ANOTHER STATE BULLION DEPOSITORY IN THE WORKS?

Before we get to today's blog, first a little housekeeping: this week there will be no blogs on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, but blogs will resume their normal daily schedule the following week. Additionally, please remember there will also be no vidchat this Friday. I may or may not do a News and Views this week, but if indeed I do do one, it will be on Wednesday, not Thursday.  Thank you all for bearing with me.

So to today's story, submitted by W.G.: there's yet another state bullion depository in the works, this time in the American state of Tennessee, as a bill to establish one in the state has worked its way through that state's senate, according to this article by Amanda Bowers:

Tennessee Senate Passes Bill That Would Explore the Possibility of Bullion Depository

According to the article (and I'm going to end up citing extensively from it because there are important details here), the Tennessee bill has unanimous support in the state's legislature, though for the moment, the bill is simply a bill to study the establishment of a Tennessee state bullion depository:

Earlier this month, the Tennessee Senate passed a bill that would create a commission to study the feasibility of creating a state gold depository. A state bullion depository would not only create a safe place to store precious metals; it would also facilitate the everyday use of gold and silver in financial transactions in Tennessee and set the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money.

Sen. Paul Rose (R) introduced Senate Bill 279 (SB279). Rep. Bud Hulsey (R-Kingsport) introduced the companion, House Bill 353 (HB353). The legislation would require the Tennessee advisory commission on intergovernmental relations (TACIR) to study the feasibility of creating a state gold depository, including whether other states or jurisdictions have created a gold depository, and to report its findings to the speakers of the senate and house of representatives no later than January 1, 2022.

The Tennessee Senate passed SB279 by a 32-0  vote.

In, 2016 Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed HJR516, a resolution in support of creating a state gold bullion depository. Both houses of the legislature passed the measure unanimously. Passage of SB279/HB353, five years later, would take a second step forward in the pursuit of sound money.

There's an intriguing history here of Texas's bullion depository, and the reasoning behind it:

By making gold and silver available for regular, daily transactions by the general public, the new depository has the potential for a wide-reaching effect. Professor William Greene is an expert on constitutional tender and said in a paper for the Mises Institute that when people in multiple states actually start using gold and silver instead of Federal Reserve notes, it would effectively nullify the Federal Reserve and end the federal government’s monopoly on money.

“Over time, as residents of the state use both Federal Reserve notes and silver and gold coins, the fact that the coins hold their value more than Federal Reserve notes do will lead to a ‘reverse Gresham’s Law’ effect, where good money (gold and silver coins) will drive out bad money (Federal Reserve notes).

“As this happens, a cascade of events can begin to occur, including the flow of real wealth toward the state’s treasury, an influx of banking business from outside of the state – as people in other states carry out their desire to bank with sound money – and an eventual outcry against the use of Federal Reserve notes for any transactions.”

Gresham’s Law holds that “bad money drives out good.”  For example, when the U.S. government replaced silver quarters and dimes with coins made primarily of less valuable copper, the cheap coins drove the silver out of circulation. People hoarded the more valuable silver coins and spent the less valuable copper money. So, how do you reverse Gresham?

The key is in making it easier to use gold and silver in everyday transactions. The reason bad money drives out good is that governments put up barriers to using sound money in day-to-day life. That makes it more costly to spend gold and silver and incentivizes hoarding. When you remove barriers, you level the playing field and allow gold and silver to compete head-to-head with Federal Reserve notes. On an even playing field, gold and silver beat fiat money every time.

But what is very intriguing to contemplate here is an observation Ms. Bowers makes for what may be the ultimate reason behind the move to state bullion depositories:

The Texas Bullion Depository also creates an avenue toward financial independence. Countries around the world, including China, Russia and Turkey, have been buying gold to limit their dependence on the U.S. dollar. University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus said a state depository can serve a similar function for Texas.

“This is another in a long line of ways to make Texas more self-reliant and less tethered to the federal government. The financial impact is small but the political impact is telling, Many conservatives are interested in returning to the gold standard and circumvent the Federal reserve in whatever small way they can.”

Now here come the high octane speculation, though today we're not crawling to the end of the twig, be remain on the firm midsection of the branch. (This speculation, incidentally, is based on an observation made by Catherine Austin Fitts in her 1st Solari quarterly wrap up this year.) If indeed financial independence from the Federal Reserve and the Federal government is the goal, then one thing states are going to have to do in order to give teeth to their various nullification bills is to remove their state accounts from major corporate banks and bring those accounts back to banks within their states. When these steps are taken, political, and more importantly, cultural tethering to the federal system are considerably weakened.

