What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
It’s not a rhetorical question. Virginia legislator Bob Marshall has a bill he proposed to allow Virginia to issue its own currency.
Marshall is afraid that the falling value of the US dollar will hurt Virginians, and he believes having a Virginia currency will soften the blow.
Here are some of Constitutional issues Marshall will have to consider:
Article 1 Section 8 says Congress will have the power to issue “Coins.”
Article 1 Section 10 says no state shall “coin money.”
Ok, it looks like coins are out of the question.
Article 10 says that states may not issue “Bills of Credit.” A paper dollar is a bill of credit, so that idea is licked, too.
Off the top of my head, the only open door I can see from a cursory review of Constitutional text is a currency not based on credit, but backed by a tangible asset.
In case you think Marshall is a lone and extreme voice, this piece on Fox yesterday notes that there are 15 other states who are considering or have recently considered their own currency: Wash., Idaho, Mont., Utah, Colo., Okla., Mo., Ind., Tenn., Ga., S.C., N.C.,Vt., Iowa and N.H.
Ha! And Ricochet got nervous about me making us look kooky when I asked a theoretical question about secession last week. I’m just a powerless beach boy blogging in the sand. These folks run government! I think a state currency would be a giant step toward secession.
Can you imagine the chaos of 50 different dollars?
We need to name a dollar for all 50 states. For me, I’m going with the Jersey Tomato (we are the Garden State).
What would your state dollar be called?
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Dec '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Florida Sand Dollar?
Jul '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Texas peso?
Dec '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Since I live in Washington State where King county (Seattle) decides everything in the state it would have to be called the Soy-based Holistic Instrument (of) Trade. You can guess what the rest of the state would call it and how its worth would be valued.
Oct '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Given our debt problems along with a vibrant Greek town in Chicago, the Illinois Drachma.
Edited on Jul 15, 2011 at 11:22amFeb '11
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Just specify that transactions must be conducted in shares of a gold ETF. They're already available and can be transfered electronically.
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Maryland Calvert?
Wisconsin
—Dell
—Badger (à la the loonie)
—Cheddollar
?
Jun '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Hey if Virginia can do it so can I. I'm going to issue Cas's National currency, backed by the full faith and credit of Cas. "In Cas we trust!"
May '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
The Buckeye has been devalued. We can hardly use it to buy our tattoos anymore.
Jul '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
The Old Dominion Dollar...but I'm afraid it being referred to as a VD would be more likely.
Jun '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
The Tennessee currency of worth would likely be a clear, highly flammable liquid in an old milk jug or a quart mason jar, so I'd have to go with "Gallons" and "Quarts."
Mar '11
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
This is politically useful as a sign that Americans are getting fed up, but it's worthless in practical terms because of the Constitution. But when Ben Bernanke starts saying stupid things like "Gold isn't money", then perhaps it's time to start over in our currency system.
Oct '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Tommy De Seno:
Can you imagine the chaos of 50 different dollars?
What chaos? If one defines a hard currency “dollar” along the lines of the Coinage Act of 1792 as, say, “24.1 grams of pure silver”, then any mint whatsoever, state or private, is free to coin dollars with that content of metal (alloyed with others in the interest of durability). A mint, owning the copyright of the design, would be able to prosecute counterfeiters, and independent assayers would quickly discover if any issuer were calling coins “dollars” which did not contain the defined amount of precious metal. Any issuer who failed assay would be quickly forced from the market by individuals refusing to accept their currency; there's no need for the death penalty prescribed in the 1792 act in the age of instant communications.
Vending machines couldn't care less about the design on the coin: they work fine with commemorative U.S.quarters, for example.
Why are folks who're inclined to trust the market to provide goods and services disinclined to trust it to provide the medium of exchange?
Aug '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
As long as they're all backed by the same precious metals (gold and silver) then there should be little chaos since the value of those metals is uniform across state lines.
The question becomes, will states honour the currency of other states? There's no reason not to, if the currency is fully redeemable in gold and/or silver.
Personally, if a currency is redeemable for a fixed amount of gold/silver, I don't think the currency should be called a "dollar" at all. The name of the currency should reflect what it actually represents, like if the British "pound" actually represented one pound of silver.
How about calling the currency the "gram", to represent one gram of gold, currently worth about US$50. A "centigram" would be worth about 50 cents, and a "milligram" would be worth about 5 cents.
This sort of nomenclature works even better if one bases the currency on silver. One gram of silver is currently worth about US$1.25.
With a little tweaking, it sure seems like a reasonable basis for a metal-based currency to me.
May '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
We should adjust for inflation, no?
I like the sound of a Texas buck, or a Texas lonestar, but "peso" would be more honest.
Jun '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
During the period 1820 to 1840 the Mexican silver peso was the most common coin used in the Missouri Territory thanks to the trade generated by the Santa Fe Trail.
Dec '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
The new Missouri Dollar would very likely be called the "ShowMe".
But I guess we could also call it the "Jerry McGuire" (as in, "Show Me the Money, Jerry!")
I'm not sure what good a new currency pegged to the US dollar would do. The only way it changes anything is if the new currency is pegged to something tangible.
In Missouri, that would probably end up being either limestone rock or cedar trees.
Oct '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Oregon is the Beaver State, work with that....With a straight face...
Playing cards were used as currency in early New York provided they were signed by the powers that be... Something in that as well...
Mar '11
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Tommy De Seno: We need to name a dollar for all 50 states. For me, I’m going with the Jersey Tomato (we are the Garden State).
What would your state dollar be called? ·
Any name suitable for our new currency in California would violate the Ricochet CoC.
Aug '10
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Actually, I've read that's where the word "buck" comes from. In very early colonial days, when the fur trade was a really big deal, one male beaver pelt (otherwise known as a "buck") was a somewhat standardized unit of proto-currency. In fact, in the 1600s the Hudson Bay Company struck a coin that was equal to the value of one beaver pelt. This coin became known as a "buck".
Others may argue that the word "buck" can also refer to a deer pelt, which was a more common unit of proto-currency in the American colonies. However, the earliest usage of the word in this context is from 1748 in the journal of Conrad Weiser.
So, when one refers to dollars as "bucks", one is unknowingly already making a "beaver" joke.
Mar '11
Re: What Would You Call A Virginia Dollar?
Lo Fon: Given our debt problems along with a vibrant Greek town in Chicago, the Illinois Drachma. · Jul 15 at 11:08am
Edited on Jul 15 at 11:22 am
Well, either that or the Charmin. The advantage of the Illinois Charmin would be that it would more accurately reflect the value of the currency, as well as do a pretty good job of describing where the Governor's Office of Management and Budget gets their numbers from.
And it comes in rolls!