Posted by shakezilla
on June 5, 2009, 5:27 pm
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090605/NEWS0
Let me start off by saying that I know nothing about Liberty Dollars, so feel free to correct me.
“When groups seek to undermine the U.S. currency system, the government is compelled to act,” said acting U.S. Attorney Edward Ryan of the Western District of North Carolina.
“These coins are not government-produced coinage, yet purchasers were led to believe by those who made and sold them that they should be spent like U.S. Federal Reserve Notes,” Ryan said. “Such claims are in violation of federal law.”
Innes and von NotHaus are charged with uttering and passing coins resembling genuine U.S. coins and intended for use as money, mail fraud and selling and possessing Liberty Dollar coins with intent to defraud.
Well, from the wikipedia page, they don't seem to resemble official currency, so I think a claim of willful misrepresentation is a stretch.
On that note, if the government is so worried about the authority of currency given by its appearance (and they should be, it's one of the few things government needs to do), then they need to stop changing the designs on the damn coins. I had to do a double take the other day because a cashier gave me back a Puerto Rico quarter. Not Puerto Rican currency, just part of the 50 states series.
And I'm sitting here right now looking at a 1994 nickel and a 2006 nickel. In the 2006 coin, Jefferson is positioned incorrectly, and you can tell how the metallic content has changed just by looking at it. Oh, and it has "Liberty" written in cursive.
So yeah, I'm sure this is being done because the government is genuinely concerned about the appearance of currency and the distinguishability and credibility that a traditional appearance gives it.
That said, what's with this Liberty Dollar stuff anyway? I was reading from this and it seems pretty convoluted. Why not just engrave the weight/purity on the coin and be done with it? If people want to use them to barter, they can do that and make up their own minds based on the current prices of metals on commodity exchanges.
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