For a long time now, the American Monetary Association has been proclaiming that the current fiat currency used in the United States (and around the world as well) is going to be the undoing of the global economy on a scale never before imagined. Well, it seems that maybe, just maybe, the worm is beginning to turn, thanks to the Utah House of Representatives, which recently voted to make gold and silver coins issued by the Federal government legal tender within the state borders. Additional provisions in the bill that was approved exempt gold and silver coins from state sales tax, income tax, and capital gains tax. The vote was 47 to 26.

Of course, this approval is only one-half of the state congress. The Utah Senate still has to take up and pass the bill before it can become the law of the state but, whoa doggie, to even be seriously considering the notion of allowing precious metals to once again function as legal tender is a huge step in the right direction, in our opinion.

This “Utah Sound Money Act” is a direct offshoot of the kind of return to fiscal sanity proposed by former presidential candidate and Texas congressman, Ron Paul. The Utah measure was authored by attorney and businessman, Larry Hilton, who had this to say on the topic: “To me, the best road back to a really well-functioning monetary system is through the states, and through the states exercising their monetary power as articulated in Article I, Section 10 of the [U.S.] Constitution to make nothing but gold and silver coin a payment in tender of debts.”

Hilton went on to say, “If each of the states — or even just a small handful — do what we’re contemplating here in Utah, I think it would have a very positive impact on the dollar itself. It would also bring countless other benefits ushered in by competition and the preservation of purchasing power.”

More than a dozen other states have introduced like-minded legislation. We like to think this is the start of a movement…

The American Monetary Association Team

Flickr / sloth2048