S.C. Lawmaker Wants|to Ban U.S. Currency

COLUMBIA, S.C. (CN) - Likening the financial stability of the federal government to that of the Weimar Republic in pre-Nazi Germany, a state representative has introduced legislation mandating the replacement of U.S. currency with silver and gold coins. The bill by Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, a retired Greenville policeman, would ban the "unconstitutional substitution of Federal Reserve Notes for silver and gold coin in South Carolina."

Pitts say the action is necessary to "protect the safety, health and welfare of the people of this state."

In a series of interviews with the media, Pitts said that if the federal government continues to spend money at its current rate, "our entire economic system is going to collapse."

Expanding on that statement in an interview with the online Palmetto Scoop, Pitts said, "The Germans felt their system wouldn't collapse, but it took a wheelbarrow of money to buy a loaf of bread in the 1930s."

"The Soviet Union didn't think their system would collapse, but it did. Ours is capable of collapsing also," he added.

Pitts said that a shift to an economy based on gold and silver coins would give South Carolina a "base of currency" should the collapse come.

Among the exchanges in gold and silver specifically mandated by the bill are "judgments, decrees, or orders of any court or administrative agency of this State in civil or criminal actions or proceedings, except where and only to the extent that the court or agency granting an award shall find, on the basis of clear and convincing evidence, that payment of silver and gold coin shall not constitute just compensation for the damages suffered by the prevailing party."

Showing he gave his legislation a lot of thought, Pitts' bill spells out a valuation process for his new currency.

The bill directs the state treasurer to begin each day by determining the average proportion by weight by which gold trades against silver in the major precious metals market. He would then make that determination available to anyone who asked for it.

The bill continues, "The value of any silver coin must be calculated by dividing the weight of fine silver in grains (troy) that the coin shall contain by 371.25 grains, and expressing the quotient in 'dollars.'

"The value of any gold coin shall be calculated by multiplying the weight of fine gold in grains (troy) that the coin shall contain by the proportion by weight between silver and gold as determined by the Treasurer of the State of South Carolina by dividing the product of such multiplication by 371.25 grains and expressing the quotient in 'dollars'."

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