And this brings us to the "end of the twig" portion of the high octane speculation, and again, it's not a speculation unique to me, others, including Ms. Fitts, have expressed a similar hypothesis, and that is, when one considers all the nullification bills, the secession movements, and the creation of bullion depositories by states (not to mention Texas Governor Abbot's discussions to woo market exchange data centers to Texas), it would appear that someone is undertaking all the right steps for a de facto, if not de jure, breakup of the USA. Why is anyone's guess, though one does not have to search hard for "surface" motivations - red state disenchantment with blue states, and vice versa - but as always, there may be, and probably are, deeper agendas in play.

The real question is, will it be a Gorbachev who presides over the process, or an Abraham Lincoln?

See you on the flip side...

Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

31 Comments

  1. Richard on April 27, 2021 at 5:17 pm

    Makes one wonder what lessons were learned from that earlier period when President Kennedy printed those Treasury notes, basing them on actual metal, in place of those fractionalized Federal Reserve notes.

    The 2020 Census has been tallied. The winner is, , , , , , Texas, which gains 2 new seats in Congress with Florida and a few others gaining one apiece. One guess which states lost at least one seat apiece.



  2. Loxie Lou Davie on April 27, 2021 at 4:25 pm

    On Americans waking up……There is a grass roots movement, including Sheriff Mack, which will be touching all 50 states this Summer trying to unite all the various groups who are in the business of taking our Country back for ourselves!! The Sheriff says the same thing as C.A. Fitts….taking things back one county at a time!!!

    You can check it out at BigbatUSA.org



  3. Laurent on April 26, 2021 at 9:34 pm

    Is the US breaking up? It seems like both the right and the left are working hard towards this end. But the democrats can’t really control full states. They may have bureaucratic control of cities but entire states may be too large. They also don’t necessarily need the countryside where most republicans are as long as they can control the ports. If Asian remains our main supplier and the dems control all major ports except Florida and Texas, they also control access to goods from Asia.



  4. marcos toledo on April 26, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    The problem is as I have written on this website many times the USA is not the master of its fate. We have a state that does not teach its founding documents in its school system either public or private and I am not speaking of colleges or universities. I speak of primary and middle schools I doubt these documents are that arcane that a student could not understand them. The Federal Reserve is a transnational banking system and who knows who the real puppetmasters of it are. I do believe there is a plan to balkanize the USA its weakness has always been it was a confederation of separate colonies though that was an inheritance of the tribal chieftainships of the post-Roman state.



  5. FiatLux on April 26, 2021 at 5:39 pm

    It’s tough to figure out what’s really behind the moves to establish state bullion depositories. Central banks all over the world have been accumulating gold for the last several years, and there’s been chatter about China unleashing a gold-backed currency to displace the dollar. So maybe a move to some version of a gold standard has been in the works and those “in the know” are taking steps to position themselves for it.

    In the U.S. context, it could be as simple as states using the threat of breaking away from the Federal Reserve system as leverage against a federal government that has lost its mind and gone rogue, or it could go as far as being the first step toward secession. Perhaps there is a plan to implement a breakup the U.S. (à la Agenda 21 and its regions), some of the state governments know about it, and they want some bullion as a hedge against coming uncertainty.

    Ultimately, whether states can break away from the central banking system (one of the most powerful institutions on the planet, let’s remember) depends on two things. First, whether the banksters are willing to let somebody break away. Second, and more important, the balance of power: Can the banksters still count on government coercion (police, army, SWAT teams, courts, jails) to enforce their will? Can individual U.S. states and their economies survive without federal funding? Can a critical mass of the population country or state stand up against them? The answer to those questions, it seems to me, are key.



    • FiatLux on April 26, 2021 at 5:49 pm

      Forgot to mention, in addition to another plea for an Edit button 🙂 , that I don’t see a Gorbachev — much less an Abraham Lincoln — arising out of today’s American political class (or, indeed, out of any part of today’s America). I think the process will more likely be presided over by a Yeltsin. Kind of like the helpless doddard at the helm now.



      • Foglamp on April 26, 2021 at 7:32 pm

        Or a Mugabe?!



