"Federal Reserve Notes Are Not
Dollars." -- Russell Munk, Former Assistant General Counsel, Dept. of
the Treasury, in a 1977 letter
Why would I want to pay more than the market price of silver?
In a word -- CONVENIENCE. Let
me explain:
FIRST: YOU'RE NOT.
The Liberty Dollar is NOT an investment. The Liberty Dollar IS a currency. If your goal is to buy silver, then you should buy silver bullion.
Please remember that the spot price of silver you see in the paper is for a 5000 ounce ingot in New York. One ounce silver pieces like the U.S. Mint's Silver Eagle is sold for spot plus $2.00 to $4.00, depending on where and how many you are buying. So if silver is at $10.00 per ounce spot price, the one ounce pieces run $12.00 to $14.00, about the same for the $20.00 Silver Liberty or Certificate.
Also remember the price of the Silver Liberty or Certificate includes not only the market value of the underlying silver, but also such costs as minting, storage, insurance, printing, distribution, bookkeeping, supporting the Liberty Associates, advertising, and all the other usual expenses of a free market enterprise. Plus the Silver Libertys and Certificates are wholesaled to the RCOs and Liberty Associates at a discount to provide them a profit and bring about a positive change to our monetary system.
SECOND: SILVER LIBERTYS AND CERTIFICATES PROVIDE CONVENIENCE.
Now you can carry self-backed currency in your pocket or, if you use certificates, you can carry as much Silver in your wallet as you want!
The main advantage to the Silver Certificates is simply that they transform a high weight-to-value commodity into a lightweight, useful, and valuable tool for commerce.
THIRD: PRICE COMPARISON.
You can't buy a loaf of bread for the price of wheat. A $2.00 loaf of wheat bread has less than 10 cents worth of wheat in it -- that is less than 1/20th of the price. Exchanging $20.00 for a Silver Liberty or Certificate when silver spot price is $10.00 per ounce is very reasonable given the costs involved, and they have something Federal Reserve Notes do not: Intrinsic value! Silver is a fungible commodity, this means one ounce of silver will always be one ounce of silver no matter what nominal value is stamped on its face.
FIRST: YOU'RE NOT.
The Liberty Dollar is NOT an investment. The Liberty Dollar IS a currency. If your goal is to buy silver, then you should buy silver bullion.
Please remember that the spot price of silver you see in the paper is for a 5000 ounce ingot in New York. One ounce silver pieces like the U.S. Mint's Silver Eagle is sold for spot plus $2.00 to $4.00, depending on where and how many you are buying. So if silver is at $10.00 per ounce spot price, the one ounce pieces run $12.00 to $14.00, about the same for the $20.00 Silver Liberty or Certificate.
Also remember the price of the Silver Liberty or Certificate includes not only the market value of the underlying silver, but also such costs as minting, storage, insurance, printing, distribution, bookkeeping, supporting the Liberty Associates, advertising, and all the other usual expenses of a free market enterprise. Plus the Silver Libertys and Certificates are wholesaled to the RCOs and Liberty Associates at a discount to provide them a profit and bring about a positive change to our monetary system.
SECOND: SILVER LIBERTYS AND CERTIFICATES PROVIDE CONVENIENCE.
Now you can carry self-backed currency in your pocket or, if you use certificates, you can carry as much Silver in your wallet as you want!
The main advantage to the Silver Certificates is simply that they transform a high weight-to-value commodity into a lightweight, useful, and valuable tool for commerce.
THIRD: PRICE COMPARISON.
You can't buy a loaf of bread for the price of wheat. A $2.00 loaf of wheat bread has less than 10 cents worth of wheat in it -- that is less than 1/20th of the price. Exchanging $20.00 for a Silver Liberty or Certificate when silver spot price is $10.00 per ounce is very reasonable given the costs involved, and they have something Federal Reserve Notes do not: Intrinsic value! Silver is a fungible commodity, this means one ounce of silver will always be one ounce of silver no matter what nominal value is stamped on its face.
What happens with silver over $20 per ounce?
What happens to the
Liberty Dollar when silver goes over $20 per Troy ounce?
So you think the price of silver is
headed higher? You are definitely not alone. So what does
that "$20 Silver Base" mean? And what happens to the Liberty Dollar when silver costs
more than $20 per ounce?
Currently all paper Silver Certificates and Digital Liberty Dollars are identified with "$20 Silver Base." This simply means that every 20 Liberty Dollars in paper or digital form are backed by one Troy ounce of .999 fine silver (Silver Libertys do not have this stamped on them because each Silver Liberty IS one Troy ounce of .999 fine silver!). This unique feature was created to make the currency market sensitive. Obviously with silver at less than $16.00 per ounce, it is possible to purchase an ounce of silver on the open market, exchange it for less than $20, and cover the manufacturing and overhead expenses. But as the silver price rises, it would be impossible to buy silver at $25 per ounce and issue $20 Silver Certificates backed by an ounce of silver.
