Slashdot Mirror

Gold's price has gone from over $600 in the 80's, to less than $300 in the 90's back up to over $600 now. How again would this remove inflation & deflation? (The US dollar inflated between those two periods, so if gold is a counterweigh, then gold prices should have increased to match.)

The Free Competition in Currency Act is not about returning to the gold standard. It is about putting some more competition into the currency market with the expected result that good currency will drive out the bad. By not allowing competing currencies people are forced to do business with dollars backed by nothing but the full faith and credit of the US. (Which, ain't what it used to be) Ideally, the Dollar would be the good currency and be made better by the competition.

What happens if a huge amount of gold reserves are found? Everyone's money deflates.

True. But what are the odds of a 5,000,000 kilo gold asteroid falling into Lake Michigan or the sudden invention of a machine that cheaply transmutes aluminum into gold compared to the Fed cranking out another few trillion of paper money?

You do also know that we have fewer recessions than we did while in the gold standard, right?

Fewer per period of time or just fewer? We haven't been off the gold standard that long and we've had a few whoppers. But, once again, the Free Competition In Currency Act isn't about returning to a gold standard.

And that there is nothing preventing you from accepting gold as payment? See e-gold.com & their payments system.

Nothing except the Secret Service

If you are going to claim that a government agency is defrauding you, then there needs to be evidence: the inflation rate in the US has been less than 5% for almost all of the last decade, and much of that time it has been less than 2%. And you do know that inflationary bubbles aren't the only cause of asset bubbles or the only cause of recession?

Less than 5% inflation is HUGE. Over your lifetime it is crippling to anyone who saves money. Small percentages compounded over decades grow to large percentages very quickly.

A random metal is no more/less intrinsically valuable than random pieces of specially printed paper or of little black pixels in the shape of numbers on my bank's website.

Never said it was. Frankly, from an investing point of view I think gold is a terrible investment, little better than hiding a stack of dollars in a shoebox. However, the dollar could be made better. Which would benefit many of us.
Peter

It's really only illegal if you are somewhat successful.

The FBI went after Liberty Dollar, which sold and real gold and silver coins and encouraged people and business to use them voluntarily instead of a Federal Reserve Note.

The legal tender law doesn't apply to people using other currencies in private transactions. It basically means that banks and people can't force you to pay anything but dollars on debt that you owe. However, here is a gem from the FBI Press release:

“People understand that there is only one legal currency in the United States. When groups try to replace the U.S. dollar with coins and bills that don’t hold the same value, it affects the economy. Consumers were using their hard-earned money to buy goods and services, then getting fake change in return,” said Owen Harris, the Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Division of the FBI. “No one in this country is above or beyond the law, and our law enforcement partners will continue to bring violators to justice.

There are so many things wrong and hilariously ironic with this statement I'll let it stand as is.

The FBI's basic argument was that the liberty dollar looked too much like "real money" and they must preserve the monopoly of the Federal Reserve to "save the economy."

Gee, thanks!

The "Liberty Dollar" is alive and well -- at least according to its proponents.

I love how everyone insists that THEIR version of Authoritarianism is really the One and True Freedom.

Freeedom is great! Just don't be doing anything that I don't like.

Umm, what? How is ending the Fed supporting authoritarianism? With the Fed we're enslaved to global banks and debt. How would having sound money and allowing competing currencies be authoritarian?

This is not completely true. There were some guys (nuts?) in Idaho who coined their own currency which they called a Liberty Dollar (you may have seen their commercials on late night tv 10 years ago). Liberty Dollars were purchased by weight and backed by a commodity (gold or silver). Purchasers of Liberty Dollars entered into voluntary transactions with other people. Then the FBI raided them and seized everything, saying that it is criminal to create a competing currency.

Riiight. If you look at their webpage, they claim that "Liberty Dollar is not United States Mint fiat money, is not legal tender, is not a coin, is not currency in the sense of governmental coinage, and is not money in the sense of governmental coinage."

Of course, if you look at the top of the page, in big letters it says "The Liberty Dollar(R) America's inflation proof currency(TM)".

