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Over the past few years, opponents, including The U.S. Mint, have referred to the Liberty Dollar®(LD) as a “scheme” connoting unethical activity in and of itself, while other references to the LD as a Multi Level Marketing endeavor cause most folks to quickly locate and procure an exit. The LD is in fact NOT a MLM, but instead possesses a 3 tiered structure which enables our private, monetary product to be used in barter at a profit. This 3 tiered sales structure is remarkably similar to that used in many product sales models, including the United States Mint. |
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Recently, the public has been learning more regarding the private, Federal Reserve System, especially from the esteemed statesman Ron Paul. The debt-based, fiat, FRN system being arguably the greatest marvel of monetary engineering in human history, however deceitful in means, and destructive in ends.
The Liberty Dollar is a monetary product which was designed to function in parallel with the Federal Reserve Note, offering consumers a choice of currencies, while at the same time providing a venue built upon the tangible: silver, gold and copper, from which to begin demonstrating the vast contrast between monetary metals and debt-notes. Again noteworthy is that the U.S. Mint shamelessly offers a substantial product line.
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In 2007, accusations flew that many folks, including the Liberty Dollar, were cloaking themselves in the Ron Paul flag, and very few sought permission prior to assisting the campaign from a grass-roots perspective. Do you think individual Ron Paul proponents asked permission from campaign headquarters before hanging a “Ron Paul Revolution” banner from a strategically chosen freeway overpass?
We may never learn who started this assault against our lawful, Constitutionally based, private, voluntary barter system, but the likely culprits include officials at the U.S. Treasury Department, including Henry Paulson, and Edmund Moy, the former being a Secretary of the Treasury (Goldman Sachs exec working at the whim of the fed), and the latter being an avid coin collector with direct ties to Asheville NC; the focal point for the undercover FBI investigation.
Following is a summation of the most commonly recurring slanders against the Liberty Dollar, along with genuine responses for each:
| The Liberty Dollar® is a product. | Yes it is! The Liberty Dollar® (LD) is a monetary product which was designed to function in parallel with the Federal Reserve Note (FRN), while offering the consumer a choice of currencies, and strengthening the community by keeping the money in the local economy. Although many Libertys were considered collectible prior to the November 14th confiscations, until we resume production, all Libertys have now become collectible, numismatic products which typically demand a premium.
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| Liberty Dollar® “pushers” misrepresent their product as legal tender. | All Regional Sales Representatives (RCOs) for the Liberty Dollar®, must sign an agreement whereby we agree to abide by the RCO Code of Ethics. ...d. RCO will never misrepresent the Liberty Dollar as “legal tender,” “coin,” or “current money,” or in any other way that would draw the Liberty Dollar into any criminal or civil legal action. Considering the quantity of Libertys that have been exchanged, certainly, some individuals have misrepresented the LD as legal lender, and some Libertys may have even been used to purchase “illicit substances,” but this skewed indictment would make 85% of all Federal Reserve Notes suspect, due to the presence of cocaine residue on the bills.
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| Liberty Dollar® RCOs and Associates are greedy, and the customers are all suckers. | Well, there was a time, back in late 2005, immediately following the LD Move-up from the $10 to $20 base, that my 100% profits (at face value) might have been considered excessive, but given silver’s steady rise to about $14.50 on the spot at the time of the raid, even at face value, I was making only about 11%, and of course the Associate profits can be cut in half to 50% and 5% respectively. Ironically, since the FBI raid, profits for Ron Paul Copper and Silver Libertys have gone through the roof, which is fitting compensation given that business was disrupted and over $1 million worth of gold, silver and copper was confiscated from literally thousands of individuals. 100% is a pittance compared to the tidy profits the United States Mint rakes-in with some of their monetary products. As for all of those “suckers” our there in possession of Libertys: I will buy them back any time...
