Arizona Becomes Second State to Approve Gold and Silver as Legal Tender

Last Monday Arizona lawmakers passed a bill that makes precious metals legal tender. Arizona is the second state after Utah to allow gold coins created by the Fed and private mints to be used as currency. More than a dozen states have legislature underway to pass similar measures.

The bill comes hot off the heels of one of the largest drops in the price of gold. The metal fell 9% yesterday -- its biggest one-day drop in 30 years. Gold’s volatility may make it hard to go to a grocery store and pay for milk and eggs with bullion coins.
Related: Gold Tumbles Again: Is the Era of Gold Over?

“Yeah, I know gold is down right now,” Arizona State Senator Chester Crandell and sponsor of Senate bill 1439, tells The Daily Ticker. “People are still buying gold and using it as a commodity and I think they want to use it as actual legal tender instead of the dollar."
Senator Crandell says that the differences between gold as a commodity and gold as legal tender are pronounced. Read more >>

Missouri House Votes for Gold and Silver Tender

(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

On Thursday, HB1637, the Missouri Sound Money Act passed the House, making Missouri one of two states with a sound money still alive in 2012. South Carolina is the other, and is scheduled to vote on their bill next week. The bill simply adds gold and silver as legal tender alongside Federal Reserve notes, giving the citizens of Missouri a choice in currency:

“The Missouri Sound Money Act of 2012 is established which changes the laws regarding legal tender as follows: (1) Specifies that gold and silver issued by the federal government is legal tender in Missouri;”

It was not smooth sailing in the Show Me State. A significant number of representatives attended a press conference at the Governor’s mansion when the morning vote was held. Thus, the opposition erupted in celebration when they unexpectedly defeated the bill by a single vote, after which the morning session was immediately adjourned. More...

Returning to gold standard gains support in more than a dozen states

Image via WikipediaMike Pitts is no economist, but that hasn't kept the retired small-town cop from taking a prominent role in a quixotic campaign to push the U.S. monetary system back to another century.

Pitts, a South Carolina statehouse representative, introduced a bill in April that would make gold and silver coins legal tender in the state. Similar efforts are underway in more than a dozen state capitals, fueled by Tea Party support and antipathy toward the federal government.

The ultimate goal is to return the nation to the gold standard, in which every dollar would be backed by a fixed amount of the precious metal. Economists of all stripes say the plan would be ruinous, but that view is of scant concern to Pitts.

"Quite frankly, I think that economists from universities are thinking within the confines of their own little world," Pitts said. "They don't deal with the real issues."

Proponents of the laws believe that returning America to the gold standard would force the government to live within its means, curtailing runaway spending and inflation.

Lately, the idea has been gaining currency — and not just among the Tea Party activists who have been pushing the gold standard as part of wider efforts to rein in federal power. More...

Gold, silver coins to be legal currency in Utah

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Utah legislators want to see the dollar regain its former glory, back to the days when one could literally bank on it being "as good as gold."

To make that point, they've turned it around, and made gold as good as cash. Utah became the first state in the country this month to legalize gold and silver coins as currency. The law also will exempt the sale of the coins from state capital gains taxes.

Craig Franco hopes to cash in on it with his Utah Gold and Silver Depository, and he thinks others will soon follow.

The idea is simple: Store your gold and silver coins in a vault, and Franco issues a debit-like card to make purchases backed by your holdings. More...