They were busted because they are creating the impression that what they offer is US currency. They would be safe if they were circulating paper notes denominated as fractional ounces of metal.

In fact, many banks do exactly that (including mine). If you wish to buy gold & silver, you can do so, and they will deliver the metal to you. Or you could have them keep it for you in their vaults (for a small storage fee), and they issue securities indicating that you own X amount of gold/silver. Since these securities represent real metal, they can be traded on an exchange.

http://www.libertydollar.org/ This group has been bringing value back to money for 9 years. While in the past the government has confirmed the group's legallity and legitimacy, more recently the Treasury Dept. has begun claiming that they criminals. With the U.S. Dollar (Federal Reserve Note) falling harder and faster, prices soaring through the roof, the Liberty Dollar has held its value the entire time. This makes it a perfect scapegoat for the entire U.S. monetary system.

The real goal of a gold standard is to combat uncontrolled money expansion. There are a number of ways to accomplish that without arbitrarily pivoting on some random and irrelevant metal.

Well in the current United States, largely apathy is king.

Ppl want to be entertained, bread and circuses and all, much like ...Rome...

So when ppl mention that the Federal Reserve really isn't federal, they
think your a nut job by default and don't bother to even read about it.

http://www.libertydollar.org/ld/federal-reserve/

It is all verifiable.

It is all true.

But they dismiss it with a wave, so they can get back to the Computer, TV,
and watch their sports, boink their significant other, or read a book
about some made up shit that does not even exist.

In the meantime, the Fed loans the government its own money at 'interest'.

It is boring though, doesn't really entertain ppl, so it doesn't get much brain time.

My grandfather when I was a small child decades ago warned us about how bad
this would get, and I didn't really understand him then.

After many years, and a fair bit of reading and discussing with very intelligent
ppl in and out of the united states, I now see the shell game for what it is.

Some of the ppl that backed Ron Paul felt much like those ppl in V for vendetta
and are sick of blood sucking bastards that are ruining our country, and
charging us interest to do it to boot !

When the collapsing dollar dies, and the Amero is brought in to replace it,
the NAU is formed, the RealID and DNA database, and it suddenly dawns on you
that all of this was mentioned, you were warned and it was all in writing
by government officials in plain sight.

Lou dobbs covered the NAU forming, and the fact that there was no vote.

The Trans Texas Corridor was to be paid for by US tax dollars, but sold
to a Spanish billionaire who would run it as a for profit toll road
that we paid to build.

Fortunately the good ppl of Texas caught this and killed it, but it will
be back, and Rick Perry governor of Texas is in on it with them.

If you get a chance watch 911 press for truth to get a good Idea just how
bad things are getting, for the non religious folks also watch Zeitgeist the movie.

Also money as debt is a good primer for the Federal Reserve banking system.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279

Most ppl will ignore this and plod on, just another brick in the wall.

Ex-MislTech

Plus, it's crazy to claim that the money is yours alone when, hey, there wouldn't be coinage without the government and they can determine what to do with it. If you don't like it, start bartering.

Actually, there were people trying to do exactly that, but the government didn't like the competition...

You need to define legal tender - if you mean, specifically, a medium of exchange that anyone who accepts cash is legally required to accept as cash*, then I agree with you (because the alternative is to make your legally-mandated medium of exchange completely valueless...and effectively to make counterfeiting not a crime). However, legal tender and taxation have little to do with each other. Regardless of whether or not your transactions are consummated with US dollars, you are legally obligated to pay taxes on the value of the transaction. This is not generally enforced and not generally obeyed, of course - but that's only because such a vast majority of transactions are performed with money as the medium of exchange.

But that doesn't mean it's legal for you to help someone move in return for a 12 pack without paying taxes on your earnings. Strictly speaking, you owe either income tax or sales tax on the transaction (this could be trivially gotten around by working in terms of gifts, rather than exchange of goods, of course, but the point remains).

