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I have decided it is time to capitalize on the declining value of the dollar and to help organize and facilitate trade between individuals and business in an increasingly regulated world.

I have decided to pursue becoming a Community Trade Coordinator for the American Open Currency Standard. 

I first learned about the AOCS at the Campaign For Liberty Seattle Regional Conference. I have been intrigued since then at the prospect of using silver and gold as a barter mechanism to facilitate trade- trade that would hold its value at a much more stable rate than that of the Federal Reserve Note.

The goal of the AOCS is to establish a private and voluntary network of individuals and business who wish to utilize the asset preservation power of gold and silver to facilitate trade amongst themselves. Many city-specific currencies have sprung up since this depression began and long before that merchants have opted to provide their customers with the convenience of gift cards. But what if that local currency loses its luster? What if the store from whom you have purchased your gift card goes out of business?

The AOCS seeks to remedy this problem by providing a barter token that is by itself a valuable commodity- 1 Troy ounce of .999 silver for every ‘fifty’ barter credits (and to a lesser extent gold). There are over 26,000 merchants nationwide who have agreed to be listed that they accept transactions based on barter- and given the current state of affairs that number will surly rise.

Many people purchase Gold and Silver to hoard it for use at some date in the future when our fiat currency system fails (as historically everyone has). But consider this- we are two generations away from when the last remnants of the gold standard were severed from the American financial system. When the collapse of the Federal Reserve note comes, will your local grocer be ready and have the knowledge to trade value-for-value? What about the local gas station or restaurant? How about transactions between businesses themselves?

The reality is that despite the massive awaking to sound currency as a result of the efforts of Dr. Ron Paul and the Campaign For Liberty, very little progress has been made in restoring the role of Gold or Silver in the marketplace. The AOCS seeks to be the force that provides support and education to local merchants who desire a better way to do business in an increasingly command-and-control economy.

First things first: I am looking to place the initial order of AOCS Silver rounds as soon as possible. Given the increasingly top-heavy threats from the Obama administration, we must act in all prudence and seek to organize our private, voluntary currency networks as soon as possible. If this concept interests you, or if you desire a better way to capture your customers’ loyalty, please feel free to contact me. As soon as I get the details worked out with AOCS I will open an online store of sorts to facilitate the purchase of AOCS Silver rounds.

In the meantime, take a look at the American Open Currency Standard website to decide if this is right for you.

Also, take a moment to learn about Dr. Ron Paul’s efforts to Audit The Fed and repeal Legal Tender laws. 

With the right amount of innovation, the Free Market will never be defeated.

From Rasmussen:

Ben Bernanke begins the formal process tomorrow for confirmation to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, but 41% of Americans think President Obama should name someone new to the post.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 21% of adults believe the President should reappoint Bernanke to another four-year term. But a sizable 39% aren’t sure what the president should do.

Fitting then, that Senator Jim DeMint, the main sponsor of S.604, would place a hold on the re-appointment of Chairman Ben Bernanke until a simple up-or-down floor vote on the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act takes place.

From Senator DeMint’s office:

“Mr. Bernanke has been one of the chief proponents of the Fed’s easy money policy that created the current financial crisis. He ignored asset bubbles, dismissed concerns about the weakness of the dollar, and helped encourage the credit mania that led to the financial panic. Even worse, Mr. Bernanke has refused to accept any responsibility for his role in these actions prior to financial crisis.

On July 6, 2009, Senator DeMint attempted to get a vote on S. 604, which would remove restrictions on auditing the Fed’s discount window operations, funding facilities, open market operations and agreements with foreign central banks and governments. The vote was blocked but Senator pledged to keep fighting to force the Senate to vote on the measure.

“I will also object to floor consideration of Mr. Bernanke’s nomination until the Senate votes up-or-down on the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act. This bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, has over thirty cosponsors and would allow the Government Accountability Office to conduct a full audit of the Federal Reserve. Americans deserve to know how their money is being managed so these mistakes never happen again.

And now, my dear readers, we have a war. Let us not tire, falter or fail in our efforts to End The Fed. We know they will use their abilities to craft monetary policy to make this bill appear as a threat; we must stand ready to educate and reach out. The real enemy is not Bernanke, but the Creature From Jekyll Island that has brought us wars, centralized government planning, inflationary monetary polity and the destructive boom-and-bust cycle that interferes with the free market.

