Sorry if this is a duplicate; I didn't see any mention on the site. Interview with Bernard can be found here:
http://www.ebacherville.com/cgi-bin/uploaded/FINAL-LibertyDollarNotHaus11152007.mp3
Wasn't e-gold raided just last week?
Seems someone is putting the squeeze on traditional currencies.
Well, that's because e-gold can be used by terrorists!
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_02/b3966094.htm
Also online story: http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Feature-Article.htm?InfoNo=026755
for those interested.
Got the call today. I've been too pissed to know all my silver is gone to rationally discuss it.
You can jump on to the class action lawsuit here.
CurtHowland:Wasn't e-gold raided just last week?
I thought e-gold got taken out months ago. When that happened, I started to worry about the Liberty Dollar then.
I wonder if e-bullion is next?
In regards to electronic gold being a "terrible decision" I disagree.
As purchases move online more often, it is necessary for the advocates of a gold standard, or to private gold/silver currency, to have places to point to show that gold and silver can be used as a medium of exchange in all possible transactions. This would include online purchases, and a great way to do this was at liberty-auctions.com.
This was why I had purchased my eLiberty Dollars, to participate in what, without the guns of government, could have been an excellent model for purchases with competing currencies. And this was where I personally was damaged by this coercive government action.
Also, I purchased a decent amount of the paper certificates (1 dollar value) to give to others to help promote this idea. Now, the commodity is gone.
But the major point of owning gold as a currency is specifically to prevent theft by the government (usually due to inflation) If you own any form of eGold or representative gold you also incur the risk of any form of bankruptcy by the company holding the physical asset. This could be due to fraud, embezzlement, uninsured theft or insured theft by an uncapitalized insurance company, government action (in this case) or even a form of fractional banking either undisclosed (fraud) or disclosed (see Gold ETF's).
Owning physical gold also has limitations. Risk of theft and loss. Risk of bankruptcy by the insurance company if it is insured. Then if you have it in a lock box you have tranferred those risks to the lock box holder. Then there is the risk of fraud once again - buying fake coins or bullion. Transactions costs are pretty high. Plus, if the fiat currency goes kaput its likely that the government will outright outlaw gold etc. and then you have that risk of unusability. Add on the all the problems with physical gold as a currency as it stands now (liquidity, taxes, divisibility) and its a major difficulty to use as a currency. Thats not to say the over time many of these problems would go away given a true free market in currency, but to argue that right now you should go into gold creates risks that we should not ignore. This raid on the Liberty Dollars is a perfect example of that.
Electronic gold isn't a terrible decision; electronic gold based in the US is a terrible decision, and people had been telling e-gold for years - since they started - that basing their servers in the US was asking for trouble. That's why GoldMoney based itself in the Channel Islands.
ft88:But the major point of owning gold as a currency is specifically to prevent theft by the government (usually due to inflation) If you own any form of eGold or representative gold you also incur the risk of any form of bankruptcy by the company holding the physical asset.
No you don't. Your gold remains yours; unlike modern banks, it's not owned by the DGC. If the company goes bankrupt, your gold is still there (it might get a bit difficult to get at - e.g., you own some small fraction of a 400oz bar, along with a lot of other people; you'd have to get all the other owners together to sell the bar, etc., but it hasn't vanished)
ft88:This could be due to fraud, embezzlement, uninsured theft or insured theft by an uncapitalized insurance company, government action (in this case) or even a form of fractional banking either undisclosed (fraud) or disclosed (see Gold ETF's).
Government action, perhaps; fraud/embezzlement is a governance problem, about which the good DGCs are /far/ better than banks, etc.; and the vault risk (theft, etc.) is lower than keeping your own physical gold - you don't have access to multiple LBMA vaults.
I think you're much better off to stick to major US futures exchange traded futures contracts on gold and silver, unless you believe there will be a complete breakdown of law and order, etc. I don't see that scenerio, so a legal promise to deliver or to take delivery of bullion is much simpler, efficient, and safer in that there is no handling of bullion, or those high dealer premiums, state sales taxes, box storage fees, insurance. Also, the best thing to do with bullion is trade it, and futures trading is the largest and most liquid market as of right now. The minis are also good for the small investor and safer for the novice trader. Also government enforcement on US regulated exchanges.