Re: To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

Wheylous — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 22:42:38 GMT

The founders sadly sometimes lacked economic knowledge. For example, the "just compensation" in the Fifth Amendment:

nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation

There is no "fair value" except as determined through trade.

My guess for the money scenario is that they thought money was created by some king and hence money had to be invented and not arise naturally.

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

JB — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 22:23:17 GMT

In reading the enumerated powers, I am not clear about the phrase in the power to coin money that reads, "regulate the Value thereof". In the Constitution, if the Founders had simply forever fixed a weight and fineness of gold in a coin and of silver in another coin, gave both names like the US Gold Dollar and the US Silver Dollar, and left it at that, then wouldn’t that have been sufficient for the Founders to do in order to limit their powers in matters of money? With that, citizens would have had an immutable measurement, an official unit of money, and with it, use that standard in determining prices of their transactions as well as use that official standard for the minting of their own coins.

I don't know what they were after when they said, "regulate the Value there". Insights and comments?

History

Re: To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;