South Carolina Legislature Follows In Utah's Wake, Making For Trend

As explained in an ABC News report by Huma Kahn, the South Carolina legislature is approaching the same bridge Utah already crossed by proposing a bill that would make U.S.-minted gold and silver coins legal tender in the state. Gold standard restoration is a movement whose time has come; it's been energized by widespread distrust of the Federal Reserve and, more broadly, distrust of the federal government's monetary policy. That's why the action has been taking place at the states, although it's been facilitated by Tea Party candidates running and winning in state elections. Restoration of the gold standard was considered in the 1980s at the federal level, when Ronald Reagan was President, but it came to naught.

"I think they're sending a message that reflects the opinion of the people that elected them," said Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr., a former vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. "By doing it at the state level, it's kind of trying to push, force the federal government to pay attention to this. Let's call it a symbolic act of sending a message."...

"There's a growing realization that the system does not work. The rest of the world is increasingly angry, upset at that policy because it has huge effects in other countries, mostly in the developing world," O'Driscoll said. "Both domestically and internationally, there's a sense there is a need for a new monetary system, but I don't think there has been any consensus or coalescing on a particular idea, including gold."

Peter Morici is quoted as saying that the gold standard will come unless the U.S. government gets its fiscal and monetary house in order. Gold is more trustworthy than, say, the renminbi.


If you're interested in the gold standard, you should go to The Gold Standard Now. It's not only an advocacy Site, but it's also a good resource.