My point, of course, is that it is the transaction that's being taxed, not the money. Stores that accept the liberty dollar still pay taxes on the transaction. Employees who get paid by direct deposit still pay income tax, despite the fact that there's no "legal tender" involved, just an amount measured in USD units.

In that sense of private entities printing legal tender - meaning a fungible medium of exchange - they already do. As evidenced by the MMORPGs that are currently under discussion, as well as all the (pretty much DOA) efforts at some kind of electronic web-cash (I think beenz was one of them), and the aforementioned liberty dollar.

*Which is the definition of legal tender as used on US bills

This creates an unstable balance. http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/richricher /37414 You can switch to something backed by assets rather than liabilities. http://www.libertydollar.org/ld/links/index.htm

Using Euro's is irrelevant to this. Private business transactions can use whatever they wish as the currency (There may be a regulation against illegal items, narcotics, etc, but IANAL). US law requires businesses to accept Federal Reserve notes as legal tender for all debts public and private. However, it does not state that Federal Reserve notes are the ONLY legal tender. There are several regional monies in the US, many made because people don't trust the U.S. (dollar, government, Federal Reserve). The liberty dollar was/is the most well known of them: http://www.libertydollar.org/

These may help:
US Law on Legal tender: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode31/us c_sec_31_00005103----000-.html
Wikipedia article on (U.S.) Legal tender: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#Legal_te nder_in_the_United_States

Though I can't say I've heard of a difference between debts and pre-paying. The law stipuates "all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues." While this could be considered a public charge, again IANAL, so, take it with a grain of salt. If anything, could print out the legal code reference and bring it with you, depending on how far you want to push the issue.

HTH

Allow me to expand on my concerns:

1) Now all people with whom I wish to conduct transactions need to be capable of accepting electronic money. I've bought several used cars in private sales from people who were unable to accept Visa. The possibility exists of introducing generally-available third parties who can mediate the transaction (as PayPal already does, obviously), but that introduces a new cost to the transaction that is not necessarily matched for either party: there's no benefit to me or the seller individually (though you could argue we derive an indirect benefit from the society-wide benefits).

2) All those transactions are now taxed. While some would view this as a good thing, an awful lot of transactions are performed currently that are not taxed, and, in my view, should not be. For example, I helped a friend paint his house a couple years back, and he paid me $100 (plus beer and pizza). I felt no ethical or moral obligation to pay income tax on that money, much less the taxes involved in being a seller of a good or service.

3) There are privacy concerns, as well. For example, who wants to tip a stripper with a credit card? How will she accept the money without disrupting the show? Even if the logistical hurdles are overcome, who wants that particular transaction recorded in a master government database? Or, more personally, who wants that transaction recorded in a place his wife can see it (as would be mandated under some states' financial regulations regarding marriage)? While you can make a case that these sorts of transactions shouldn't happen in the first place, I think such an argument ignores human nature - not to mention that even if true, since when is it government's job to curtail legal activities?

4) Truly illicit transactions become impossible to conduct in money. This sounds like a good thing (who wants to make heroin easier to purchase?), but I don't believe it would be. The transactions would still occur (if waiving most of your Constitutional rights isn't enough of a disincentive, I sincerely doubt lack of cash would be), but now they'd be in some more chaotic barter system. I suspect this would lead to increased violence.

4a) Moreover, the economic impact of that might be significant. How much construction, cleaning, and other menial labor is paid for under the table? I suspect rather a lot. I also recall finding out that the drug trade is Florida's second- or third-largest industry. Whether or not this is a good thing, suddenly taking that out of the economy would have potentially disastrous effects.

The most important thing, here, is I don't think society as a whole will, in the foreseeable future, shift over to an entirely electronic monetary system. Even if the US government goes for it, I strongly suspect there would be sudden, widespread adoption of non-fiat fungible currency, á la the liberty dollar for all the reasons I've already stated.

Of course, it's entirely possible I've just proved your point: the government should get out of the business of selling currency, and shift to an entirely electronic system. Then let the free market decide what kind of currency it wants to use.

Hrm.

