- Gold and silver are the only "legal tender" listed in the Constitution.
- The United States stopped using gold to back US Federal Reserve Notes ("Legal Tender") in 1934 and silver stopped in the 1960s. Then, in 1971, the U.S. "came off the gold standard" completely.
"Bulk Cash Smuggling" Because Carrying Cash (i.e. "Legal Tender") Is A Sure Sign of Illegal Activities (a.k.a. Money Laundering and Terrorism)
What do you need to carry bulks of cash around for when you could put your cash in your bank and use your bank card to access it no matter where you are in the world?
- I like cash. It's lighter than gold.
- I don't think I need to pay someone else to hold my cash for me. After all, I'm perfectly capable of holding my own cash without the fiscal drain of vampiric banks sucking away my holdings.
- I like my privacy. Nothing is more personal than my undergarments and my spending habits.
- I like controlling my funds without third party interference. Ever notice how your balance book never matches your account balance?
If cash is legal tender, how can anyone that is carrying it be accused of "smuggling"?
Okay. I watched. So what?
Constitution Article 1, Section 8
The Congress shall have Power [...]
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
Art. 1, Sect. 8 grants the Federal Congress the capacity for coining money, regulating value of it and foreign coin, while allowing for federal punishment of counterfeiters.
Constitution Article 1, Section 10
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility [...]
Art. 1, Sect. 10 prohibits the individual states from coining money and making laws about paying debts with anything other than gold and silver coins.
The federal government was supposed to create tender in silver and gold. The states were prohibited from making laws allowing debts to be paid in anything but the federally minted gold and silver tender. In essence, when big banking sunk its greedy teeth into the US government (Federal Reserve Act of 1913), under the guise of stabilizing the economy, what really happened was the slow erosion of the Constitutional mandate for hard currency in the form of gold and silver tender/coin. One of the first things (1914) that the Fed did was issue "$10 Federal Reserve Notes" and then in 1918 they issued "Large Denomination" Federal Reserve Notes (these notes were discontinued in 1969).
(Side Note: While the Federal Reserve was creating it's first tender, we were also fighting in World War I.)
The Great Depression hit in 1929. The result was economic chaos. By 1933, citizens had lost faith in the banking system. Rather than face the music in regards to the shady business practices that led up to the Great Depression and the subsequent Banking Crisis, the US Congress gave the president "emergency" banking powers (1934). The president used these powers to illegalize the use of gold and gold certificates. The US Treasury was told not to exchange dollars for gold.
This is the moment that federal reserve notes (dollars) became the only legal tender for contracts, and thus debts. So, you see, there is no Constitutional basis for dollars. It turns out that gold and silver are fucking heavy. That's why we've historically used representative slips of paper and determined that banks were decent places to stash our collections of precious metals. But, the Great Depression and the Banking Crisis showed the people that the greedy banksters were not trustworthy. Their predatory lending practices had led to an economic disaster and the smart citizens literally ran to the bank to get their property back.
That's all in the past.
In 2001, after the World Trade Center towers were destroyed, Congress approved emergency legislation that eroded civil liberties in the name of the War on Terror. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 included banking as part of the "critical infrastructure" of the United States. By 2004, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 made it clear that FinCEN's DATA collection was integral to the cross-border fight against terrorism. To fight the "War on Terror" anyone who uses a bank is subject to government scrutiny. And, anyone who doesn't use banks is subject to twice as much scrutiny.
We live in a "post-9/11" world where technological invasions of privacy are so mainstream that the phrase "privacy is dead" has become part of the culture.
The Great Recession of 2008 was followed by bank bailouts to the tune of BILLIONS.
Congress passed emergency legislation which gave the banks even more money. That means that Congress gave tax payer money to the very people who'd just spent years robbing tax payers (and foreign visitors). That pissed people off. But, it didn't change the system. In fact, the banking system and more recently the electronic banking system have become so entrenched in daily life, that people cannot fathom alternatives.
Given the conditions, is it no surprise that Bitcoin, the first ever open source blockchain, was invented in 2009?
Because of Bitcoin's open source nature, other blockchains have since been created. The fact that cryptocurrency is growing in popularity has only served to spur various federal government agencies to issue rules, guidelines, and other informative missives regarding virtual currencies.
Congress has not made any laws regarding cryptocurrency, yet. State regulations vary. Cryptocurrency traders run the risk of being unlawfully targeted by overreaching federal enforcement officers who see money laundering in every cryptocurrency transaction. Only, these federal enforcers have ignored the fact that until a law is written, a law cannot be broken.
Cryptocurrency traders are no different than software in-game item traders. The cryptocurrency game is a decentralized private banking model, replete with trading platforms, electronic funds transfer access, and time consuming in-game missions (faucets, SteemIt). The fact that some people and businesses offer real world items for tokens from the game, doesn't make cryptocurrency traders into money launderers or terrorists. It just makes them gamers in an alternate reality game where banks aren't controlled by governments. It's an ARG that has the FED shaking their fists and arresting crypto traders.
Up Next on Congressional Carnival [S1E2]
Further Readings: In no particular order
FDR takes US off Gold Standard
Roosevelt's Gold Program
Emergency Banking Act of 1933
History of American Currency
Federal Reserve Act
US Currency Brief History
US Constitution
The Great Recession of 2008
Bitcoin Invented
9-11 Commission
9-11 Commission Report
US Patriot Act
REAL ID Act
Franklin Roosevelt
Nixon Shock
Federal Reserve of Richmond
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