why did silver coinage end in the US?

[maxxkatt]

Ok, here is the official government line:

“If we had not done so, we would have risked chronic coin shortages in the very near future.” President Lyndon Johnson commented before Congress just prior to his signing the Coinage Act of 1965, the law which fundamentally changed the composition of America’s coinage.

I stopped believing much of what the US Government said in 1966-1967 when as a Army fixed station cryptographic equipment repairmen MOS 32G20 I saw what was really happening in Vietnam and what General Westmoreland and President Johnson was saying to the American public were two completely different stories.

So now why should I believe the above statement by President Johnson?

At that time we had US banks and post offices full of Morgan Silver dollars.

So what was the real story about not using silver coins any more?

 

[daddydigger]

In 1946 the US passed a law saying the US Govt had to purchase silver at the fixed price of 91 cents per ounce. At that time, silver was going for 87 cents per ounce and so silver producers could make a little profit selling to the US Govt. Once the price of silver exceeded 91 cents per ounce the govt couldn't get any silver and was "selling" silver at a loss (by minting coins and those coins disappeared from circulation). Also the Silver Purchase Act of 1934 stipulated that if silver ever reached $1.29 per ounce, then silver certificates could be redeemed for face value in silver. This would have been a huge financial blow to the US Govt. The bottom line is the US Govt lost the ability to control the price of silver and so decided to get out of the game.

 

[jmaryt]

Ok, here is the official government line:

“If we had not done so, we would have risked chronic coin shortages in the very near future.” President Lyndon Johnson commented before Congress just prior to his signing the Coinage Act of 1965, the law which fundamentally changed the composition of America’s coinage.

I stopped believing much of what the US Government said in 1966-1967 when as a Army fixed station cryptographic equipment repairmen MOS 32G20 I saw what was really happening in Vietnam and what General Westmoreland and President Johnson was saying to the American public were two completely different stories.

So now why should I believe the above statement by President Johnson?

At that time we had US banks and post offices full of Morgan Silver dollars.

So what was the real story about not using silver coins any more?

the price of silver was rising, and it was becoming ''cost prohibitive" to continue
minting silver coins.

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[GKL]

Ok, here is the official government line:

“If we had not done so, we would have risked chronic coin shortages in the very near future.” President Lyndon Johnson commented before Congress just prior to his signing the Coinage Act of 1965, the law which fundamentally changed the composition of America’s coinage.

I stopped believing much of what the US Government said in 1966-1967 when as a Army fixed station cryptographic equipment repairmen MOS 32G20 I saw what was really happening in Vietnam and what General Westmoreland and President Johnson was saying to the American public were two completely different stories.

So now why should I believe the above statement by President Johnson?

At that time we had US banks and post offices full of Morgan Silver dollars.

So what was the real story about not using silver coins any more?

Also, why did they stop making (and honoring those already made) gold and silver certificates, paper currency that stated something like "redeemable for $20 in gold" (or silver) because the increase in value of gold or silver would not matter because if the price of gold or silver went up you would simply get a lesser mount of gold or silver in exchange. Technically the clad and paper currency of today is not "real" money according to the legal definition of money.

 

[achaios]

I think the reason Gold Certificates weren't redeemable is because possession by an US citizen of more than 2 oz. gold bullion was made illegal during Roosevelt's presidency, with the object of getting more money out there circulating rather than hoarded as gold bullion.

An economic stimulus package, I think. Silver stopped being redeemable because the price was rising above the official US government price of $1.29/oz.

-- Tom

 

[Dewsweeper894]

Study our history , google it and look it up on YouTube. Many have died over that very same fight .
He who controls the money controlled everything. We had the only free nation in the world and the powerful few took our great nation over by controlling the money. Sell out government officials gave our gold standard away and we were sold into debt slavery.
These same people are taking our constitution and bill of rights apart very quickly.
Soon there will be no cash and only digital currency.
One flick of a switch and poof ! Gone .
We had a good run .
Sad how many dies for our nation’s freedom and sad that this nation will someday return to the very thing our founding fathers were running from and died for .
We are now part of the corporation.

 

[amc rulz]

“Why did silver coinage end in the US?”

Simple! It’s so easy to inflate paper today, nothing to back it! Print? Sure, 10:1. Next week, 20:1 (1 of what?).

 

[diggin4clad]

The bullion value of the coins exceeded the face value so there would have been a lot of coins melted which the government wanted to prevent. The fear of coin shortages caused the government to eliminate mint marks until they were brought back in 1968.