      • marcos toledo on April 26, 2021 at 7:54 pm

        Then a pray for a Putin by the way do you know who help Putin into office it was drunken Yeltsin.



  6. ragiza on April 26, 2021 at 3:07 pm

    Money is supposed to be a medium of exchange and a store of wealth. The US dollar is a good medium of exchange but over the decades it has lost quite a bit of its value, and it seems likely the loss of value will accelerate in the future.

    My thinking is that currently the main thing going on in the West (and in advanced stages in the PRC) is the institution of digital money in which the central government authorities will be able to control if money can be spent, what items it can be spent on, who can spend it, and so on. Buying and selling transaction information will be data based and real-time analyzed. This will give the central governments that collect and hold and analyze this information a degree of surveillance and control beyond anything previously experienced by humanity, with the exception of people in close control prisons, hard core military training camps, and mind control cults.

    A way around the issues of loss of value, surveillance and control is to avoid central government digital currency by use of repositories of low inflatable mined precious metals and non-inflatable cryptocurrencies.

    A city, county, state, or private company could set up a repository for gold, silver and perhaps cryptos. But a bank like that would have to be honest and competent so you don’t wind up with a bunch of phony assets like tungsten bars coated with precious metals, and bogus cryptos. Honesty and competence are not reliable traits of political entities or of many corporations, so there would have to be a system of transparent verification.

    Individuals, groups, companies and governments could have accounts holding these types of assets. After all this settles in, goods and services might start being priced in terms of precious metals and crypto’s instead of US dollars. Buying and selling would be transactions that would be settled within this repository, or between repositories, by transferring ownership of amounts of precious metals and crypto assets.

    Also, these repositories could also hold some government digital currency which members could use for ease of day to day usage, with their hard assets serving as collateral.

    A system like this could evolve into letting central governments inflate their currency as much as they wanted, destroying the value of debts that are not calibrated to inflation, or just making sure inflation is so under-evaluated that calibrated debts and social welfare commitments become heavily devalued. Two parallel economies would evolve: one with increasingly desparate powerless people that politicians ignore; another with people gliding along glad they sold their bonds and bought into the repository, and willing to make political “donations” aimed at protecting the repository system.

    It’s fun to think through this stuff, but if my view is right, it’s not going to happen. Either the repositories will themselves be incorporated into the surveillance and control system, or they will be eliminated.

    My view is that the most important thing to big money and big power is what technology has dropped in their laps: a system of widespread surveillance and control that will ensure their positions indefinitely.



    • FiatLux on April 26, 2021 at 5:07 pm

      Very good points. My own guess is, the most likely thing to develop in the near term is an unofficial parallel economy, like a gray or black market (the similarities between the USA and USSR just don’t stop!). I could imagine a parallel economy using bullion and other things as media of exchange.



    • Richard on April 27, 2021 at 5:24 pm

      That ‘thug’ Party of the east has limits and is not up to the plate where valuations rise, moderate, fall, and bounce back again as well as expose the lies of cooked books for show.



    • Richard on April 27, 2021 at 10:05 pm

      No doubt, Tyrannosaurus Tech, has discovered multi use technology like the Party has with their use of the industrial fruits of their economy merging into the military dualism. A twist on what’s-good-for-the-gander-is-good-for-the-goose.



  7. swimsinocean on April 26, 2021 at 2:02 pm

    As Jill said in an earlier post, there may be a link to Global Mayors and Smart Cities. I’m trying to connect dots as to what maybe going on albeit from the other side of the Pond. To understand this from a purely USSA perspective maybe missing what’s going on globally.

    Here’s a few links that I’m exploring at the moment.

    Chatham House explores London Piccadilly in 100 years time in 3D animation (watch out for the bug protein kiosk!).

    https://futurescape.chathamhouse.org/?utm_source=chathamhouse.org&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=colab-piccadilly-2021&utm_content=ch-topic-civil-society

    Also look at the Global Parliament of Mayors…

    https://globalparliamentofmayors.org/

    The Tavistock Institute: Check out the articles on ‘Social Dreaming Matrix’ and ‘Social Dreaming as Container’

    https://www.tavinstitute.org/news/

    As I say I’m sure there are many dots to connect with Dr. Farrell’s article and these ‘Breakaway’ states … I just haven’t found any yet except of course ‘Mr Globaloney’s’ plans and those who see what’s coming down his very dark pike.



