Good News: The Government Never Ended the Gold Standard!

Suppose you are running some errands one afternoon, and you see your favorite movie as you pass the local dollar theatre (Maybe you don't have a dollar theater in your town, but we in Orem, Utah still do!). You get up to the ticket booth and search in your pocket for a paper dollar bill. Nothing. No problem, you say to yourself, I still have my lucky silver dollar. You reach deep into your other pocket, past the Snickers candy bar wrapper, past the wadded up grocery list your wife gave you this morning, and walla! You feel the familiar coin you've carried around for years. It feels good to have something of real value in your pocket. You take it out and turn it over in your hand. It's scratched up, no longer shiny, and the grooves on the side are worn down a bit. But there she is on the front: Miss Liberty still taking her long stride. You could plunk it down for a couple of hours of entertainment, but instead you make an excuse to the ticket vendor, put your silver piece back in your pocket, and continue your errands.

Does it sound improbable that people might still keep silver coins in their pants pocket or in their sock drawer or in a safe deposit box? Not really. Ask your local convenience store clerk the next time you stroll over for an evening beverage. Chances are he or she has seen silver coins pass across the counter when someone who was out of paper money, needed that pack of cigarettes, or something to drink late at night. Now ask him what he did with it, and you'll probably hear, "Are you kidding? I put some change into the till, took the silver coins home, and dropped them in the jar with my other silver."

Silver is worth just as much today on the open market as it ever was. For example, you can still purchase silver coins from the U.S. Mint, but only at the going rate for the silver itself. And if you were foolish enough, you could shove a newly minted silver dollar across the sales counter and buy anything you want. The catch is that a silver dollar at the store is only worth as much as a paper dollar bill. The real value is not in the coin; it is in the silver.

So why own silver? Because silver, like gold, never loses its value. Suppose you bought a supply of silver rounds from us, Quality Silver Bullion, and kept them in a safe place. At any time, should you need extra money, you can readily convert your silver into cash. Silver is a liquid asset. Silver can also be used as leverage on loans or for other business deals.

Here's another advantage of owning silver. Many economists are saying that present inflationary pressures are bound to drive up prices throughout the open market. And maybe soon. In that case, governments will do what they do best: print more dollars so they can pay their debts in worth-less currency (don't you wish you could do that!). In an inflationary cycle more dollars are needed to pay for the commodities we need, so governments must print more money to keep up with rising prices. Inflation also drives up the price of precious metals, so your stock of silver now brings you more dollars (or euros or pounds, etc.). If you watch the market carefully, a wise investment in silver today could bring you some unexpected profits in the future, maybe sooner than you think. If you had the foresight to buy a silver round when silver was five dollars an ounce and sold it at twenty, your would have a 300 percent profit!

"But," you might ask, "what if the economy returns to normal, after an inflationary cycle, so the price of silver retreats to previous levels? Won't I lose money?" Not likely. Remember, silver and gold have intrinsic value because they are always rare and always desirable. In times of deflation the value of your silver remains unchanged. If silver prices go down, prices over all will drop, from the Lexus in the showroom to the bacon at the meat counter. So your buying power remains unchanged. Your liquid asset of silver is a great hedge against both inflation and deflation.

Governments can legislate the gold standard out of existence, but they cannot legislate human nature, nor can they dictate market forces that affect prices. The gold standard has never ceased to exist because the desire for precious metals has never ceased to exist. The real gold standard is a product of people's values, not the edict of any government. The old silver coins people still carry around in their pockets will continue to assure that things of intrinsic value never lose their shine.

by Tim Murdock
QSB Staff Writer