 

[diggin4clad]

Ok, here is the official government line:

“If we had not done so, we would have risked chronic coin shortages in the very near future.” President Lyndon Johnson commented before Congress just prior to his signing the Coinage Act of 1965, the law which fundamentally changed the composition of America’s coinage.

I stopped believing much of what the US Government said in 1966-1967 when as a Army fixed station cryptographic equipment repairmen MOS 32G20 I saw what was really happening in Vietnam and what General Westmoreland and President Johnson was saying to the American public were two completely different stories.

So now why should I believe the above statement by President Johnson?

At that time we had US banks and post offices full of Morgan Silver dollars.

So what was the real story about not using silver coins any more?

MaxxKatt….I was in the army from 1965-1967, stationed at Fort Belvoir Virginia and my MOS number was similar to yours. Mine was 51G20.....soils analyst.

 

[KOB]

The bullion value of the coins exceeded the face value so there would have been a lot of coins melted which the government wanted to prevent. The fear of coin shortages caused the government to eliminate mint marks until they were brought back in 1968.

You might want to research that last one. Mint Mark's were all done in the 30s , 40s , 50s , etc. Maybe you're trying to say something different ?

 

[diggin4clad]

You might want to research that last one. Mint Mark's were all done in the 30s , 40s , 50s , etc. Maybe you're trying to say something different ?

No need to research this.....I know when mint marks were used.
The fear of a coin shortage caused the government to eliminate mintmarks starting in 1965. They were brought back in 1968.

 

[KOB]

No need to research this.....I know when mint marks were used.
The fear of a coin shortage caused the government to eliminate mintmarks starting in 1965. They were brought back in 1968.

Ok... but you didn't say "starting in 1965" in your original post. That's why I commented.

 

[CarsonChris]

Somewhere, someone in government or someone’s family made huge sums of money by getting rid of the gold standard. There’s always a sell out by government officials to those entities willing to spend the money.

 

[Mikey48]

The government wanted to print unlimited paper money... to inflate the money supply to pay bills, including the Vietnam war. They could not do that without raising taxes if the dollar was backed by something that had intrinsic value such as silver or gold. The ability to change your paper into something of value restricts the governments ability of unlimited spending by printing worthless paper money. That is why a McDonalds hamburger or a small order of fries is no longer 15 cents as it was in 1964. You could still buy one for that if you used the melt value of a silver dime. The burger is still the same price, the money is worth way less. Inflation: For savers it is a devaluation of your stored wealth.

 

[amc rulz]

The government wanted to print unlimited paper money... to inflate the money supply to pay bills, including the Vietnam war. They could not do that without raising taxes if the dollar was backed by something that had intrinsic value such as silver or gold. The ability to change your paper into something of value restricts the governments ability of unlimited spending by printing worthless paper money. That is why a McDonalds hamburger or a small order of fries is no longer 15 cents as it was in 1964. You could still buy one for that if you used the melt value of a silver dime. The burger is still the same price, the money is worth way less. Inflation: For savers it is a devaluation of your stored wealth.

I tried, but couldn’t have said it better than this. Does anyone know what backs the dollar today? Faith!

 

[Steve]

In 1946 the US passed a law saying the US Govt had to purchase silver at the fixed price of 91 cents per ounce. At that time, silver was going for 87 cents per ounce and so silver producers could make a little profit selling to the US Govt. Once the price of silver exceeded 91 cents per ounce the govt couldn't get any silver and was "selling" silver at a loss (by minting coins and those coins disappeared from circulation). Also the Silver Purchase Act of 1934 stipulated that if silver ever reached $1.29 per ounce, then silver certificates could be redeemed for face value in silver. This would have been a huge financial blow to the US Govt. The bottom line is the US Govt lost the ability to control the price of silver and so decided to get out of the game.

Unlike the present time when fiat is made out of thin air with a wave of a wand and then that fiat is used to destroy metal prices..while at the same time pump up the stock,markets.. leveraged x100 of course.

 

[maxxkatt]

I tried, but couldn’t have said it better than this. Does anyone know what backs the dollar today? Faith!

I think it is backed by stupidity and greed. That is stupidity of the uninformed voters and greed of the elites.

 

[GTS225]

Does anyone know what backs the dollar today? Faith!

*********************************************************
Actually, it's supposed to be our ability to produce goods, or the "Gross National Product", as it's currently called.
Gets a little difficult to produce goods when the jobs, and production, gets moved to another country.

Roger

 

[Beachhunter]

Simple answer...cost.

 

[BottleCapKing]

When a coin costs more to make than it is worth as a legal tender, it makes no sense to continue using that alloy as medium for striking coins. IT is much like the Bronze/Brass pennies. They cost more than 1 cent to strike, so they switched to copper washed zinc.