So when the price of silver rises over a set price point (COMEX 30DMA of $16.00 per Troy ounce) NORFED will issue a new Warehouse Receipt with a face value of $50, that will be identified with "$50 Silver Base." The new $50 Certificate will be backed by one ounce of .999 silver and the $20, $10, $5, and $1 Certificates will be backed by the appropriate fraction of an ounce of .999 silver. Thereby making the currency market sensitive and respond as the U.S. Dollar is depreciated by the government's fiat printing presses.
Just as the "$20 Silver Base" is prominently displayed inside the eyecatching hologram in the lower left corner of every certificate, the new $50 base Certificates will be identified with a new"$50 Silver Base" in the same way.
This was deliberately designed as a high security feature (just one of more than a dozen incorporated into the Certificates) to draw the bearer's attention, so he would be aware of the silver content of the currency he was holding.
As you would be a fool to use a $20 Certificate when you could get a $50 Certificate, inevitably, the next question is: "What can I do with the old $20 Certificates?" Since an ounce of silver is equal to another ounce of silver (fungible, remember) you have 3 choices:
Please note that all Certificates are "redeemable by bearer on demand" for the silver, as specified on the back of every Certificate, regardless of the price of silver. That's right, because the silver is placed in the warehouse before the warehouse receipt is issued, you are guaranteed to receive the silver because it is 100% backed currency. If you were to get anything less, it would be as fraudulent as the current Federal Reserve banking scheme.
As the value of the Federal Reserve Notes continues to fall and the price of silver rises to maintain its value in the marketplace, the Liberty Dollar has been designed to continue to function at par on a dollar-to-dollar basis with the FRN. Now for the first time since the Federal Reserve began, this parallel feature provides an invaluable comparison between the debt-based Federal currency that depreciates and the value-backed Liberty currency that will appreciate in terms of the FRN.
If silver goes even higher, there are move up points already built into the Liberty Dollar currency system. These are all based on the COMEX 30DMA.
Currently all paper Silver Certificates and Digital Liberty Dollars are identified with "$20 Silver Base." This simply means that every 20 Liberty Dollars in paper or digital form are backed by one Troy ounce of .999 fine silver (Silver Libertys do not have this stamped on them because each Silver Liberty IS one Troy ounce of .999 fine silver!). This unique feature was created to make the currency market sensitive. Obviously with silver at less than $16.00 per ounce, it is possible to purchase an ounce of silver on the open market, exchange it for less than $20, and cover the manufacturing and overhead expenses. But as the silver price rises, it would be impossible to buy silver at $25 per ounce and issue $20 Silver Certificates backed by an ounce of silver.
So when the price of silver rises over a set price point (COMEX 30DMA of $16.00 per Troy ounce) NORFED will issue a new Warehouse Receipt with a face value of $50, that will be identified with "$50 Silver Base." The new $50 Certificate will be backed by one ounce of .999 silver and the $20, $10, $5, and $1 Certificates will be backed by the appropriate fraction of an ounce of .999 silver. Thereby making the currency market sensitive and respond as the U.S. Dollar is depreciated by the government's fiat printing presses.
Just as the "$20 Silver Base" is prominently displayed inside the eyecatching hologram in the lower left corner of every certificate, the new $50 base Certificates will be identified with a new"$50 Silver Base" in the same way.
This was deliberately designed as a high security feature (just one of more than a dozen incorporated into the Certificates) to draw the bearer's attention, so he would be aware of the silver content of the currency he was holding.
As you would be a fool to use a $20 Certificate when you could get a $50 Certificate, inevitably, the next question is: "What can I do with the old $20 Certificates?" Since an ounce of silver is equal to another ounce of silver (fungible, remember) you have 3 choices:
- You can exchange the $20 Certificate, and all related smaller issues, with a "$20 Silver Base" for a new $50 Certificate with a "$50 Silver Base" at no charge.
- You can redeem the $20 Certificate (and all related issues) for the silver.
- You can hold the $20 Certificate (and all related issues) as a store of value or wait for up to 20 years from date of issue for higher silver prices.
Please note that all Certificates are "redeemable by bearer on demand" for the silver, as specified on the back of every Certificate, regardless of the price of silver. That's right, because the silver is placed in the warehouse before the warehouse receipt is issued, you are guaranteed to receive the silver because it is 100% backed currency. If you were to get anything less, it would be as fraudulent as the current Federal Reserve banking scheme.
As the value of the Federal Reserve Notes continues to fall and the price of silver rises to maintain its value in the marketplace, the Liberty Dollar has been designed to continue to function at par on a dollar-to-dollar basis with the FRN. Now for the first time since the Federal Reserve began, this parallel feature provides an invaluable comparison between the debt-based Federal currency that depreciates and the value-backed Liberty currency that will appreciate in terms of the FRN.
If silver goes even higher, there are move up points already built into the Liberty Dollar currency system. These are all based on the COMEX 30DMA.
From $50 base to $100 base: $41.50/Troy ounce for 30 consecutive days.
From $100 base to $250 base: $84.00/Troy ounce for 30 consecutive days.
From
$250 base to $500 base: $211.50/Troy ounce for 30 consecutive days.
The Liberty Dollar is designed to move with the silver markets
for many years to come thus making it the most stable currency
available for use today.