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February 25, 2014
Commemorate President Lincoln's Assassination with 1 Billion Debt-Free Lincoln $5 Bills
By Scott Baker
To honor President Lincoln on the 150th anniversary of his assassination, let's issue one billion $5 commemorative United States Notes. The original United States Notes were issued by president Lincoln in 1862-1863 and totaled $450 million, or 40% of the Northern currency at the peak of the Civil War. With Congress' cooperation, Lincoln was able to take this emergency measure because of the constitution's coinage clause
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To honor President Lincoln on the 150th anniversary of his assassination, let's issue one billion $5 commemorative United States Notes. The original United States Notes were issued by president Lincoln in 1862-1863 and totaled $450 million, or 40% of the Northern currency at the peak of the Civil War. With Congress' cooperation, President Lincoln was able to take this emergency measure because the constitution's coinage clause in Article 1, Section 8 allowed Congress to "coin Money."
Why one billion in $5 U.S. Notes?
1. $5 Billion is roughly consistent with the annual production of $5 currency currently: https://explore.data.gov/Economic/Annual-Production-Figures-of-United-States-Currenc/ym8u-jtw3
2. $5 Billion is roughly consistent with other "Commemorative Money" Bills, such as HR2535 from Rep. Andy Barr calling for $3 Billion in commemorative coins: https://http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr2535
Today, $5 billion in new United States Notes would be immediately accretive to the Federal account through Seigniorage (the face value of money, minus its production cost). This money would go into general circulation for the benefit of We The People, just as Lincoln intended with the original issuance of the first Greenbacks. It would not effect the amount of $5 Federal Reserve Notes issued and the United States Notes would circulate on par with Federal Reserve Notes, fully usable for all domestic private and public debts and taxes (there are long-standing exceptions that disallow U.S. Notes to be used to pay foreign debts or to pay off the government's debt).
This is money that does not have to be raised through taxes or borrowed, just like coins. It is money that the Treasury is allowed to produce, and has produced from 1862 -- 1971, as our nation's longest-lasting currency.
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Authors Website: http://newthinking.blogspot.com/
Authors Bio:
Scott Baker is a Managing Editor & The Economics Editor at Opednews, and a former blogger for Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and Global Economic Intersection.
His anthology of updated Opednews articles "America is Not Broke" was published by Tayen Lane Publishing (March, 2015) and may be found here:
http://www.americaisnotbroke.net/
Scott is a former and current President of Common Ground-NY (http://commongroundnyc.org/), a Geoist/Georgist activist group. He has written dozens of articles for Common Ground's national publication, GroundSwell, and has advocated for the Georgist Land Value Tax to public and political audiences.
He is also New York State Coordinator,Senior Advisor, Director and AI Chair for the Public Banking Institute
Scott has appeared on TV/Radio and in in-person Presentations to explain the principles of Georgism, Greenbacking, and State Banking. These may also be found on his personal blog: http://newthinking.blogspot.com/
Scott has a dozen progressive petitions on Change.org which may be found here:
http://chn.ge/10nUAmJ
Scott was an I.T. Manager for a major New York university for over two decades where he earned a Certificate for Frontline Leadership.
He had a video game published in Compute! Magazine: Click Here
Scott is a graduate and adjunct faculty of the Henry George School of Social Science in New York City.
Scott is a modern-day Renaissance Man with interests in economics, science and all future-forward topics.
He has been called an "adept syncretist" by Kirkus Discoveries for his novel, NeitherWorld - a two-volume opus blending Native American myth, archaeological detail, government conspiracy, with a sci-fi flair http://amzn.to/10nUoDV
Scott grew up in New York City and Pennsylvania. He graduated with honors and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University and was a member of the Psychology honor society PSI CHI.
Today he is an avid bicyclist and ride co-leader in a prominent bike advocacy organization.
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