Congress is given authority by the Constitution to mint money. Is it time to allow competition?

Question

By putting it into the hands of the federal reserve, Congress shirked their responsibility and the fed has done a horrible job.

Is it time to open up the minting of money to competition?

Why shouldn't anybody and everybody be able to mint coins of gold, silver and copper (and any other precious metal)?

Maybe a little competition is just what the doctor ordered for our floundering economy where today's "federal reserve note" is worth about 4 cents compared to the dollar's value in 1913
.

Chris H,
The fed is NOT a branch of government. it is a private corporation. You won't find it in the government pages of the phone book. It's in the white pages close to Federal Express.

Answer 1

Chris H "Congress has no responsibility as the fed is an autonomous branch of the government."
YOUR WRONG
the fed is a private for profit business. and the Constitution states that congress must create and maintain the value of the money it creates.



The Fed creates inflation
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/201.html


Where does money come from? Where does it go? Who makes it? The money magician's secrets are unveiled. Here is a close look at their ... all » mirrors and smoke machines, the pulleys, cogs, and wheels that create the grand illusion called money. A boring subject?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8484911570371055528&q=the+creacher+from+jekyll+island&total=33&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Answer 2

Congress has no responsibility as the fed is an autonomous branch of the government. How exactly has the fed done a "horrible" job? The US operates on a floating exchange rate. That being said, the fed does not really intervene into monetary policy beyond fixing supply. The dollar is remarkably stable (compared to most world currencies which can easily see 10%+ inflation per year) and has remained so over the past century.

The reality is that a temporary drop in the dollar's value is not exactly something which is to be concerned about and lower dollar values are helping US exporters/manufacturers.

Why shouldn't anyone be able to mint currency? Because then no currency would have a value and the cost of business would spike. Imagine if you had to buy a special currency to buy goods for California and another to buy goods from Pennsylvania.

Comparing the reserve note "worth" from 1913 to present day is erroneous as 1913 dollars were pegged to a gold standard and later bimetalic standard of gold and silver. We abandoned them after the standards became unsustainable and almost broke the central government.

Answer 3

The debt ceiling has been raised 10 times in the last 10 years. When Obama was Senator, he voted against raising the debt ceiling, saying that it would be irresponsible to do so. I agree with Senator Obama. Think about it. If your family finances were in the same mess, you owed so much money, your grandchildren would still be struggling to pay it back, long after you're gone, would you cut your spending, get rid of the cable TV, stop going out to dinner, etc. so you could possibly stop making it worse? Or would you just keep using the credit cards and keep spending, using the credit cards to pay off the credit cards? I think we would all stop the spending. I know you all won't believe this, but Obama has an agenda that is hidden, for the most part. Look up Cloward and Piven. They layed out a plan that starts with collapsing the economic system first, then you change the government and turn it into what you want it to be. I believe Obama is a Socialist and is purposely collapsing the system. You must admit, it is ready to fall apart. He's not stupid, he knows what is going to happen. He thinks globally, and wants a new world order.

Answer 4

What is money? All I have are pieces of paper that are incomplete notes from the banking cartel called the Federal Reserve.
I see nothing wrong with producing coins that say "One oz of X caret gold" with the name of the assaying house that certifies it's content."
I believe to place a fixed dollar amount on the ingots would be minting money, and seen as a crime similar to the fraud our elected officials have perpetrated on us by allowing the banking monopoly to print so called money.
Of course the banking cartel gets a pass, private citizens won't.
As things stand now the phony money - Cooper filled "silver" coins that have the value and integrity of arcade tokens.

Answer 5

No. However it is the Federal Government that can print and coin money, not congress.

One thing we could do is get rid of dollar bills and go to dollar coins. This would save millions of dollars a year because coins don't wear out like paper bills do! Vending machines can be fixed to take the current dollar coins as well.

Austraila has it right. The smallest bill there is a $5 bill. Larger denomination coins come in $0.50, $1, and $2, and the $2 coin is the size of a nickle in the USA! All of their vending machines take their coins as well. BTW, they also don't have pennies but round off to the nearest $0.05.

Answer 6

Maybe We The People should sue the "Federal" Reserve for ruining the finances of the People. Lets have a return to the Gold Standard! The founding fathers warned us about allowing private banks to control the country's gold.

Answer 7

It would certainly help because then it would again be backed by precious metals as the Constitution states. Just think of it! They would be following the LAWS as set out via the Constitution!

Chris...they are not in any way, shape or form, part of this government. They are a PRIVATE BANK, with major share holders being elite families in England!

Answer 8

We have only two historical examples I can think of (Germany between the wars, and America during the war of Northern Aggression) where more than one currency was being circulated and currencies were actively "competing" with each other. In both cases, financial institutions were the only ones that gained any advantage, and the "man on the street" suffered terribly as a consequence of the chaos.

It sounds like you are saying you would be happier if you were being paid what your current work would have given you in 1913? Are you quite sure? LOL....

Answer 9

I'm afraid that would open the door to all sorts of abuses. Counterfeiting is enough of a problem without having multiple sources of money. I agree that competition is generally a good thing, but not when it comes to our national currency.

Answer 10

Interesting notion, but I doubt it'll ever happen. Funny how those who sing the praises of free markets don't really believe in a literally "free" market. In other words, they think they should be free to do whatever they want as long as their interests are protected.