Arizona lawmakers
approve gold and silver as legal tender Published time:
April 10, 2013 19:41
And now for some heavy metal
news: the Arizona state legislature has officially approved
a measure to make gold and silver legal tender.
As RT reported earlier, an effort in the
State House and Senate to have precious metals once again
considered legitimate currency has garnered an immense amount
of support in recent months, particularly in the wake of
ongoing round of quantitative easing conducted by the US
Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank. On Monday,
the Arizona House of Representatives signed-off on a Senate
bill that now only requires the governor’s signature
to become official [PDF].
Once Gov. Jan Brewer authorizes the bill,
retailers in Arizona that are willing to accept gold and
silver in lieu of paper money are allowed to let customers
purchase goods with precious bullion.
"This gives them the ability to
use it as tender and have the same recognition as the paper
dollar coming out of the Federal Reserve," Republican
State Sen. Chester Crandell tells the Associated Press.
Sen. Crandell is a sponsor of the bill,
SB 1439, and helped craft the act to mimic a similar law
that was passed in the state of Utah in 2011. Speaking to
the AP from Arizona, Scottsdale Bullion & Coin broker
Mike Rowlands suggests other states should follow suit before
the buying value of the dollar diminishes even further.
"We know in the situation where
we're at they continue to pump money in and pump money in,
which eventually that game is going to end," Rowlands
tells the AP.
Days before the Arizona House approved Sen.
Crandell’s bill with a 36-22 vote, University of Central
Oklahoma Professor Loren Gatch told Bloomberg News that
more states are likely to adopt similar bills if the Federal
Reserve continues its current policies under Chairman Ben
Bernanke.
“The legislation is about signaling
discontent with monetary policy and about what Ben Bernanke
is doing,” Gatch said. “There is a
fear that the government, or Bernanke in particular and
the Federal Reserve, is pursuing a policy that will lead
to the collapse of the dollar. That’s what is behind
it.”
Lawmakers in Arizona might not have words
as harsh as Gatch, but nonetheless seem to agree: since
the United States abandoned the gold standard in 1971, inflation
has been rampant as prices soar and the dollar’s value
declines.
For some, though, going back to how things
were before the ‘70s seems to just make sense.
“This is the type of currency we have had over the
history of mankind,” adds Republican State Rep.
Steve Smith.
If Gov. Brewer signs off on the bill, Arizona
residents will be allowed to use gold and silver as legal
tender starting in 2014 — only, of course, in places
willing to accept them. After the Arizona Senate first passed
the bill in February, the House tacked on an amendment that
exempts the state’s Department of Revenue from being
covered under the measures — essentially negating
a rule that would have mandated businesses accept precious
metals.
“They wanted to make sure they
wouldn’t be required to take gold and silver,”
Republican State Rep. David Livingston says of the department.
“They just didn’t want to have to deal with
it right now.”