As a tax history enthusuast, I san certainly say that the moment the consitution doed was in 1913. We questioably ratifies the 16th amendment, and established the Federal Reserve, which is neither Federal nor a Reserve. The income tax propoents were the populists (communists) and democrats. The fact is they wanted to tap into the 1% of the population that had 80% of the country's wealth. In reality this "ability to pay" is nothing more than communism's "each according to his ability". In fact, the public should have no right to any portion of my lawfully earned money. (Prior to the income tax, the Federal government was paid for by tariffs, emergency finding was doen inthe form of bonds, or, as they did once after the civil war, direct taxation of property) On top of the income tax fiasco, the Federal Reserve allowed for fiath based lending. Eventually in the 70's Nixon fully pulled us off the metal backed currency. Your "Federal Reserve Notes" (FRN) (not a "Dollar" as many call them) are only of value when people agree to the number printed on them. If confidence in the American economomy was to fall, so would the value of a dollar. (your FRN today is actually woth $0.04 of a 1913 dollar) There are alternatives though like the liberty dollar (a silver backed currency), legal tender). Many people don't know that up until the federal reserve there were many local currencies and it was not such a problem because people to do so lived locally. "Notes" were often traded which were representations of metals on hold at the bank. Whomever held the note could get an equivelent amount of metal. This concept then went from 100% backing to 85% to 0%.

I have learned that you cannot trust governments. They are concentrations of power and wealth, and make themselves targets for those who which control or attain power & wealth. As such, governments must be of very limited control Nothing, no matter how remote it seems at inception, will eventually be leveraged to its fullest extext, and most likely you. We all know torture is wrong, that everyone has a right to a speedy trial. But we deny those for "terorists" How long until you are a terrorist too? We passed the income tax on income when americans made $500-$1000/yr. We taxed incomes over $4000 at 5%, with exemptions of $1000 and $2000 (unmarried, married). Who today is not touched by the income tax? Only those making less than $600. And the first bucket is 15%!!!. And so ens my case that government should be one of absolutes, and that that can be no slippery slope "it doesn't affect me" engaged in.

What next, coining their own money and then claiming payments can only be made with their own eBucks? I think the US Federal Reserve would have a thing or two to say about that.

crap

That link is supposed to point to libertydollar.org.

You've been beaten to the punch.

I don't know how it's doing now, but it was very much a going concern a couple years ago.

http://www.libertydollar.org/ is an org that prints and produces "real Money in the US as an alternitive to the Treasury bills.

The same information technology forces that are predestining the death of copyrights are also pre-destining the death of paper and government "backed" currencies.

http://www.libertydollar.org/

The Liberty, $5 in silver for $20, no real collector value. Some nuts got busted over trying to pass them.

Support this project! (I have no affiliation with them other than designing some of their promo material).

If you think "real" $2 bills are hard to spend, try passing off Liberty Dollars. I've had some success with they before, but you will surely get some strange looks.

More stories here: http://www.libertydollar.org/html/successstories.a sp

the American public cry out that the Dollar is a monopoly

No, it's not. Liberty Dollar.

"By contrast, the liberty program is a club."

If you care to look at the Associate program as such, fine. But there is more to it. You can get their currency without paying the $250. But, Associates get the currencies at a discount. Currently, $9.23 gets you 10 Liberty Dollars. This price fluctuates with the cost of silver.

And, they openly explain what they do with the $50 from the signup. It goes to pay people to answer phones when some merchant gets one and doesn't know what it is. They have marketing materials, they have offices to pay for.

"$40 is in the form of silver coins that contain (drumroll please) about $20 of silver."

They NEVER claim to be an investment vehicle. They will openly tell you that there is $6.96 worth of Silver in that $10 piece. The difference goes to the cost of coining the silver. They also have paper money and a warehouse (that is independently audited, more costs) that stores silvers. For every paper liberty dollar in circulation, there's a silver 'coin' in the warehouse.