  8. Roger on April 26, 2021 at 1:58 pm

    I suspect TN is seeking leverage by threatening go along with this if they don’t get something they want or were promised. A lot of those in the lower tiers of the global pyramid thought they were members of the “Club” and would have positions of power and privilege in the New Order. Also thought their families would inherit their position of relative safety from the fate of the rest of us if they went along with it. I suspect they are beginning to wake up to the fact that they are not actual members of, “The Club” and are expendable pawns instead. To be disposed of when they are no longer needed after their job is done. Monkey wrenches to slow down and stop this are desperately flying right now. And new attempts at gaining leverage, to re-negotiate their future family caste, is desperately in the works as more and more come to this realization. The smarter ones should realize this Devil they thought they had a deal with is agreement incapable!



  9. Robert Barricklow on April 26, 2021 at 12:46 pm

    The USSA is in a civil war.
    The “election” was an act of war.
    The international “media” is against the sovereignty of the USA;
    in favor of a temporary USSA to enforce an ongoing genocide. The International Banking cartels, CDC, IMF, United Nations, and other international organizations[of the collectivist ideology], are all orchestrating the destruction of current global ruling structures; towards a unknown, unaccountable, unelected, technocratic hell on Earth.

    To today’s post.

    The Volunteer State is joining the “Free States” by establishing a foundation for maintaining its sovereignty. Gold/Silver has a solid foundation in currency exchange. The ultimate backing by the State.
    That these States are succeeding in this depository ventures; looks to imply a desired outcome. That this splitting of the country is: by Wall Street design; to dump its beyond-belief fraud, and financial obligations.
    Another, in the long list of: covid1984 missions yet to accomplish.

    The people behind the “wizards” curtain have untold tons of gold; but are in a battle w/other countries like China & Russia. Still, w/all that gold, “they” could manipulate the “gold/silver” market up and/or down.
    “They” could introduce counterfeit metals, at the very least.
    But, as I stated; they want to first dissolve their own substantial liabilities[which “they” no intention of paying, or being held accountable].

    The currency is important;
    so as to not be ruled by a technocratic collective ideology,
    via attached financial strings.
    With Wall Street in the works;
    one has to be careful of Wall Street wolves, in Tennessee clothing.



    • Richard on April 27, 2021 at 5:30 pm

      The US is currently engaged in “Unrestricted Warfare” with that Party of the east by going west. Declared by that Party over a year ago. It’s not a typical kinetic war as most folks recall those of the past. The “playing,” far more than play on a “GO” board could attest, yet the desired outcome is similar. Dominion.



  10. DanaThomas on April 26, 2021 at 12:38 pm

    All this confirms Joseph’s assertions over past years that the oligarchs are NOT something monolithic but more like mafia bosses sometimes allied but usually at war. Somewhere in the miasma of the financial world there are people playing the long game against the Davos agenda.



    • Don B on April 26, 2021 at 1:24 pm

      Agree Dana.



    • Richard on April 27, 2021 at 5:33 pm

      One always figured they were that of a typical syndicate. Quite capable of permanently removing the next one over with unusual circumstances attached.



  11. Jill on April 26, 2021 at 11:25 am

    Hi Dr. Farrell,

    Agenda 21, the agenda for the 21st century, does indeed call for the US to be broken up and replaced with regions. There are maps for how the Davos criminals would like the US to be divided. It involves regional governors ruling over territories which go beyond national borders and smart cities run by their mayors. The best place I know to look things up is with Rosa Koire. She has an excellent interview w/Spiro. The World Mayor’s webpage which is quite interesting.



    • Tulips Moran on April 26, 2021 at 12:00 pm

      I don’t see the Texas bullion depository or the efforts of Tennessee to research adoption of a bullion depository suggesting succession or breaking up of the Republic. Instead I see this as states protecting their economies and citizen’s assets with the adoption of state bullion depositories. It also is a HUGE political message to the Dimwits and the Fed that the states have options. Also this encourages other Red states to also pursue similar actions. Untethering from the Fed is a first step to restoring the Republic and re-establishing a Federal govt without the bloat/waste. It was first Hamilton who was cozy with NY merchants and financiers followed with Madison’s 2nd Fed bank – both mirroring the Central Bank of Britain which I believe centralized control over our money leaving the citizen/states powerless. Establishment of bullion repositories is the first step to abandoning a central bank chokehold.



