Reinventing the Wheel, Libertarian style, Again!
A short visit to the United States Mint web site then following bread crums found there should lead most folks to Section 5112 Denominations Specifications and Design
of Coins of the US Code. You need to read the law yourself because I am not allowed to have "legal" opinions nor would I really want to. It does say "coins minted under this title shall be legal
tender" and then refers you to Section 5103. Please spend a few hours in the bowels of a law library. Doing that before the fact is preferable to fighting daGubamint inside the Barrister Zone after the deed its done.
The Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985 (see Wikipedia) requires among other things that the gold used to mint these coins shall be purchased from US mines, that enough are produced to satisfy the public demand and it sets standards and profit margins so ordinary citizens can purchase them from reputable private dealers with at least some confidence. The law now also covers silver and platinum.
I feel sorry for Mr. NotHaus but you have to wonder why. Why would intellegent people simply not band together, meet the asset and trade registration requirements to become Mint wholesalers or deal with established companies like APMEX (www.apmex.com) that sell bullion coins and avoid the pitfalls assoicaiated with building square wheels.
Freedom fighters often choose the wrong battles and ignore ordinary tools. Why not accept what Congress and Ronald Reagan gave us. The 3 to 9% markup the US Mint feels is the fair market value of their services seem well within the bounds of reason. Is the law perfect? No! and neither is anything else human. Maybe just maybe some of the folks in government are not pure evil and not everything done in WDC (Washington District of Corruption) is totally unconsitutional.
In the next few years or weeks we shall see whether States like Utah will be allowed to coin their own gold and silver money and use them as currency.
