was the Foundation, and the Free Market based and regulated its value between everything else except the value of money and it worked out pretty well. Everything went to hell when money manipulators did their magic of manipulating the money and calling other banks insolvent, hence a run on the banks, and that wouldnt have been a problem if the safekeeping of money itself was also a function of government.

I know you'll shoot that down in like two seconds, but I'll take a potshot at my own statement there as well. The fuckers we have in office (I dont have a better word to describe them, all they want to do is fuck everyone so I think the term used to describe them is perfect) would bend us over ten ways from Sunday, and bring some lubricant. I dont trust maybe but a handful of people in office right now, and I sure as shit wouldnt trust them with their constitutionally appointed job functions.

My next massive dilema is the Transition. How do we transition from what we have now to what would be agreed is an Honest Money System?
 
/agree

One of the biggest reasons I want this so badly is that everything else is completely controlled or heavily influenced by money. The concept of an Honest Money System is, in my book, absolutely #1 most important thing we can do to fix it. No need for me to go into my limited knowledge of details of what we have currently and the fact that it doesnt work or why.

How about this. Romans initially outlawed Interest on debt. That wasn't in the Constitution. Did the Romans have the right idea, or is prohibiting interest period not a part of an Honest Money System?

---

I'm not an economist, and I can't really come up with any good arguments for why the free market shouldn't be allowed to control the value of money, but that by no means says that I concede the debate, just that I know I am gonna get my ass kicked.

Why shouldnt the Free Market be allowed to determine the value of money? I dont know. Ask Ben Franklin, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Washington, so on and so forth.

And ya know what else? When the free market didn't have control, and Congress did its job and stayed mostly within the limits of the Constitution in the powers granted to it, the stability of money while government was coining and issuing and regulating the value of, well that worked out pretty well for a hundred years. Give it to the Free Market and you might just as well set up the charter for the next Central Bank yourself. The value of the currency for about a hundred years (not counting the two other Central Banks we had and let their Charters expire) was the Foundation, and the Free Market based and regulated its value between everything else except the value of money and it worked out pretty well. Everything went to hell when money manipulators did their magic of manipulating the money and calling other banks insolvent, hence a run on the banks, and that wouldnt have been a problem if the safekeeping of money itself was also a function of government.

I know you'll shoot that down in like two seconds, but I'll take a potshot at my own statement there as well. The fuckers we have in office (I dont have a better word to describe them, all they want to do is fuck everyone so I think the term used to describe them is perfect) would bend us over ten ways from Sunday, and bring some lubricant. I dont trust maybe but a handful of people in office right now, and I sure as shit wouldnt trust them with their constitutionally appointed job functions.

My next massive dilema is the Transition. How do we transition from what we have now to what would be agreed is an Honest Money System?

I've thought this as well. But if GOVT is not the one granting the private monopoly on currency (as right now) this is largely not an issue. In the fre market, fiat debt based currency would likely exist. There is very little reason to outlaw it. It's quite simple, as a general rule of thumb, which will garner more support?...a silver 1 OZ coin which is not someone else's liability or a fiat note that is a debt instrument and subject to be paid to someone else at any time if they call the debt?

Additionally, I agree that as in th Constitution, GOVT should only deal with tangible money (Gold, silver for example) that is issued interest free. If a private bank (subject to the reward AND wrath of the free market) decided to issue notes or money as debt plus interest, so be it...they will not be that successful in the long run compared to tanglible debt free money.

As for the transition...pay your debts and BUY COMMODITIES.

For the first time since the Great Depression M3 money supply is CONTRACTING. This is, short term BAD. But if changing currency from debt based to money that is commoditiy based and free market, the system must be starved out.

This contraction in M3 is either going to lead to a world defining awakening/revolution or will allow the PTB to extract more wealth from the people and come back and convince the masses that we need socialism and GOVT run everything to save us all from "the greedy capitalist".

This is an opportunity to be seized. As this get's worse and worse those of us with the knowledge to concisely explain WHY this is all happening will open a lot of people to the concept that our money is dishonest, fascist and the CORE of why this economic model is syphoning the wealth of the middle class back into the hands of the ruling class, keeping the poor down and reverting the economy back to serfdom on a mass scale.

If you pay your debts and put your remaining money into commodities you will be able to retain your hard earned money and be a driving engine of the transition.
 
Honest Money Constitutional Amendment​
Fiat monetary system and paper money inflation being some of the greatest enemies of liberty and prosperity of the people, legal tender laws are strictly forbidden.

Since no individual can rightfully force his neighbor to transact or not to transact in certain medium of exchange, he cannot delegate such authority to his government.

Therefore, the government shall make no law establishing an exclusive form of currency that the people are forced to use in private transactions, neither shall it prevent free competition in currencies among private citizens, nor charge capital gain and sales taxes on the medium of exchange. The right of the people to transact among themselves in any currency they choose shall not be abridged.




