Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution delegates power to the federal government “To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standards of Weights and Measures.”
Article I, Section 10 forbids any State to “Coin money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”
The Framers of the Constitution deemed it very important that the nation’s money supply should be based on gold and silver since both have always had intrinsic value. They also wanted a monetary system that would be uniform throughout the several States instead of thirteen or however many different currencies circulating from State to State causing major confusion. In other words, a sound money base would also substantiate a sound economy for all the citizens of every State to prosper and grow wealth which is the basis for capitalism. To prove how right they were and how wrong our current monetary system is based, I will illustrate the following example.
In 1970, the average price of gasoline was roughly 25 cents a gallon and the value of silver was close to $1.60 an ounce. One-fourth of a dollar would purchase a gallon of gas and one-fourth of an ounce of silver (40 cents) would purchase 1.6 gallons. Depending on the type vehicle one would drive would determine their mpg, but for simplicity sakes, I will use 20 mpg which would take you down the road quite a ways for 25 or 40 cents.
In today’s economic environment, gasoline is roughly $2.45 a gallon and the value of silver around $16 an ounce. That same 25 cents that used to purchase a gallon of gas now would buy 12.8 fluid ounces or a cup and a half, which may allow you to crank your car and back it out of the driveway. On the other hand, one-fourth of an ounce of silver ($4.00) would purchase close to 1 1/2 gallons of gas which would allow for about 30 miles traveling distance at 20 mpg. This is quite a remarkable contrast and does not take a degree in economics to comprehend.
This, dear readers, is how much the value of your money has depreciated in 44 years and will continue to grow worse if our current monetary system continues. The major difference is the old monetary system was backed by gold and silver while our current monetary system is backed by nothing more than a promise. This was instituted when the Federal Reserve was unconstitutionally ordained by the federal government in 1913 and there is absolutely nothing federal about this bank except the name. It is comprised of independent bankers who unscrupulously manipulates the value of our money.
The point I’m trying to make is the true price Americans are paying by getting off the gold standard which has resulted in inflation and is a hidden tax that we all pay. On a final note, after the adoption of the Constitution, Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1792 that set the standard by which gold and silver would be valued. What truly should get your attention to this coinage act is that any employee of the mint that fraudulently manipulated or debased the gold and silver coins would be deemed guilty of a felony and would suffer death. This alone would empty the Federal Reserve that provides for this artful deception. What a striking contrast in today’s America where it is considered absolutely legal to manipulate the value of our hard-earned money and the citizenry blindly accepts what the Founding Fathers condemned as a felony!
Loy Mauch.
The Anti-Federalist 