"Also the bizarre claim to be "inflation-proof.""
"I can't find a listing of the exchange rates"

These are related! They exchange on a 1 for 1 basis with they US dollar! However, if the price of silver exceeds a threshold for a 30 day period, all Liberties double in value. An example: I give a liberty associate a 10 dollar Federal Reserve Note (FRN) he gives me a $10 Silver Liberty. Over the course of the next 30 days, silver gets close to $10 an ounce, my $10 Silver Liberty is now a $20 Silver Liberty. If I want to get another one, I'll have to give the associate $20 (FRN).

So, it doesn't protect you from the inflation that you mention, but Silver is relatively difficult to mine and its entering the market at about the rate it is being consumed (yes, silver is used in many everyday items). What it does protect you from is our government merely printing more money.

Most people don't understand that we control the rate of inflation. For whatever reason, we want a 3% rate, so we introduce 3% more every year, and simple supply and demand drives prices up. Meanwhile your savings account that is getting 1% (if you're lucky) is losing ground!

There's lots of places on their website where they explain all of this.

Silver approaching $10

The Value of the Silver being less then face value

About Norfed and scam claims

Also, they have been investigated by the Secret Service (who is responsible for policing counterfeiting, you know, it IS one of the three federal crimes, the others being Piracy (the-open-water-ARRRRG,Ahoy-Matey kind, not the P2P-MP3-file-sharing kind) and Treason), and they have no problems with it.

I'm not a fanatic, but I have some currency, and I see the value in it. I'm near Chicago, and its more difficult to use here. There are entire small towns in other parts of the country that are thriving on it though. Check out the video section at the bottom of their info page.

Enough rambling for now...

Ryan

"By contrast, the liberty program is a club."

If you care to look at the Associate program as such, fine. But there is more to it. You can get their currency without paying the $250. But, Associates get the currencies at a discount. Currently, $9.23 gets you 10 Liberty Dollars. This price fluctuates with the cost of silver.

And, they openly explain what they do with the $50 from the signup. It goes to pay people to answer phones when some merchant gets one and doesn't know what it is. They have marketing materials, they have offices to pay for.

"$40 is in the form of silver coins that contain (drumroll please) about $20 of silver."

They NEVER claim to be an investment vehicle. They will openly tell you that there is $6.96 worth of Silver in that $10 piece. The difference goes to the cost of coining the silver. They also have paper money and a warehouse (that is independently audited, more costs) that stores silvers. For every paper liberty dollar in circulation, there's a silver 'coin' in the warehouse.

"Also the bizarre claim to be "inflation-proof.""
"I can't find a listing of the exchange rates"

These are related! They exchange on a 1 for 1 basis with they US dollar! However, if the price of silver exceeds a threshold for a 30 day period, all Liberties double in value. An example: I give a liberty associate a 10 dollar Federal Reserve Note (FRN) he gives me a $10 Silver Liberty. Over the course of the next 30 days, silver gets close to $10 an ounce, my $10 Silver Liberty is now a $20 Silver Liberty. If I want to get another one, I'll have to give the associate $20 (FRN).

So, it doesn't protect you from the inflation that you mention, but Silver is relatively difficult to mine and its entering the market at about the rate it is being consumed (yes, silver is used in many everyday items). What it does protect you from is our government merely printing more money.

Most people don't understand that we control the rate of inflation. For whatever reason, we want a 3% rate, so we introduce 3% more every year, and simple supply and demand drives prices up. Meanwhile your savings account that is getting 1% (if you're lucky) is losing ground!

There's lots of places on their website where they explain all of this.

Silver approaching $10

The Value of the Silver being less then face value

About Norfed and scam claims

Also, they have been investigated by the Secret Service (who is responsible for policing counterfeiting, you know, it IS one of the three federal crimes, the others being Piracy (the-open-water-ARRRRG,Ahoy-Matey kind, not the P2P-MP3-file-sharing kind) and Treason), and they have no problems with it.

I'm not a fanatic, but I have some currency, and I see the value in it. I'm near Chicago, and its more difficult to use here. There are entire small towns in other parts of the country that are thriving on it though. Check out the video section at the bottom of their info page.