      • Robert Barricklow on April 26, 2021 at 3:00 pm

        Hamilton’s a long running Broadway star.
        [by design]



    • FiatLux on April 26, 2021 at 5:14 pm

      I second your recommendation of Rose Koire for anyone who wants to know about Agenda 21 and the — hopefully fruitless — plans of the nutjob technocrats for our future. I would urge everyone to ignore the fact that her website’s name has “democrats” in it; her treatment of Agenda 21 doesn’t seem to me to accord at all with the eponymous U.S. political party.



  12. Awake on April 26, 2021 at 10:50 am

    They have to find a way to get rid of all the debt if the current owners of the world refuse to give a jubilee. That has always been the issue. This is way bigger than guns and bombs to get freedom from our current owners. Think mudflood and pole shifting tech that the current owners have at their disposal. So what has to happen is a legal vehicle or vehicles need to be created or retained to allow the current Corporate USA debts to be allocated to and kept. So this means some of the current Corporate USA vehicle (states) needs to be kept intact and all the current debt offloaded into these intact Corporate USA (states). once this has been complete the new Republic of USA can be stood up in a confederation of like minded states.



    • Tulips Moran on April 26, 2021 at 12:08 pm

      A jubilee/elimination of debt would eliminate your debt but what about those of us managed to live within our means and have NO debt? Why should our hard-earned assets be valued to zero just to wipe off your bad decisions? That’s essentially what Totalitarian/Communist govts do to hold the economy and people captive. The adoption of a gold standard does two things (1) raises the value of gold in proportion of the outstanding soveriegn debt enabling the nations holding gold reserves to pay off their soveriegn debt and (2) establishes a sound money that cannot be inflated, manipulated or impacted by anything other than acquiring MORE gold by the sovereign nation.



      • Roger on April 26, 2021 at 2:08 pm

        Knowing we would feel that way when they have their jubilee is probably what world wars are started for. World wars may actually be jubilees. Jubilees for them; death, destruction and poverty for us.



  13. Tulips Moran on April 26, 2021 at 10:31 am

    @Dr Farrell – I don’t think it’s “high octane speculation”. In deed exploring a state bullion depository is consistent with Mises commentary back when Texas was in beginning states of establishing a state bullion depository. And as Prof Greene has postulated – states with bullion depositories can use gold and silver as “when people in multiple states actually start using gold and silver instead of Federal Reserve notes, it would effectively nullify the Federal Reserve and end the federal government’s monopoly on money.”



  14. Tulips Moran on April 26, 2021 at 10:07 am

    Yes. Here in TN there are a huge bundle of bills in the hopper to counter the Marxists in washington. In addition to the Boullion depository there is also an upcoming bill to accept Gold and Silver as currency. BTW we also have recent bills that use birth gender as criteria for bathrooms and girls sports. We also recently passed a bill requiring aborted fetus to receive a burial – no more red bag medical disposal. It’s also reaffirming NO sale of fetal body parts from TN abortons. And, our Legislature is preserving the 2nd Amend and passed Constitutional Carry law without permit/application or govt intervention. We all now can carry concealed or open whereever except Fed restrictions. This is mainly for security at church services.
    So states need to get busy and reaffirm their states rights. A Constitutional Federated Republic supports states and their self-governance.



  15. Marre on April 26, 2021 at 9:59 am

    Problem is – TN passed a unanimous bill for the same thing in 2016 or 2017, but the legislature sat on their collective butts and did nothing else to move it forward. Let’s see if they put it into action this time. BTW, I live in TN.



    • Tulips Moran on April 26, 2021 at 10:15 am

      Recall at the time back in 2016 America was fat, dumb and happy and the appetite to bring the Fed to its knees waned. Fast forward biden pretendency and the Marxist coup against America and people are waking up – FINALLY. Also Gov Lee has close relationship with Gov Abbott and several other conservative Govs who are encouraging Legislatures to enact legislation to protect citizens against the Washington tyranny.



  16. anakephalaiosis on April 26, 2021 at 5:38 am

    Meanwhile, in a parallel universe…

    ISAACS & ORCHESTRA 1

    When Assyrian eagle of transgression,
    moved against trenched position,
    Isaacs and brass band
    made last stand,
    in new musical composition.



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