The Quietest Insurrection

     From Kenny “Wirecutter” Lane:

     Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill into law that creates a process for the state to buy, sell, and hold gold and silver. This sets a foundation for Tennessee to achieve more financial independence with gold and silver reserves, and could help undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money.

     The longer story Kenny cites goes a bit further:

     Holding gold and silver will allow the state of Tennessee to shield its assets and hedge against rapidly depreciating Federal Reserve notes.
     As Sound Money Defence League policy director JP Cortez noted while testifying in favor of a similar bill in Wyoming, “Proposals encouraging state gold holdings have come before the legislature since January 2019, but no bills have been passed. During the last four years of inaction on sound money, gold bullion, priced in declining dollars, has risen by 50 percent.”
     Holding gold and silver in reserve will also create a pathway for Tennessee to maintain financial independence should the U.S. dollar collapse, a very real possibility as the world moves away from the greenback as its reserve currency.

     Talk about speaking the unspeakable! This goes to the heart of our entirely political inflation crisis. Moreover, it points the finger directly at the perpetrator, which cannot squirm away when such plain evidence is proffered.

     January 6, 2021 wasn’t an insurrection. This is – and it will have more power to defang Washington than any protest before Capitol Hill.

     It’s unusual, in our time, for a state government to proclaim the existence of a financial reserve. Ordinarily, when a state or local government fails to exhaust its funds, cries immediately arise for a “rebate to the taxpayers.” The impulse is understandable. However, it’s also a bit shortsighted.

     Today the principal despoiler of Americans’ property is the federal government. As much as I enjoy bellowing about my property taxes, it’s Washington that does my family’s finances the most harm. As painful as it’s been to us at the Fortress, the combination of high taxes with the deliberate degradation of the dollar has proved crippling to millions of American families and small businesses. The great economic need of our time is a way to fight back. The precious metals are such a countermeasure.

     Like it or not, many millions of people put more stock in what governments are doing than in the emissions of a .001-caliber commentator like me…or him. For a couple of years now, governments worldwide have gradually reduced their dependence on the U.S. dollar as the world’s “reserve currency.” Perhaps a few private-citizen Americans have noticed and have drawn the moral. But when state governments begin to follow suit, many more will take heed.

     Even socialists have been clear-eyed about this issue. One of the most famous socialists of his time, George Bernard Shaw, put it most memorably:

     You have to choose (as a voter) between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence of the members of the government. And, with due respect to these gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the capitalist system lasts, to vote for gold.

     No one has ever said it better. Verbum sat sapienti.