What do you think of the liberty dollar?

timrutnat · October 12, 2005 5:08AM

Does anyone use the liberty dollar (www.libertydollar.org) and if so what do you think of it?

Weiss · October 12, 2005 5:36AM

Spam? A legitimate question?

If you want to use metals to protect yourself from fiat currency...buy metals. But swapping paper for paper (and paying a premium to get stuck with that paper) is not the answer.

itsnotjustme · October 12, 2005 5:57AM

I think it is a great way for the makers to get your valuable green dollars in exchange for their worthless monopoly dollars!

<< The all important "unit of accounting" of the Liberty Dollar is exactly the same as the US dollar so it functions dollar-for-dollar with the current Federal Reserve Note (US dollar) and makes it very easy for merchants and customers to use it. >>

So how is a Liberty Dollar Protecting you from inflation if it functions dollar for dollar with Federal Reserve Notes?

The $10 Liberty is one ounce of silver. Now that is inflation! If silver became $12 per ounce, and your $10 Liberty was still $10, that sould suck.

ms70 · October 12, 2005 6:02AM

<< At that time our dollar was backed by real silver that is now worth $10 and it still buys four gallons of gas! >>

That's a great thinking point!

Nocerino18 · October 12, 2005 6:06AM

<< monopoly dollars! >>

I loved that line.

itsnotjustme · October 12, 2005 6:11AM

If you want to send in $107, they will send you (4) 10LD 1oz "coins", 40 LD in paper, and 20 Digital LDs. Good luck spending them. But you can sell the silver for spot! Why not get ASEs instead?

Also there is a bogus pyramid scheme here. Pay $250 in real green money, and get 100 LDs plus future LDs at a 3% discount. And if you get 2 more people to pay $250 real money, they will give them the same deal. So if real dollar are so useless and LDs so great, why are the people at this company so anxious to sell LDs below "face" value for Federal Reserve Notes?

The point about silver and gas is well know. Precious metals can serve as a hedge against inflation. No surprise there. But when the value of silver moves from $4 to $8 your LD is still equiv of 1 USD (if you can find a mechant who accepts it.

JJM · October 12, 2005 6:11AM

I accept this currency in restaurant......quality struck silver

timrutnat · October 12, 2005 6:17AM

I was having a conversation about the liberty dollar with some co-workers and it brought up a lot of questions so thought I'd post this question. It seems like a good idea in theory but a rip in actual practice. I still don't understand why a merchant would accept the 10 liberty note in exchange for $10 of merchandise. The 10 liberty note is only worth one ounce of silver. Maybe I'm missing something.

AlixTCat · October 12, 2005 6:19AM

<< Does anyone use the liberty dollar (www.libertydollar.org) and if so what do you think of it? >>

I read the website. I looked high and low. If a liberty dollar is as good as a greenback, WHERE IN THE HECK CAN YOU SPEND IT? They don't give a list of merchants.
With the looks I get spending $2 bills, I KNOW NO PLACE will accept them.

What a farse.

Jonathan

coinguy1 · October 12, 2005 6:23AM

Often, when someone is "selling" something like that, the longer they spend telling you how wonderful it is and why it's such a good deal for the buyer, the worse it actually is.

This is one of those times.

itsnotjustme · October 12, 2005 6:27AM

From wikipedia...

Criticism of Liberty Dollars
The Liberty Dollar does not have the liquidity generally associated with a currency, such as the ability to easily convert to other currencies, and the ability to deposit in savings or checking accounts in conventional banks. Moreover, critics believe the NORFED claims that the currency is "inflation proof" to be false. Instead, it is hedged against inflation since generally silver and gold retain their values in high inflationary periods, but can lose value in periods of deflation or low inflation.

The widest criticism of Liberty Dollars is that they are not backed with silver in an amount equivalent to the face value of the currency based on current prices of silver. A related criticism is that Liberty Dollars can only be exchanged for silver coins (currently, a 1 ounce coin per every $10 in Liberty Dollars) through NORFED representatives who have signed up to become redemption centers. Essentially this means that a business accepting Liberty Dollars, and unable to deposit them in a bank as with U.S. Dollars, can only cash in Liberty Dollars by redeeming them for silver at a 30-40% loss in value (at current spot prices). The ease of doing this depends on whether there is even a NORFED representative in ones local area. However, this is rarely a problem for merchants who accept Liberty Dollars, since they tend to give out more Liberty Dollars in change than they accept. This results in the participating merchants receiving part of the profit from currency distribution (seignorage). For the US dollar, the Federal Reserve Bank collects 100% of the seignorage at a much higher rate.

These criticisms have been made by many who would otherwise support the idea of an alternative currency, including Carl Watner who publishes the individualist anarchist newsletter The Voluntaryist, and Las Vegas libertarian writer Vin Suprynowicz, who calls NORFED a multi-level marketing scheme. NORFED claims not to be multi-level marketing.

Some of the critics including Carl Watner agree with the concept of hard money, but disagree with NORFEDs marketing plan. In particular, they note that NORFEDs "dollar base" is extremely rigid compared to the spot price of silver, and prefer the use of generic silver rounds. Furthermore, by stamping a US dollar amount on the coins, NORFED defeats the purpose of measuring money in terms of weights of specie. Much of the confusion regarding backing might be attributed to this confusing specification of a fiat money price. Also, the US dollar price may confuse end-users into thinking that the Liberty Dollar is legal tender, and unscrupulous dealers may use this confusion to pass Liberty Dollars to those who don't realize that they are not official government currency.

JJM · October 12, 2005 6:31AM

I get it at 90% of the FRN rate !...I make money jumpstarting the currency....and at the end of the day , its quailty bouillion

nwcs · October 12, 2005 6:49AM

<< Often, when someone is "selling" something like that, the longer they spend telling you how wonderful it is and why it's such a good deal for the buyer, the worse it actually is.

This is one of those times. >>

Wisdom to live by

xbob · October 12, 2005 6:49AM

Personally I think it's a major scam. You "buy" Liberty Dollars for more than they are worth, then have to figure out where you can spend them. Collectibles - maybe, Bullion - yes, currency - yeah right? I saw the founder on some Discovery channel show about money and they asked him the same about spending it. He proceeded to walk up to some street vendors to demonstrate it's acceptability. His line, "Can I pay you in the new Liberty dollars? It's new money." The vendors they showed, seeming a little confused, said sure. From what I remember, they were vendors that didn't seem to have English as their primary language (i.e. foreigners). Plus, with all the new coin and currency designs coming out I could see how many could be confused by such an offer. Extremely deceptive!

Just wait until they try to deposit it at a bank.

All they have in $7 in silver in exchange for $10 in goods.

There are some good past threads about this topic.

BlindedByEgo · October 12, 2005 7:00AM

Caveat emptor in extremis

Cladiator · October 12, 2005 7:18AM

Never heard of them.

What do you think of the liberty dollar?

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