{"id":28748,"date":"2017-12-11T12:21:18","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T17:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=28748"},"modified":"2017-12-11T12:21:18","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T17:21:18","slug":"why-the-dollar-is-not-fiat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=28748","title":{"rendered":"Why the Dollar is not Fiat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pageTitle blogTitle\">\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.armstrongeconomics.com\/markets-by-sector\/foreign-exchange\/usd\/why-the-dollar-is-not-fiat\/\">Why the Dollar is not Fiat<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mainContent\">\n<div class=\"contentWrap\">\n<div class=\"theContent\">\n<p><a class=\"fancybox image\" href=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Coppers-PostRevolution.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-71394 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Coppers-PostRevolution-1024x703.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Coppers-PostRevolution-1024x703.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Coppers-PostRevolution-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Coppers-PostRevolution-768x527.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Coppers-PostRevolution-180x124.jpg 180w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Coppers-PostRevolution-600x412.jpg 600w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"703\" \/><\/a><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong> You have said that coins were still fiat and not tangible hard money. Nobody else has said that. Can you support that statement?<\/p>\n<p>DS<\/p>\n<p><strong>ANSWER:<\/strong> Of course. During the American Colonial period, there was a shortage of silver in particular in Britain. The British imposed restrictions on what coins could be used to pay Americans for anything. That restriction was imposed on silver and gold. Therefore, payment to Americans from Britain was always in copper coins. If Americans wanted to buy something from Britain, it was typically demanded in silver or gold. This was one of the reasons for the American Revolution.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"fancybox image\" href=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Penny-1793-Present.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-71395 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Penny-1793-Present.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Penny-1793-Present.jpg 800w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Penny-1793-Present-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Penny-1793-Present-768x542.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Penny-1793-Present-180x127.jpg 180w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/US-Penny-1793-Present-600x424.jpg 600w\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"565\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Because of these restrictions, the monetary value of copper coins was twice its actual metal content. All governments\u00a0produced coins <strong>ONLY<\/strong> at a profit, which is called the seignorage. Here is a table of the weight and metal content of a U.S. penny. Not only has it declined in weight, in 1982 it ceased being a copper-based\u00a0coin. The penny today is zinc\u00a0copper plated to maintain the appearance. The price of copper became worth more than 1 cent and that was not profitable.\u00a0In May 2012\u00a0Canada\u00a0stopped minting\u00a0one-cent coins altogether became the metal content exceeded its value ending a tradition since 1858 when\u00a0Canada\u00a0established its own currency.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"fancybox image\" href=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Roman-decline-silver-content-monetary-system-Armstrong-Waterfall-effect.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-50357 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Roman-decline-silver-content-monetary-system-Armstrong-Waterfall-effect.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 486px) 100vw, 486px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Roman-decline-silver-content-monetary-system-Armstrong-Waterfall-effect.jpg 775w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Roman-decline-silver-content-monetary-system-Armstrong-Waterfall-effect-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Roman-decline-silver-content-monetary-system-Armstrong-Waterfall-effect-768x528.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Roman-decline-silver-content-monetary-system-Armstrong-Waterfall-effect-180x124.jpg 180w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Roman-decline-silver-content-monetary-system-Armstrong-Waterfall-effect-600x413.jpg 600w\" alt=\"\" width=\"486\" height=\"334\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"fancybox image\" href=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Nixon-ClosesGoldWindow.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-64019 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Nixon-ClosesGoldWindow.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Nixon-ClosesGoldWindow.jpg 643w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Nixon-ClosesGoldWindow-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Nixon-ClosesGoldWindow-180x180.jpg 180w, https:\/\/d33wjekvz3zs1a.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Nixon-ClosesGoldWindow-600x596.jpg 600w\" alt=\"\" width=\"375\" height=\"373\" \/><\/a>Even in ancient Roman times, the mines belonged to the government. They financed their spending by producing new coinage every year. That covered about 80% of their budget. They set the value of the coin which was <strong>ALWAYS<\/strong> over the intrinsic\u00a0metal content. So no matter what people you look at, the coinage denomination value was <strong>ALWAYS<\/strong>greater than its pure metal content.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why the Dollar is not Fiat QUESTION: You have said that coins were still fiat and not tangible hard money. Nobody else has said that. Can you support that statement? DS ANSWER: Of course. During the American Colonial period, there was a shortage of silver in particular in Britain. The British imposed restrictions on what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5496,951,309,5479,536],"class_list":["post-28748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","tag-armstrong-economics","tag-currency","tag-fiat-currency","tag-martin-armstrong","tag-money"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28749,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28748\/revisions\/28749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}