To The Governor: West Virginia Passes Bill to Start Treating Gold and Silver as Money
The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Mike Maharrey
On March 8, 2019, the West Virginia House gave final approval to a bill that will take an important first step towards treating gold and silver as money, not as commodities.
Passage into law would eliminate a significant barrier to using gold and silver in everyday transactions, a foundational step for people to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money.
It is a step toward reestablishing gold and silver as legal tender and breaking down the Fed’s monopoly on money.
Eliminating taxes on the sale of gold and silver would allow people to use them in regular business transactions and will lead to currency competition. If sound money gains a foothold in the marketplace against Fed notes, people will be able to choose the time-tested stability of gold and silver over the central bank’s rapidly depreciating paper currency.
The US Constitution states, “No State shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” States have simply ignored this constitutional provision for years. It’s impossible for a state to return to a constitutional sound money system when it taxes gold and silver as commodities.
Constitutional tender expert Professor William Greene said that when people in multiple states start using gold and silver instead of Fed notes, it could create a ‘reverse Gresham’s effect,’ driving out bad money, effectively nullifying the Federal Reserve, and ending the government’s monopoly on money.
Once things get to that point, Federal Reserve notes would become largely unwanted and irrelevant for ordinary people.
Next, the bill will be sent to the Governor’s desk, where he must sign or veto legislation within 5 days of transmittal. If it’s transmitted after the session adjourns, he’ll have 15 days from adjournment to act.
