Big, bad news! Liberty Dollar offices raided.

[Puke]

CALL THE FBI!!!!!

I'm sure someone has pointed this out already, but I know of no place that sells metals right at spot price. Unless you buy a couple tons or some ridiculous shit like that.

[Crocuta]

I submit that a round number is a better starting point, since it means merchants won't have to whip out the scientific calculator and consult the newspaper in order to balance their books at the end of the month.

I've often wondered if the better approach wouldn't be to encourage merchants to use a dual pricing system and label each product with the FRN price and the silver price, i.e.: $44.99 / Ag 3.0 oz

The merchant can then change his prices to reflect the current value of silver and gold just as he changes his FRN price to reflect his costs.

Gold and silver medallions of any type can then be used as the merchant would maintain an appropriate weighing device.  As for calculating, if this kind of movement caught on, we have far better toys than they did back in the heyday of gold and silver as the primary medium of exchange.  Digital scales range from cheap to not very expensive and the producers of these devices would see the market for scales that convert between gold, silver, and FRN's.  They'd probably auto download the current prices from the commodity exchange and notify the owner when price reached preset values to trigger a price adjustment of the merchant's products.  Accounting software would be patched to accomodate this new exchange medium as well.  

Yes, there would be an adjustment period, but it's nothing that a decent educational campaign couldn't handle.

[coffeeseven]

It is a pdf (about 2megs) that says that the Liberty Dollar people including RCO's, Associates, and Merchants are all conspiring together to defraud the government. So I guess many of us are officially on their list.

I don't think we could have bought a better opportunity to get the fraud of FRN's out into the mainstream.

I got a kick out of the AP story - (Ron Paul's) craggy visage. What's the benchmark for something like that? 

[dalebert]

"FAKE coins, FAKE, it's FAKE, it's just shitty gold and silver, not real and worthless paper!!!!"

That may call for a cartoon.

[41mag]

Accounting software would be patched to accomodate this new exchange medium as well. 

I'm using GnuCash under Linux.  It already does support metals (Au, Ag, Pt, and Pd) and allows for conversions between them.

[mvpel]

I'm sure someone has pointed this out already, but I know of no place that sells metals right at spot price. Unless you buy a couple tons or some ridiculous shit like that.

The "spot price" is the per-ounce cash price of a 500-ounce ingot of silver located in New York City for immediate delivery.

The close on Friday was $14.483, so if you have $7,241.50 in cash and a stout back in New York with which to haul it away first thing Monday morning, a 500 ounce ingot of silver (34.3 pounds) can be yours for the spot price.

Or five of these babies:



... which each weigh about as much as a baby.

[KBCraig]

The government would be very angry if this document was passed around the internet all willy nilly.

You mean like this?

http://www.johnlocke.org/site-docs/meckdeck/pdfs/USAVLibdoll.pdf

"JohnLocke.org" is an interesting choice of names.

[KBCraig]

... given how difficult it is for the average operator to break a five without a calculator ...

Heh. I went through a drive-through last night. The total was $10.84, and I handed him a twenty. He said they were out of $1 bills, and asked if I had the change. I didn't, but I handed him a one so that he could give me $10.16 change. For a full 45 seconds I watched through the window as his lips and fingers moved, until he finally reached over and used a calculator.

And of course, his register was showing $9.16 change due before I handed him the one, but he just couldn't make the leap.

[mvpel]

If any of us wanted to be flim-flam artists, we could probably make a pretty luxurious living off the products of American public schools.

[Kat Kanning]

Maybe send you ideas to JP.  He'd put them to good use, I'm sure.

[jaqeboy]

but the government doesn't get to decide what words we use .... what better word is there for a small round piece of precious metal?

slug

[jaqeboy]

These are some great ideas, jaqeboy!  Being atheist, I especially like the "Live Free" slogan.  "Live Free or Die" may cross into a gray area, as that could cause the coin token to be mistaken by some as a state-issued currency.

OK, I've got it! "Give Me Liberty!" (and forget about that death part again...) - a play on give me Liberty dollars.

I like the idea of depicting the Old Man.  Another good image to use would be a phoenix (see my previous post).

The Old Man might be constured to be a State of New Hampshire trademark, though it shouldn't & it sounds like the phoenix might have similar TM problems, even though I like it.

How about, well, uh, .....

a PORCUPINE?!?

[jaqeboy]

Maybe those AltExpo people would let us use the PorcuPirate

[Russell Kanning]

I'm sure someone has pointed this out already, but I know of no place that sells metals right at spot price. Unless you buy a couple tons or some ridiculous shit like that.

only on paper

you could come close ... if you had a truck backed up to the right door and electronic payment already made

but sometimes Dada sells at spot .... sometimes I do too .... what about that guy from minny-minny with the box of silver and gold?

[Russell Kanning]

but the government doesn't get to decide what words we use .... what better word is there for a small round piece of precious metal?

slug

but what if it is pretty?