Apparently debasing American coinage was a big deal to people in 1792.
SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That if any of the gold or silver coins which shall be struck or coined at the said Mint shall be debased or made worse as to the proportion of fine gold or fine silver therein contained, or shall be of less weight or value than the same ought to be pursuant to connivance of any of the officers or persons who shall be employed at the said Mint, for the purpose of profit or gain, officers or persons shall embezzle any of the metals which shall at any time be committed to their charge for the purpose of being coined at the said Mint, every such officer or person who shall commit any or either of the said offences, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall suffer death.
As of today July 1, 2021 a US $1 coin has a melt value of about 7 cents.
Lyndon Johnson Proved Gresham’s Law Is Correct In 1965 Lyndon Johnson assured the nation that “we expect our traditional silver coins to be with us in large numbers for a long, long time.” 😂😂😀😀😀😀😂😂😀😀😀😀😀😂😂😂 Got silver?
Basically, the title. Read the Wikipedia article here.
July 23rd marked the default of the US Treasury as a bullion bank. That was the day the US Treasury effectively defaulted on its promise to redeem dollars for silver. Yes, the US Treasury faced a short squeeze and blinked.
Because dollars were exchangeable for gold and silver, they were effectively short contracts. The government "went short" by issuing silver IOUs, and dollar holders were "long" by holding dollars. Just like SLV today, dollars were effectively silver IOUs. Through government deficit spending, more and more claims were produced. Reserves were insufficient to maintain the fixed ratio between dollars and silver at $1.29/oz.
So did the government buy more silver to bulk up their reserves? No, they defaulted on their promise to supply silver for the dollars they issued. They defaulted on their promise to pay the public in silver for the dollars in their pockets. They defaulted as a bullion bank. They devalued the currency rather than honestly and transparently tax the public for their spending programs.
People say you can't squeeze silver. They're wrong. Today's bullion banks are going through the same crisis today - they issued too many IOUs, and now the longs are demanding delivery. It will end the same way - they'll either default or buy to cover their short positions, or bleed premiums for settling in cash. See here and here for more I've written on this.
That's my pitch for July 23rd. Of course, everyday is raid day, but it's nice to plan something special.
Are you in?
Not financial advice. Just like the shiny. Long the shiny. Long companies who dig up the shiny.
Edit 1: Added links to my other posts relating to the US Treasury as a bullion bank that defaulted.
Edit 2: I'm going to put up a poll and see what other apes think.
Edit 3: Vote in the poll.
Prior to the Coinage Act of 1965 there had been several iterations of Coinage Acts since 1792 altering the amount of precious metals in U.S. coin currency, their fixed value, and what the U.S. Treasury would purchase or sell among other things. Leading up to the Coinage Act of 1965, silver demand had skyrocketed due primarily to industrial demand as new uses for silver in manufacturing were either discovered or expanded in their volume of production due to increasing demand. The silver price rise became so pronounced that the U.S. Treasury was exchanging silver at a fixed rate of Silver Certificates or Federal Reserve Notes at values that were less than the going market rate, draining the Treasury of its silver stock and effectively costing it money and enabling an arbitrage opportunity for speculators.
“Hoarding” of silver content coins had begun, primarily due to the silver price’s nominal legal tender value being lower than the market value, but the problem was blamed on a series of events including mismanagement of the demand differences across different regions by the U.S. Mint of the volume of coins needed to enable commerce. After an “extensive study by the Treasury”, where the decision had already been made and the study was done to justify it not truly study it, Lyndon B. Johnson asked Congress to eliminate the silver content from the dime and quarter going forward and to reduce the half-dollar silver content of 40% compared to the prior 90%. The silver dollar’s content would stay the same but they had no intentions of minting any given the current silver situation.
The opposition to the Act was primarily from western silver mining interests, who attempted to include provisions to ban the hoarding of silver coins or opposed the bill outright. The payoff to the mining industry to pass the bill was a guarantee from the Treasury to purchase any silver when presented to it by a mining company at a fixed $1.25 for five years. The final bill included a provision to allocate $30-$45 million dollars to expand existing mint facilities - it's easier and cheaper to create currency when it's not backed by anything of true value and they were about to finally free themselves of this hard money constraint.
Interestingly, the mint continued to strike 1964 silver quarters until 1966 when the then Secretary Fowler announced that the coin shortage was over. Silver held by the Treasury continued to fall as they attempted to maintain the fixed price with their sol
... keep reading on reddit ➡
Coinage Act of 1873 and the Gold Standard
The Coinage Act of 1873 was literally the culmination of many of the things that Bullion TP has been writing about, specifically the battle between Gold or Silver dominance that was tied to the gold and silver being extracted in recent decades from out West. As a reminder, around 1849 the Gold Rush had commenced in California and a decade later the Silver Rush started in Nevada. Starting in 1869, Treasury Secretary George Boutwell had Deputy Comptroller of the Currency John Jay Knox begin drafting a new Coinage Act which was introduced to Congress by Ohio Senator John Sherman.