Contact your Senators TODAY, make it clear: We demand an up-or-down vote on the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act!

From Politico.com:

Is libertarian rock star and Texas Republican Ron Paul going mainstream?

He’s got everyone from South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint to Minnesota moderate Democrat Collin Peterson to California liberal Barbara Boxer on his side in his audit-the-Fed crusade. He’s drawing liberal support in his push to rein in the cost of the war in Afghanistan. Senate candidates like Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes of New Hampshire are finding Dr. No’s populist economic anger to be useful in the campaign, echoing Paul’s criticism of the Federal Reserve.

Even Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is delivering backhanded compliments, taking credit for merely allowing a vote on Paul’s amendment to audit the central bank.

This convergence of odd bedfellows, and the economic angst that’s driving it all, is yet another signal that President Barack Obama is going to have more and more trouble keeping his traditional Democratic allies on his side as the economic debate continues. It seems that everyone is looking for something new to latch on to in the economic debate - even if those ideas belong to one of the more eccentric members of Congress.

“This brought people together [from] the whole political spectrum, from progressives and liberals and libertarians and conservatives. … they all came together. That, to me, is what is really so important,” said Paul, who has been introducing his audit-the-Fed measure since the early ’80s.

After so many tries, this time Paul’s measure attracted 313 co-sponsors in the House, representing every possible point on the political spectrum. It also scored a strong vote in a key committee and has a companion in the Senate that’s supported by a bipartisan coalition of senators.

And Paul’s economic views, long dismissed by the political establishment, seem to be resonating more broadly than just the audit-the-Fed measure, both in the larger financial reform debate and the growing concern about the cost of continuing the war in Afghanistan.

To be sure, Paul’s bill to abolish the personal income tax or to end the United States’ membership in the United Nations still puts him well outside the mainstream.

But lawmakers - and, more important, the voters they represent - are starting to believe that the financial meltdown and the dramatic government rescue effort seems to have gotten Wall Street back on its feet quite nicely while leaving regular folks on the curb, analysts say.

“On financial regulation matters, most Americans sympathize with Ron Paul’s outrage,” said Cook Political Report House analyst Dave Wasserman.

This just came from the Campaign for Liberty:

October 20, 2009

Dear Friend of Liberty,
 
Earlier today, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced “The Federal Reserve Accountability Act,” an attempt to kill HR 1207/S 604 by passing a bill that prevents a full audit and full transparency from America’s secretive central bank.
 
While language in this bill would permit a limited audit of the Fed’s actions in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and similar high profile bailouts, it would not allow an audit to review the Fed’s inflation of the money supply or its agreements with foreign central banks, among other shortcomings.
 
Additionally, the names of the institutions who received the funds would not be available until one year after each “emergency” program ended, and you know how quickly the federal government likes to end programs.
 
Click here to get the contact information for your senators and urge them not to support this attempt at stopping our historic effort to force the Fed into a full scale audit.
 
You see, you and I have the FED and their internationalist supporters in the Senate running scared.
 
We’ve seen it time and time again in recent months.
 
Now, this is how they will fight back — by having establishment senators who oppose a full audit the Fed, proposing watered down compromises in an attempt to sabotage our real goal.
 
We knew this moment would come.  Now you and I must fight back.
 
Seventy-five percent of the American people, over two thirds of the House of Representatives, and over a quarter of the Senate support Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed legislation.
 
With those historic levels of support, there is no excuse for settling for anthing less than a full Audit the Fed bill.  Anything less is merely an attempt to stop our efforts as we get closer to passage of a real bill.
 
The freedom movement will not back down on requiring transparency and accountability from an institution that has helped to destroy our economy.  This is another test of our strength and will.
 
Let’s finish what we’ve started.  Take action to stop this dangerous attempt to stop the real Audit the Fed bill TODAY!
 
Find contact information for your senators here and read more at CampaignforLiberty.com.
 
Let your senators know you expect them to support the American people’s demand for full transparency, not some watered down measure designed to stop a full audit!

In Liberty,

John Tate

President

From the American Banking News:

Congressman Ron Paul informed the Campaign for Liberty that the House Financial Services Committee will hold hearings on Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve (H.R. 1207). The hearings are currently tentatively set for Friday, September 25th at 9:00 AM.