Enough rambling for now...

Ryan

"By contrast, the liberty program is a club."

If you care to look at the Associate program as such, fine. But there is more to it. You can get their currency without paying the $250. But, Associates get the currencies at a discount. Currently, $9.23 gets you 10 Liberty Dollars. This price fluctuates with the cost of silver.

And, they openly explain what they do with the $50 from the signup. It goes to pay people to answer phones when some merchant gets one and doesn't know what it is. They have marketing materials, they have offices to pay for.

"$40 is in the form of silver coins that contain (drumroll please) about $20 of silver."

They NEVER claim to be an investment vehicle. They will openly tell you that there is $6.96 worth of Silver in that $10 piece. The difference goes to the cost of coining the silver. They also have paper money and a warehouse (that is independently audited, more costs) that stores silvers. For every paper liberty dollar in circulation, there's a silver 'coin' in the warehouse.

"Also the bizarre claim to be "inflation-proof.""
"I can't find a listing of the exchange rates"

These are related! They exchange on a 1 for 1 basis with they US dollar! However, if the price of silver exceeds a threshold for a 30 day period, all Liberties double in value. An example: I give a liberty associate a 10 dollar Federal Reserve Note (FRN) he gives me a $10 Silver Liberty. Over the course of the next 30 days, silver gets close to $10 an ounce, my $10 Silver Liberty is now a $20 Silver Liberty. If I want to get another one, I'll have to give the associate $20 (FRN).

So, it doesn't protect you from the inflation that you mention, but Silver is relatively difficult to mine and its entering the market at about the rate it is being consumed (yes, silver is used in many everyday items). What it does protect you from is our government merely printing more money.

Most people don't understand that we control the rate of inflation. For whatever reason, we want a 3% rate, so we introduce 3% more every year, and simple supply and demand drives prices up. Meanwhile your savings account that is getting 1% (if you're lucky) is losing ground!

There's lots of places on their website where they explain all of this.

Silver approaching $10

The Value of the Silver being less then face value

About Norfed and scam claims

Also, they have been investigated by the Secret Service (who is responsible for policing counterfeiting, you know, it IS one of the three federal crimes, the others being Piracy (the-open-water-ARRRRG,Ahoy-Matey kind, not the P2P-MP3-file-sharing kind) and Treason), and they have no problems with it.

I'm not a fanatic, but I have some currency, and I see the value in it. I'm near Chicago, and its more difficult to use here. There are entire small towns in other parts of the country that are thriving on it though. Check out the video section at the bottom of their info page.

Enough rambling for now...

Ryan

"By contrast, the liberty program is a club."

If you care to look at the Associate program as such, fine. But there is more to it. You can get their currency without paying the $250. But, Associates get the currencies at a discount. Currently, $9.23 gets you 10 Liberty Dollars. This price fluctuates with the cost of silver.

And, they openly explain what they do with the $50 from the signup. It goes to pay people to answer phones when some merchant gets one and doesn't know what it is. They have marketing materials, they have offices to pay for.

"$40 is in the form of silver coins that contain (drumroll please) about $20 of silver."

They NEVER claim to be an investment vehicle. They will openly tell you that there is $6.96 worth of Silver in that $10 piece. The difference goes to the cost of coining the silver. They also have paper money and a warehouse (that is independently audited, more costs) that stores silvers. For every paper liberty dollar in circulation, there's a silver 'coin' in the warehouse.

"Also the bizarre claim to be "inflation-proof.""
"I can't find a listing of the exchange rates"

These are related! They exchange on a 1 for 1 basis with they US dollar! However, if the price of silver exceeds a threshold for a 30 day period, all Liberties double in value. An example: I give a liberty associate a 10 dollar Federal Reserve Note (FRN) he gives me a $10 Silver Liberty. Over the course of the next 30 days, silver gets close to $10 an ounce, my $10 Silver Liberty is now a $20 Silver Liberty. If I want to get another one, I'll have to give the associate $20 (FRN).