The fear at the time was that the newly evolved gold standard, aided by the extraction of vast amounts of Gold from the American West, particularly in California, was going to be threatened in the future by the expect large amount of silver coinage that was expected as a result of the Comstock Lode and other silver discoveries and ongoing extraction efforts. This was viewed as a direct threat to the Gold Standard.
The bill sought to end the right of silver holders to demand that their silver bullion be minted into legal tender at the U.S. Mint. While the fact that this bill would end bimetallism in the United States was acknowledged, it was downplayed during the three years that the bill was debated in Congress. The combination of the government abandoning its support for silver minting into legal tender and the massive amount of silver that was hitting the market at the time dropped the price of silver dramatically.
When silver producers went to have their silver minted in 1873 they were surprised to find that this was no longer an option and began to raise hell about it politically. The Panic of 1873 occurring during the same year as the passage of the Act, continued for much of the decade and led to an increased demand for a return to bimetallism. Populism was intricately tied into the argument for including silver in the monetary system as its proliferation and lower values made it be viewed as the People’s Currency over Gold which was much more likely to be used as a medium of exchange for the higher and elite classes.
This political division would culminate in the Cross of Gold Speech by Presidential Candidate William Jennings Bryan in 1896.
Analysis: The great conflict of Gold vs. Silver that evolved in the 19th century was very complicated in nature. Gold’s rise was pushed for political reasons to destroy the Second Bank but
... keep reading on reddit ➡Even an F student would get the question right. When inflation goes up what do metals do? Why did metals go down on rising inflation report, Wednesday? What are we up against in our cause greater than ourselves? If metals go up then the whole FED policy is wrong. Zero interest rates and money printing would have to change to rising rates and tapering. This would destroy the 1%ers drug of easy money making them rich, rich, rich. Who are they: In 1874 they outlawed silver as money with the coinage act. In the 30s by executive order F.D.R. stole all citizens gold. In the 60s by executive order J.F.K. was going to put us on the silver standard cutting out the fed. What happened to him? TODAY it us apes. NEVER BEFORE HAS A SILVER COMMUNITY LIKE THIS COME TOGETHER. Together we can do this. Buy what you can when you can. Every ounce adds to our cause. Let go apes.
" On February 12, 1873, the Coinage Act was passed which demonetized silver, by removing the silver dollar as a unit of account. This was the next stage in the banker’s war on America, the removal of silver and eventually gold as well, from the United States money supply. Since the coinage laws in the Constitution explicitly gave Congress alone the power to coin money, this was the last block the bankers needed to remove by legislation. Congress had reduced the amount of gold and silver in the coins so that American metals would not be exported to foreign countries, because they would not meet international weights and measures. The act of March 3, 1853 created the gold and silver certificates which were fully redeemable in either gold or silver at any time. These were Treasury issues, not the borrowed credit of bankers. "
Starting on Page 55 of this online book.
https://thepoliticsofpot.com/chapter-8/
On February 12, 1873, the Coinage Act was passed which demonetized silver, by removing the silver dollar as a unit of account. This was the next stage in the banker’s war on America, the removal of silver and eventually gold as well, from the United States money supply. Since the coinage laws in the Constitution explicitly gave Congress alone the power to coin money, this was the last block the bankers needed to remove by legislation. Congress had reduced the amount of gold and silver in the coins so that American metals would not be exported to foreign countries, because they would not meet international weights and measures. The act of March 3, 1853 created the gold and silver certificates which were fully redeemable in either gold or silver at any time. These were Treasury issues, not the borrowed credit of bankers.
Quoting from The Coming Battle, Walbert writes:
“Prior to 1861, the annual production of silver in the United States never exceeded the value of $100,000, on the other hand, the amount of gold produced in the mines of California, from 1848 to the outbreak of the war, amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. The greatest amount of gold produced from American mines in any one year was in 1853, when it reached the enormous sum of $65,000,000. The total product of gold from the mines of the United States, from 1848 to 1861, inclusive, reached the grand total of $700,000,000.
In the year 1859, that great deposit of silver, was dis
Introduced: Sponsor: Rep. Nanette Barragán [D-CA44]
This bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce which will consider it before sending it to the House floor for consideration.
Rep. Nanette Barragán [D-CA44] is a member of the committee.