H.R. 1207: the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 would require the Government Account Office to audit the Federal Reserve’s funding facilities, including the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, Term Securities Lending Facility, and Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility. The GAO would then provide a full report of its findings to Congress. Paul believes that the legislation will shine light on the Federal Reserve’s secrecy and demonstrate to the country that the Federal Reserve doesn’t have the country’s best interest in mind.

Currently H.R. 1207 has 284 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and a similar piece of legislation, S.604: the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act has 24 co-sponsors in the senate. A recent opinion poll indicated that 75% of the American People support the idea of auditing the Federal Reserve.

John Tate, president of the Campaign for Liberty, stated in a press release, ”The Federal Reserve wields tremendous power and is at the center of our current economic storm of deficits, debt and bailouts. Congressman Barney Frank should be commended for his willingness to hold hearings on Fed transparency.”

Now that the legislation is gaining steam, some Libertarian activists are worried that the legislation will be attached to a larger financial regulatory reform bill that will provide increased power to the Federal Reserve or other agencies. Tate stated that attaching the bill to other legislation “would be a betrayal to the intent and spirit of H.R. 1207, and would be vigorously opposed by Campaign for Liberty.”

From KTVB:

Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert and chairman of the Joint Finance-Appropriations budget committee, told the Times-News that July tax revenue that was about $27 million shy of the same period in 2008 could force the 2010 Legislature into difficult choices.

Cameron says, “Now it’s going to force us to discuss what programs are necessary…and maybe even eliminate agencies.”

Cameron declined to name what agencies might be dumped.

Finally! It appears that the polls have finally caught up our representatives.

Consider this from Rasmussen:

Seventy percent (70%) of likely voters now favor a government that offers fewer services and imposes lower taxes over one that provides more services with higher taxes, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

That’s up five points over the past month and is the highest level measured in nearly three years.

Given the alarming rate of state power consolidation under the Presidency of Barack Obama, it’s no surprise to see 70% of the public saying no to increased government intrusion into our lives. The ’silent majority’, a large demographic represented by a limited government philosophy, has been shaken awake by the radical vision of President Barack Obama.

What is even more encouraging is that these voters will not be satisfied with simply cutting taxes, they want a legitimate and real rollback to the power of the state. For example, consider the polls- forty-nine percent of people say workers should be able to opt out of Social Security, fifty percent of people oppose health care reform, and forty-six percent of people are deeply worried about the Stimulus money being wasted.

Another encouraging sign- most voters seem aware of the scope of the battle that we are facing. Sixty-eight percent of voters expect to see their federal income taxes rise under President Obama. The general consensus finds that fifty one percent of Americans are deeply distrustful of our financial (Federal Reserve) system and seventy-five percent favor auditing the Fed.

Ludwig von Mises wrote in 1929, “Government is the negation of liberty”. In the wake of the economic collapse, the bailouts, the radical expansion of government power and nationalization of our economy it appears that a majority of American’s are wanting government to be replaced with personal responsibility. This will involve shrinking government by eliminating programs and reducing regulatory reach. Taxation, if we are successful in also stopping Cap and Trade, Obamacare and increased government spending, should also plunge a result.

Note the shift: cutting taxes is a result of our action, not our main purpose.

We can claim legitimacy to our case by advocating a strict return to the enumerated powers of the Constitution, rolling back the Federal government to its proper size, scope and role. This requires outreach, education and organization. If you haven’t already done so, may I suggest networking with the Campaign For Liberty, the We The People Foundation or the American Liberty Alliance?

Something to watch- if the motivation to cut government lies only in pure fiscal/budgetary reasons, our representatives may well find themselves with even further dissatisfaction among their supporters.

This presents a real danger to the Republican party as it’s political base has essentially organized themselves separate from the Party itself (i.e. “Im a conservative first, Republican second“). Viewing the Tea Parties, et all as a groundswell of support for their cause is a very big miscalculation of the politcal winds. This has all the markings of an idealogical shift- one that will leave the party playing catch-up with the political direction of it’s base.

74 years of fighting for Freedom and Liberty.

74 years of fighting the Fed and statism.

This man truly is a gift from God sent to help show this nation the way back.

May he live another 74 years and always find a willing audience for his message.