It just occurred to me...
Submitted by jkeehn1 on Thu, 04/03/2008 - 08:02
If the value of the copper in a penny is worth more that it's face value at present, shouldn't there be a way to implement a form of localized commodity-backed currency?. I have no idea how to do this. But I assume that if people started taking their change in pennies and paying in pennies, it would produce a lot of questions and that could fuel the spread of the idea.
I know that a lot of people have stopped actively using them and that there is a lot of pennies out there in jars and coffee cans.
It's just the seed of an idea...
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2 cents
The copper value of an older penny isn't worth the effort to save them or use them.
You are referring to new pennies or old pennies?
Pennies minted from about 1981 or 1982 (I forget the exact year) are just zinc plugs with a copper coating. Cut one in half and all you'll see is cheap white metal.
Pennies minted before the change to zinc are almost all copper. Indeed, these pennies are worth more in commodity value than face value. The same goes for silver coins minted up to 1964.
Here's a great article by Tim Case on LRC about what it means when governments change the metal content of their currency.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/case/case14.html
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RON PAUL 2012
Thanks
I was unaware of that. That puts us in Numismatic territory again...
Still, the amount of copper
Still, the amount of copper in Pennies -- even the ones made today -- the copper content in the pennies are worth more then the actual penny itself.
The Treasury Dept actually passed a regulation last year saying it was illegal to melt down pemmies for their copper content.
The copper itself is worth more then a penny. PLUS you have all that zinc leftover.
Paul recently stated in his speach against making steel pennies about how we can even maintain the zinc standard anymore.
Tracy
BerkShares Local Currency on CBS (2007)
Another clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoVCozG84mY
BerkShares on ABC News
Berkshire MA has it's own currency. I've posted this before but it didn't stick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzzkDRIjW30
Indeed it is...
copper is obviously not precious like silver or gold, but it does have value, and is more durable and tangible than paper. It's already accepted by the people, already in wide circulation, etc.
The only problem is valuation. It's current value is so trivial relative to the price of every commodity, product and service that it's hard to see how pennies could work as a primary form of payment.
Somehow prices would need to be adjusted.
Pricing is the unrecognized problem in our economy, and the most interesting, because it is the only element of any economy that is completely intangible. Time can be valued; labor can be valued; commodities and products can be valued. Price alone is abstract, and less substantive than a breath of air.
Hmmmmmm...
Check out the links above
Peace!
I did
I checked out both of them, thanks. It shows people are thinking along these lines in different ways.
The real problem is coming up with a solution that makes sense for everyone. Right now, that seems to be restoring sound currency back by gold and silver, or more appropriately, as the constitution indicates, gold and silver coin.
Check out the links above
Peace!
See
post above (=>)