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| The Liberty Dollar® is a Ponzi Scheme. | Check out this Ponzi Scheme link courtesy of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
I don't see any correlation between a private, voluntary, barter currency based upon the monetary metals, and a pyramid type of scheme. I can only assume that folks who propagate this version of slander, are throwing it just prior to hurling the kitchen sink. |
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| The Liberty Dollar® profits are too high in relation to the product offered. | When you purchase a loaf of bread, are you paying only for the amount of wheat, salt and leavening? Of course not, and the same applies to any product which requires labor, power, and fashioning of raw materials into something of beauty and practicality. When we factor in discounts, human sales expenditures, marketing materials, and wages, we see that the profit for a $20 Liberty, especially with silver spot price above $14 per troy-ounce, hovers below 10% for each of the three tiers in our discounted sales model. With the U.S. Mint making between 30 and 750% on their uncirculated, Presidential Dollars, it appears that the Liberty Dollar® is being literally swallowed by the big fish in the world of coin-collecting.
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| The Liberty Dollar® (medallions) are deceiving because they closely resemble circulating coins. |
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| Liberty Dollar® silver certificates are nothing more than personal IOUs. | The paper instrument is a combination of several objectives. In the first place, it is a sales receipt evidencing that the initial Buyer paid $20 in U.S. Federal Reserve Notes for the document of title to one (1) Troy ounce of .999 fine silver.
In the second place, it is a warehouse receipt evidencing the storage of the same one (1) ounce of silver by the warehouseman pursuant to the terms as set forth on the reverse side of the instrument.
Thirdly, the warehouse receipt is made negotiable thereby permitting free transferability without endorsement of the paper instrument payable to bearer.
Finally, the paper instrument is an expression of all U.S. citizens’ First Amendment right to petition for the redress of grievances through the use and acceptance of the Patriot like-minded parties supporting the same grievance. Please read the Legal Opinion in its entirety.
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| The Liberty Dollar® was preparing to re-value to the $50(per troy ounce) base. | True, and in the same manner of preparation from the $10 to $20 base, which included the minting of Silver Libertys bearing a $20 face value, while still moving the $10 base product. In other words, many of the one troy-ounce Silver Libertys confiscated by the FBI and Secret Service bore a $50 face value, and some still bore a $10 face value. Why? Because as evidenced by the warehouse receipt terms, the redemption of silver called for a specific weight of (1) Troy ounce of .999 fine silver. In preparation for the Liberty Dollar® to once again move-up, Silver Libertys bearing a $50 face value had been minted, and were being stored at the warehouse. This way, when the move-up occurs, we will have a product to offer for redemptions. Please read and learn more about the move-up.
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The Liberty Dollar® is a private, voluntary, barter currency, and the face value on the reverse of each Liberty medallion is the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). The Liberty was designed and engineered to function as a community currency, as best exemplified by the successful local merchant network in Chambersburg PA. |
As for the question of original intent, I believe I will let Monetary Architect Bernard von NotHaus speak for himself:
While I was the Mintmaster in Hawaii I pursued a secret project. For over 23 years I worked on developing a value backed paper currency to complement the Mint's gold and silver commemorative business. Not satisfied with just copying the paper money of the Kingdom of Hawaii from the 1800's, I wanted to create a totally new inflation proof currency that met the demands of the free market in precious metals and would represent real gold and silver stored in an independent warehouse. I called my secret project the "Hawaiian Sovereign Currency".
Oh, it was beautiful with the Statue of Kamehamaha and all the flora of Hawaii. Then one night, while I was working at the Waikiki Branch Mint, an elderly gentleman stopped by. He turned out to be one of our collectors and a paper money collector to boot. So I decided to share my secret with him and use him as a focus group of one. Oh, he loved the Hawaiian currency idea. So I shared a bit more of my plan. He was enthused and asked for more details. Well, over a two-hour period, I shared the whole REAL money plan with my new-found friend.
He loved the whole idea and wanted to order some of the new currency immediately, even though I told him that it had not been produced yet. Then he stopped and appeared to fall into a deep thought and out of the blue suggested that I take my inflation proof currency to the mainland! He said Americans needed real money to protect their purchasing power. Leave Hawaii!? What heresy I thought! But with the children gone to college on the mainland and my 25th anniversary at the Mint approaching, I decided to retire and follow my new friend's advice.
Quickly I replaced the Statue of Kamehameha with the Statue of Liberty and the Hawaiian palm fronds with the geometric artwork that most paper money is known for and the Liberty Dollar was born on October 1, 1998. Of course all the disciplines of the gold and silver currency - the interlocking checks and balances, audits, and ultra high security devices that I had designed into the original currency system - remained the same.
And the rest, as they say, is history in the making.
