What are Liberty dollars and has anyone used them???

[InkAddict]

I've explored a few links but I'd like more info on actual usage?

[Don_G]

1. What's A Liberty Dollar?

And do they go well with veggies like Freedom Fries and Ketchup?

[Mrs. Overall]

8. What we renamed the franc, perhaps?

You need "liberty dollars" to purchase "freedom fries".

[leftyandproud]

2. I believe..

they are dollars issued by a private bank...somewhere in Nevada I think. They are completely backed by silver bullion...keeping their value stable. Basically they are intended to raise awareness about the problems with our paper money system...I don't think they have any chance of competing with the government...Besides, it is illegal to refuse any currency with "legal tender" on it...so I don't think the dollars will catch on anywhere when greenbacks are still available.

liberty dollars = backed by precious metals
traditional dollars = backed by government debt

If they were really allowed to compete, there is no question people would choose the liberty dollars

[leftyandproud]

3. found it!

here ya go...my info may have been a little off..

looks interesting...I would like to see these catch on.

http://www.norfed.org/html/about.asp

[Sentath]

4. I wouldn't

Its near to midnight here and I don't have the energy to track down their associations tonight. But, the language that they are speaking and the goals that they cite openly make me very nervous about their goals..

[Sentath]

9. But it did lead me to these

This sounds much better

http://www.flagteaparty.org/Subjects/FNN/moneyarticle.htm

http://www.flagteaparty.org/Subjects/FNN/currencylinks.html

[69KV]

10. they're issued by some right wing libertarian outfit

norfed.org's Liberty Dollars are somebody's right wing libertarian answer to Ithaca Hours.

I saw a table for them once in Las Vegas where they were trying to drum up interest in their Liberty dollars. In addition to the dollars they had all the "right" books on display at the table that made me raise an eyebrow - Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises, etc. Maybe even Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman, I don't remember offhand but they were all libertarian writers.

From a purely investment point of view, they're a rip-off. The "Liberty dollars" are backed by one ounce of silver per ten dollars. You can exchange ten dollars for a one ounce round of silver any time through NORFED. Trouble is, silver goes for $6.02 an ounce right now, and that is a relatively high value, a few years ago silver was more in the $4/ounce range. So, if you buy NORFED you are buying something that is only backed with $4-$6 of silver for every $10. The NORFED people are pocketing the difference and laughing all the way to the bank.

I suppose if the price of silver were to climb above $10/ounce, NORFED Liberty dollars would be a good thing to buy, but it is at that point that their little moneymaking scheme breaks down and they would probably remove their Liberty Dollars from circulation.

P.S. hardly any business at all takes them. They have a list on their site - http://www.libertydollar.org/LM/LM_Find.asp

It's mostly rip-off MLMers and people peddling right-wing crank literature who take them.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. Before 1864, there was quite a lot of private competition

with the government to coin money. Firms such the Bechtlers in North Carolina and Moffat and Company in California, for example, at one time produced gold coins having the exact same specifications as what the government was producing. However, many problems occurred, such as the "wildcat banks", which were busy issuing their own "Liberty dollars", supposedly backed by their depositers' gold and silver, back in the 1830s. Unfortunately, a lot of these "banks" were "here today, gone tomorrow", and even if they were legitimate, their paper would not be accepted at full face value in neighboring towns. Some money system, eh?

But the straw that broke the camel's back occurred during the Civil War, when private businessmen and companies issued bronze tokens as substitutes for the US cents that were not circulating because people were hoarding them for their nickel content (cents of 1857-63, and some '64s, contain some nickel). There were many abuses, but the one that really stands out involved a private token producer and the New York Transit Authority. Apparently, the private company refused to redeem thousands of their own tokens that had been used to pay fares with the New York Transit Authority, so a law was passed in 1864 that gave the Federal government the exclusive right to coin money.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. It is NOT illegal to refuse any currency with "legal tender" on it

From the Treasury Dept's own web site:

"There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services."

http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.html#q1

[AntiCoup2K4]

6. But that law will be changed.....

...the minute they put Reagan's ugly face on money. They'll demand that you take that one.