So, it doesn't protect you from the inflation that you mention, but Silver is relatively difficult to mine and its entering the market at about the rate it is being consumed (yes, silver is used in many everyday items). What it does protect you from is our government merely printing more money.

Most people don't understand that we control the rate of inflation. For whatever reason, we want a 3% rate, so we introduce 3% more every year, and simple supply and demand drives prices up. Meanwhile your savings account that is getting 1% (if you're lucky) is losing ground!

There's lots of places on their website where they explain all of this.

Silver approaching $10

The Value of the Silver being less then face value

About Norfed and scam claims

Also, they have been investigated by the Secret Service (who is responsible for policing counterfeiting, you know, it IS one of the three federal crimes, the others being Piracy (the-open-water-ARRRRG,Ahoy-Matey kind, not the P2P-MP3-file-sharing kind) and Treason), and they have no problems with it.

I'm not a fanatic, but I have some currency, and I see the value in it. I'm near Chicago, and its more difficult to use here. There are entire small towns in other parts of the country that are thriving on it though. Check out the video section at the bottom of their info page.

Enough rambling for now...

Ryan

In the last third party debate Badnarik mentioned eliminating the Federal Reserve. He suggests using the American Liberty Currency as an alternative currency that is backed by gold and silver. I think this is an excellent idea.

Here's a link to the Liberty Dollar, a value-based (backed by gold / silver) currency that you can possibly even spend at some stores.

I first read about 'em in a weekly newspaper article in Maine.

There is a universe of no-chargeback payment systems out there. Many of them also seem to have the property of being based around precious metals. The first online was e-gold in 1996. Others have arrived since then of somewhat similar flavour: e-bullion.com, pecunix.com, libertydollar.org, goldmoney.com.
A good comparison chart is here.
BTW, I see that magnatune.com supports one of these now, but ebay is still PayPal only - no surprise.

There are several groups that have done that. Many in the US base on silver or gold, as US currency is no longer based on it. There was a different European note (well before the EU) that somebody was trying to get people to use, and there have been a handful of companies that have tried to get international bills working. Plus innumerable wackos like Emperor Norton that have just declared their notes legal tender. In addition, you could almost count such corporate backed notes such as American Express Traveller's Checks.

The most popular (but still dubious) non-government blessed note in the US seems to be the Liberty Dollar. Considering I've had the cops called on me on three wonderful occasions when using US $2 bills (and in one case one cop didn't know if it was valid or not), and had many times when the manager yelled at me because I was trying to pass counterfeit money, I am pretty sure that these would not be very useful. (Yes, I used to carry $2 and dollar coins for normal use. I like odd currency. I once overheard a waitress pissed because I left her a dollar, when it was four Susan Bs. The cops were once at a Dennys and twice at a Burger King... the same one, with some of the same employees working at the time. I'm guessing that they were confused about how the first call went and thought I had been arrested and was trying the same "scam").

I wonder if you can photocopy them, though?

--
Evan

Cash only has value because people think it does. It used to be based on real value (gold) but all that is left is an illusion. However, there are plenty of alternatives, such as the Liberty Dollar.

America already has very difficult to counterfeit money with all these features, including DNA fingerprinting. Check out Liberty Dollars

BTW, they're inflation proof and just plain look cool.

But why should I pay twice the price for silver?

Put simply, you aren't. The Liberty Dollar is a currency, not an investment. If you want to buy silver at the spot price, then buy silver bullion. Of course, you'll have to buy quite a large quantity to get it that low.

We are trying to bring about a positive political and economic reform, and that costs money--not to mention the costs of minting, storage, insurance, printing and distribution, bookkeeping, supporting the Redemption Centers, advertising, and all the other usual expenses of a free-market enterprise which have to be paid for.

Remember, when you accept a $100 Federal Reserve Note, you are trading $100 worth of goods or services for a 3-cent piece of paper, backed by nothing but debt and delusion. Partial-backing with value is infinitely better than zero-backing with debt.

Click here for a more in-depth explanation as to why you are definitely getting your money's worth with The Liberty Dollar.