Explanation:

Money rules the world, and he who rules the money rules the world. No law gives government more power than legal tender law, for it creates a government forced monopoly on counterfeiting; allowing politicians and the bankers who bought them to confiscate people's property through the most insidious and deceitful tax of all -- legalized counterfeiting and inflation.

This one amendment, if implemented, would end government fiat, because it cannot exist without coercion. And government fiat will be rejected in a free market of currencies in favor of a more honest and stable one, such as a 100% commodity based, interest free currency. As the result it would effectively end war-state and welfare state, for it would make it IMPOSSIBLE for the government to fund all these unconstitutional ventures through the evil and insidious robbery known as legalized counterfeiting and inflation.

This amendment does not force anyone to do anything, but on the contrary, frees people up, to allow competition in currencies, so the good money can crowd out the bad. Imagine, for instance gold or silver money, competing side by side with Federal Reserve Notes. People will soon notice that the purchasing power of their gold money is constantly increasing, while the purchasing power of unbacked paper money is constantly going down. It will have the appearance of prices going up when expressed in Federal Reserve Notes, and at the same time the prices on the same items expressed in gold or silver money going down! Which money do you think people will prefer to get paid in? That money which preserves and increases their purchasing power of course! When this happens people will begin rejecting Federal Reserve Notes in favor of a more sound 100% commodity based currency! Thus once government force is removed from the realm of money and free competition in currencies is allowed, fiat debt based money will end, because they will be rejected by the free market! You do not need legal tender laws to force people to accept good and honest money, but only bad and dishonest ones. The dirty little secret is that you only need legal tender laws if you are going into government forced counterfeiting business. That is the only reason for such laws.

To criticism that it would produce chaos:
Any manner of chaos is better than the forced, orderly plunder and confiscation of people's property through paper money inflation, that is the only alternative to this amendment. Of course, if gold and silver were the only tender used by the government (as Constitution demands) this problem would be largely alleviated, but the problem I see is that the government could (unconstitutionally) make government issued paper receipts for gold or silver to be legal tender, and then inflate the receipts. (This has actually happened in the early 1900's.) If a private bank did this and there was a run on the bank it would go bankrupt, but in case of government they will put taxpayers on the hook for this. (Hence was Roosevelt's forced confiscation of people's gold in 1930's to remedy such a run on banks, so people could not demand their gold anymore.) So it's better explicitly put government out of legal tender business all together. The free market can decide perfectly well what the medium of exchange should be.

To criticism that these provisions are already implied in the existing Constitution, we say true, (the authority to establish a legal tender,--an exclusive monopoly on the means of exchange,--is not granted in the Constitution, therefore it is denied under the 10th Amendment), but it was already subverted and ignored by the Congress for over a century, so we are adding stronger language in the form of an explicit amendment, so that the Congress may not easily subvert and overturn it again. It's all about persuasion in the end: the more clear, persuasive and explicit the law is, the more likely the people will uphold and obey it to preserve their liberty (the need amply demonstrated by the last 100 years).

Plus, allowing free competition in currencies is the most harmonious and the least disruptive way to restore an honest and sound monetary system. Let free market decide, or in other words, let the people decide. And then the most efficient and most stable monetary system will naturally emerge, which historically always has been gold and silver. Freedom and prosperity will win out in the end.

If these six words, "legal tender laws are strictly forbidden" were part of the Constitution, we would've had a very different country now!

Remember: Government forced Paper = Tyranny; Gold + Silver + Righteousness = Liberty.

This is the key of power right here. Paper money fraud is what empowers the government to step out of its Constitutional bounds and become a tyrant through counterfeiting and theft; and Gold makes all this for the government impossible, and binds this fraud down, keeping people free and prosperous.

The best way to restore such honest and stable, 100% commodity based monetary system, is to allow free competition in currencies which is the goal of this amendment.


Again:
Paper = Tyranny
Gold + Silver + Righteousness = Freedom!​

The choice is yours!
Is this being officially proposed? It is an excellent and thorough proposal and explanation.

If implemented, then the economic prosperity created by the free markets would be as prosperous, and fun, as the Internet is today. The Internet is awesome because it is "caveat emptor." Hopefully, someday enough people will wake up to the beauty of laissez-faire free markets for all. An amendment like this could do it.
 
Is this being officially proposed? It is an excellent and thorough proposal and explanation.

If implemented, then the economic prosperity created by the free markets would be as prosperous, and fun, as the Internet is today. The Internet is awesome because it is "caveat emptor." Hopefully, someday enough people will wake up to the beauty of laissez-faire free markets for all. An amendment like this could do it.
Thank you! I wholeheartedly agree with you! Would you like to officially propose it?

Thanks again!
 
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