brief history of the american dollar

tahoe98

.....enjoy

mrearlygold

Excellent! All of Aaron Russo's expose's were really good.

pakasmom

Thanks tahoe98. Cool video.

Walmann

Any video that starts off with the $5 educational series note is bound to be winner.

tahoe98

.......

PTVETTER

Now that was educational and enjoyable!

ProofArtworkonCircs

I was not impressed. Silver dollars and certificates were not considered real money after the price of silver fell. Their value was in the fact that they could be exchanged for gold by the government (after 1900) and the fact that you needed low value paper money of some sort.

tahoe98

<< <i>I was not impressed. Silver dollars and certificates were not considered real money after the price of silver fell. Their value was in the fact that they could be exchanged for gold by the government (after 1900) and the fact that you needed low value paper money of some sort. >>




.....you win some you lose some.

EagleEye

I like the fact that he used a bunch of cool coins. The use of "Real Money" is twisted in the video. But the presentation is well done. "Real Money" is whatever the issuing authority says "Real Money" is. If you don't believe them, don't accept it as "Real Money". Since the paper in my wallet spends, I'll accept it. Of course, you can give me a proof $20 any day.

tahoe98

.......i'm with ya, rick.

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<Since the paper in my wallet spends, I'll accept it.>>

And that held true for most silver coins in my youth. But I only had to look at my new Whitman Blue Book and see that the common date somewhat heavier silver Trade dollars listed for 60 and 80 cents apiece depending on condition. But that must have been quite a ways up from the Depression.

EagleEye

Yes trade dollars were the bullion coin of their day. They had no monetary value after 1876, that is until 1965. So when silver was so cheap, they were trading below $1. That is a case where the "real money" was the paper and the fiat money was the precious metal coin.

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<They had no monetary value after 1876, that is until 1965.>>

Nothing happened in 1965 regarding Trade dollar status that hadn't already happened in 1933. The Treasury Department has never agreed that the Trade dollar is now legal tender. They say it requires a judicial determination. After it was worth more than $1 in silver, they did agree to redeem them.

EagleEye

The coinage act of 1965 made all us coins from 1793 legal tender. Prior to that Trade Dollars were not legal tender. The 1933 gold act had nothing at all to do with the legal tender status of Trade Dollars.

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<The coinage act of 1965 made all us coins from 1793 legal tender>>

The Treasury Department has never agreed with that as applying to Trade dollars. The 1965 act repeats the language of The Thomas Amendment as amended to the Agricultural Adustment Act of May 12, 1933. To unquestionably reverse the demonitization of Trade dollars, the law should have specifically mentioned them or have some catchall phase like "any other act notwithstanding".

tahoe98

......part 2 video

EagleEye

The Agricultural Adjustment Act of May 12, 1933 was declared unconstitutional in 1936. I don't know if the Thomas Amendment went with it or what happened. The problem was, employers were buying Trade Dollars for under $1 and issuing them to their employees as Dollars. I suppose that's the problem they were trying to address in 1933.

As for the video, he should have gone into Hard Times tokens, and Hoover's strict money policy in the 1930's. The problem we have is spending money and not asking the people to cover it. Or not spending and letting the people know there is no more to spend on NASA, roads, bank bailouts, medicare, Social Security..... Either way, we are seeing a deficit in political will in Congress. On the other hand, last year has shown that the Fed actually works. When we needed to unclog the credit system, it was there to get it working again. Soon they'll have to stop, though.

ProofArtworkonCircs

The Thomas Amendment had nothing to do with agriculture. It was all monetary matters. Items included were:
1) Authorization to issue 3 billion dollars in US notes under certain circumstances. This was never done.
2) Authority to reduce the gold content of the dollar by up to 50%. However the final value of $35 an ounce was set under the Gold Reserve Act of Jan 30, 1934 which required at least a 40% reduction.
3) All coin and currency of the USA is legal tender. Congress later amended this to specifically include National Bank notes and Federal Reserve Bank notes. The act of 1975 has since been recodified and the wording greatly simplified. However "public dues" have been added to the law. There is an old court decision that says money owed to the government is a due and not a debt.
4) Foreign silver could be purchased for 50 cents an ounce and silver certificates issued - hence the $10 silver certificate of 1933.

The "legal tender for all debts" clause has been added to all US paper money since 1933. It did not disappear when the Agriculture Adjustment act was declared unconstitutional. "All dues" has yet to be added to modern money. It did appear on gold certificates.