A guy decides to mint his own tender thinking that U.S. money is worth little to nothing. You've heard all this before with the fringe elements of the right wing. You haven't? Just pop over to Idaho because they must have too much time on there hands there. They think up crazy stuff. Wonder if it's something in the water that makes them that way? Probably the years of mine run off but that's another story. At any rate this Von whatever his name is thinks that he's going to start making his own currency because he thinks the banks paper is worthless. The feds have other ideas about his operation and shut him down. Liberty dollars If the guy was rich enough ($7 million worth) to make coins he sure wasn't smart enough to call them artwork and sell them as such with a 5, 10, 20 or 50 marked on them without saying they were some type of currency (wink wink nod nod). And why try to make them look like American currency of the past? He could have made a commemorative type coin honoring a few presidents as artwork not legal tender (wink wink nod nod). The only problem he'd have in promoting such coinage would be their acceptance. If that were the only currency a town accepted then the plan might work much like the script workers were paid in to work the mines of the 1890's. They could only use the script for the company store. I've heard similar script was used by the U.S. military during the Korean War. I can't off hand think of why this was used other than it would be difficult to move that much cash overseas during a war. Not like today where we can take and lose pallets of greenbacks in Iraq that mysteriously disappeared.
Oh well it's only money.
I have more but the old clock on the wall is telling me it's time to prepare for work to make more of those funny green paper things we trade for food and the like.
9 comments:
I flew my little PA28 Piper across the Atlantic in 1984 (visiting Oshkosh) and made a fuel stop in Gander. Ferry planes like mine got a Gander Dollar there. Of course I didn't spend it, but have it taped into the Photo album to this day :-)
I believe there were companies still issueing their own "money" well into the 20th century in certain parts of Gods Own Country.
"Money, it's a hit, don't give me none of that do goodie good BULLshit"
I imagine they used script in Korea for the same reason we used it in Vietnam - there was a healthy black market in US currency. Possession of greenbacks was a serious offense for a G.I.
You say this like it's a bad thing. I use Monopoly money all the time.
Stu do you get goosed with that?
Great to see you back Harry. I see you caught my reference. I was thinking 16 tons and the company store.
Funny Shaun how it's about the only currency used in Russia today. Only because it's so stable.
But Randal they wouldn't accept my get out of jail card. What's up with that?
It's "only money" until you have none. Then it's MONEY!!!
The word is actually "scrip," not script. It's been used in many, many times and places. IIRC, in pre-Revolutionary times the Hudson's Bay Co. issued scrip to frontier hunters, trappers and traders since there was no government issuing and regulating currency, and printed currency brought in deteriorated.
As Shaun said, scrip can be a means of keeping regular currency out of enemy and criminal hands. I think that was a big motivation during the Civil War, when the south got hard up for hard currency and its printed money ran into acceptance problems abroad.
As for kooks in Idaho, the Gem state doesn't hold a candle to Montana, where in the late 1970's (I think it was) militia nuts set up what they claimed was an independent country with its own constitution, laws and currency. Then, the kooks proceeded to "defend" their country with barbed wire and all kinds of weapons up to and including light artillery.
Amazingly, the feds were able to shut it down with relatively little bloodshed.
Randal wrote, "I use Monopoly money all the time."
And you're no doubt known as the last of the big tippers, especially at Famous Ray's, right? :)
As the very first is taken away, the second pallet opens up. Go for the right style *Never allow or advise the use of the forklift to any particular persons who are not authorized Following forklift safety rules does not make you look silly in anyway (in fact it makes you look very smart!). b: Danger stickers
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