That's going to make someone unhappy
And be it further enacted, That if any of the gold or silver coins which shall be struck or coined at the said mint shall be debased or made worse as to the proportion of the fine gold or fine silver therein contained, or shall be of less weight or value than the same out to be pursuant to the directions of this act, through the default or with the connivance of any of the officers or persons who shall be employed at the said mint, for the purpose of profit or gain, or otherwise with a fraudulent intent, and if any of the said officers or persons shall embezzle any of the metals which shall at any time be committed to their charge for the purpose of being coined, or any of the coins which shall be struck or coined at the said mint, every such officer or person who shall commit any or either of the said offenses, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall suffer death. section 19 of coinage act of 1792
The Coinage Act of 1792 - S.19 - Prescribes death for Treasury Employees who tamper with coins to debase their value. Today's Fed would be in trouble.
" That if any of the gold or silver coins which shall be struck or coined at the said Mint shall be debased or made worse as to the proportion of fine gold or fine silver therein contained, or shall be of less weight or value than the same ought to be pursuant to connivance of any of the officers or persons who shall be employed at the said Mint, for the purpose of profit or gain, officers or persons shall embezzle any of the metals which shall at any time be committed to their charge for the purpose of being coined at the said Mint, every such officer or person who shall commit any or either of the said offences, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall suffer death."
Prior to the Coinage Act of 1965 there had been several iterations of Coinage Acts since 1792 altering the amount of precious metals in U.S. coin currency, their fixed value, and what the U.S. Treasury would purchase or sell among other things. Leading up to the Coinage Act of 1965, silver demand had skyrocketed due primarily to industrial demand as new uses for silver in manufacturing were either discovered or expanded in their volume of production due to increasing demand. The silver price rise became so pronounced that the U.S. Treasury was exchanging silver at a fixed rate of Silver Certificates or Federal Reserve Notes at values that were less than the going market rate, draining the Treasury of its silver stock and effectively costing it money and enabling an arbitrage opportunity for speculators.
“Hoarding” of silver content coins had begun, primarily due to the silver price’s nominal legal tender value being lower than the market value, but the problem was blamed on a series of events including mismanagement of the demand differences across different regions by the U.S. Mint of the volume of coins needed to enable commerce. After an “extensive study by the Treasury”, where the decision had already been made and the study was done to justify it not truly study it, Lyndon B. Johnson asked Congress to eliminate the silver content from the dime and quarter going forward and to reduce the half-dollar silver content of 40% compared to the prior 90%. The silver dollar’s content would stay the same but they had no intentions of minting any given the current silver situation.
The opposition to the Act was primarily from western silver mining interests, who attempted to include provisions to ban the hoarding of silver coins or opposed the bill outright. The payoff to the mining industry to pass the bill was a guarantee from the Treasury to purchase any silver when presented to it by a mining company at a fixed $1.25 for five years. The final bill included a provision to allocate $30-$45 million dollars to expand existing mint facilities - it's easier and cheaper to create currency when it's not backed by anything of true value and they were about to finally free themselves of this hard money constraint.
Interestingly, the mint continued to strike 1964 silver quarters until 1966 when the then Secretary F
... keep reading on reddit ➡Prior to the Coinage Act of 1965 there had been several iterations of Coinage Acts since 1792 altering the amount of precious metals in U.S. coin currency, their fixed value, and what the U.S. Treasury would purchase or sell among other things. Leading up to the Coinage Act of 1965, silver demand had skyrocketed due primarily to industrial demand as new uses for silver in manufacturing were either discovered or expanded in their volume of production due to increasing demand. The silver price rise became so pronounced that the U.S. Treasury was exchanging silver at a fixed rate of Silver Certificates or Federal Reserve Notes at values that were less than the going market rate, draining the Treasury of its silver stock and effectively costing it money and enabling an arbitrage opportunity for speculators.
https://preview.redd.it/vtdt2qt34v271.png?width=671&format=png&auto=webp&s=8dd05e18669cd84e1e6d49f752b208ac92d49c95
“Hoarding” of silver content coins had begun, primarily due to the silver price’s nominal legal tender value being lower than the market value, but the problem was blamed on a series of events including mismanagement of the demand differences across different regions by the U.S. Mint of the volume of coins needed to enable commerce. After an “extensive study by the Treasury”, where the decision had already been made and the study was done to justify it not truly study it, Lyndon B. Johnson asked Congress to eliminate the silver content from the dime and quarter going forward and to reduce the half-dollar silver content of 40% compared to the prior 90%. The silver dollar’s content would stay the same but they had no intentions of minting any given the current silver situation.
The opposition to the Act was primarily from western silver mining interests, who attempted to include provisions to ban the hoarding of silver coins or opposed the bill outright. The payoff to the mining industry to pass the bill was a guarantee from the Treasury to purchase any silver when presented to it by a mining company at a fixed $1.25 for five years. The final bill included a provision to allocate $30-$45 million dollars to expand existing mint facilities - it's easier and cheaper to create currency when it's not backed by anything of true value and they were about to finally free themselves of this hard money constraint.
Interestingly, the mint continued to strike 1964 silver quarters until 1966 when the then Secretary Fowler announced that the c
... keep reading on reddit ➡
