Three Coins Versus The Counterfeiter

"At one time in American history, the benefits of sound money and the risks of easy credit were completely understood. It was during the founding of our country… just after the Constitution was ratified.

The Second Congress of the United States passed the Coinage Act of 1792. The act established the dollar as the currency of the United States and defined precisely what a dollar was: 24.1 grams of pure silver.

To ensure the quality of America's money, three coins were taken from every major batch minted. Each year on the last Monday in July, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the secretary of the Treasury, the secretary of State, and the attorney general witnessed these coins being assayed.

If the sample coins did not meet legal standards, the officers of the mint would be dismissed and the $10,000 surety bonds they posted would be seized. Further, if any officer of the mint was found guilty of embezzlement or of debasing the coins, the penalty was death.

Compare that system – where the most senior members of the federal government are in charge of maintaining the soundness of our money – with today's system. Under the current system, the federal government has become the biggest counterfeiter in the world.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has tripled the monetary base of the United States in only two years. The dollar lost 50% of its purchasing power under Alan Greenspan. And since the dollar was taken off of the gold standard in 1971, it's lost 90% of its purchasing power."

Porter Stansberry, A Precious Metals Chart the Government Won't Ever Show You, April 19, 2011