Do you believe Liberty Dollar is an illegal currency?

[PollM]

Do you believe Liberty Dollar is an illegal currency?

http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=1009

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[AlCzervik]

1. should i move my money from the snowglobes market to Liberty dollars?

[rurallib]

2. Remember the guy who used to draw money?

Then he'd use it as barter because it was considered such a work of art? They shut him down. Seems similar to me.

[Doctor Cynic]

3. Probably...

It appears that the currency is easily confused with the US Dollar, so this practice could be considered counterfeit money. And the fact that the mint plates have Ron Paul on them suggests they have a personality cult revolving around him, similar to how North Korea reveres Kim Jong Il (but that's another matter).

[Didereaux]

4. They claim it is currency...therefor it is illegal by definition! end of subject n/t

[FtWayneBlue]

5. Nope. Just a medium of barter, like anything else

you want to trade for. Unlike US greenbacks, Liberty Dollars are made of silver (or gold) and have intrinsic value.

[Purveyor]

6. "Liberty Dollars are made of silver (or gold) and have intrinsic value"

Wow...fancy that. No wonder the 'feds' confiscated their coins and buillion. It actually has worth and value behind it.

Now I ponder, how much fiat, worthless paper did the federal reserve 'inject' into the failing US banking system today?

Yesterday it was around $48 billion, iirc.

[rasputin1952]

7. Individuals and states are not permitted to mint coins, nor are they

permitted to print certificates that can be used as currency.

There are several factors involved in this situation, and none of them are "good".

There are "tokens" that can be "minted", but if one assess' a value in US Dollars to the "token", it is counterfeiting. What I see is this group trying to skirt the law, and coming very close to committing a serious felony. What these people are attempting to do is conspire to replace the current Ferderal Reserve notes, this will not go over well.

The "Ronald Reagan Dime", passed muster because it was never advertised as a "replacement" for the ten-cent piece that has FDR, Mercury or any other Government minted ten-cent piece. If it had been marketed as having the value of a dime, the minters would have run into some serious problems. FWIW, the RR "dime", fell flat, no one wanted it...:D

Messing w/currency can make some people very angry.



"The Secret Service has exclusive jurisdiction for investigations involving the counterfeiting of United States obligations and securities. This authority to investigate counterfeiting is derived from Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 3056. Some of the counterfeited United States obligations and securities commonly dealt with by the Secret Service include U.S. currency and coins; U.S. Treasury checks; Department of Agriculture food coupons and U.S. postage stamps.

<snip>

http://www.treas.gov/usss/counterfeit.shtml


"Money art

A subject related to that of counterfeiting is that of money art, which is art that incorporates currency designs or themes. Some of these works of art are similar enough to actual bills that their legality is in question. While a counterfeit is made with deceptive intent, money art is not - however, the law may or may not differentiate between the two. See JSG Boggs, the American artist best known for his hand-drawn, one-sided copies of US banknotes which he spends for the face value of the note."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfeit

[Viva_La_Revolution]

8. Congress decides

If they don't say you can mint it, then it's not official.
I don't see where it's "illegal" though. :shrug:

[bob4460]

9. OK if this is illegal what about casino tokens???? n/t

[silverback]

11. Actually, it's complicated...

Whoda thunkit right?

The states are actually prohibited from making anything BUT gold and silver a legal tender, they can't print notes but they CAN mint coins, just not "US$ legal tender" coins.

Private minters are completely legal also, so long as they're not actually attempting to counterfeit a legal tender coin or note.

The Liberty dollar people have been around for years, they jumped on the Ron Paul train only recently and they weren't affiliated with the campaign itself. Where they got in trouble was in encouraging people to circulate their coins, and marking them for the purpose of facilitating their acceptance in leiu of FRNs. One or the other would have been alright, not both.

There's nothing illegal about the coins themselves, just their marketing. It's just a dumb idea to put a face value on a bullion coin, whether you're talking about liberty dollars or US eagles.

[liberalla]

10. This company is suing the the Feds....

Lawsuit:

Liberty Dollar v Henry M. Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury,
_____________ Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States,
_____________ Edmond C. Moy, Director, US Mint


http://www.libertydollar.org/ld/legal/lawsuit.htm

[IndianaGreen]

12. I asked my boss this week if I could be paid in euros instead of dollars

He laughed, but he conceded the point that the dollar was becoming worthless. I think this is why the Treasury has come down so hard of the Liberty dollar folks. Their coin has more value!