SB 113-17: Gold Is Good Act (Passed)

[Mr. Reactionary]

GOLD IS GOOD ACT

1. Gold and silver shall be considered forms of legal tender for all public debts and all private debts in which both parties consent to the form of payment.

2. For public debts the conversion rate of legal tender shall be:

A. $30 per Ounce of .999 Fine Silver

B. $2,000 per Ounce of .999 Fine Gold

3. Silver and gold offered as payment for public debts shall be minted into a uniformly sized coin, round, or bar:

A. by the governments of Atlasia, any Region therein, or any foreign country determined by the Secretary of State to have accurate and trustworthy mints; or

B. by a private mint that has not been determined by the Attorney General or any federal or Regional court of competent jurisdiction to have engaged in counterfeiting, adulteration, fraudulent weighing or marking, or any similar unfair trade practice related to the purity, weight, or identification of minted products.

4. For private debts, both parties shall consent to the conversion rate of legal tender as well as the purity, weight, form, and mint of the gold or silver. This may include private currencies in the form of warehouse certificates entitling the bearer to redeem the certificate for a fixed amount of existent gold or silver on demand.

5. Gold or silver paid to an employee or contractor pursuant to an employment contract shall be treated as income and shall not be subject to any additional capital gain tax upon the sale or conversion of such gold or silver into Atlasian currency.

6. Gold or silver may be paid directly to an employee as part of a 401(K) or IRA retirement package on the same terms and with the same tax rate as any other investment. If the employee does not sell or convert the gold or silver into Atlasian currency until retirement then such gold or silver shall not be subject to any additional capital gain tax upon the sale or conversion of such gold or silver into Atlasian currency upon retirement.

7. The regulation mandating that merchants and traders regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) must pre-fund a margin account prior to offering to buy CFTC regulated securities shall be amended to exempt merchants and traders who transfer their margin at the time of the trade. 17 CFR 30.7 shall be amended accordingly.

8. This act shall take effect July 4, 2023.

Sponsor: Deadprez
Debate on this bill is now open.

[Liminal Trans Girl]

We are not doing Goldbug and Silverbug things.

[Mr. Reactionary]

This bill clarifies rules for using gold and silver as a form of payment in private contracts, with the government (at a rate favorable to the government), and in 401Ks, as well as clarifying tax treatment of their use and investment.

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

GOLD!

[Sirius_]

I this is going to be implemented, it seems like a bad idea to use a fixed rate. The rates may be favorable to the government now but a crash in the gold or silver markets could very quickly make it a bad deal.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I this is going to be implemented, it seems like a bad idea to use a fixed rate. The rates may be favorable to the government now but a crash in the gold or silver markets could very quickly make it a bad deal.

Im sure the sponsor could be open to that. Since you oversee treasury what would you recommend?

Looking at it, 4-8 seem ok since its private transactions but as far as government conversion im interested to get your take.

[Liminal Trans Girl]

I this is going to be implemented, it seems like a bad idea to use a fixed rate. The rates may be favorable to the government now but a crash in the gold or silver markets could very quickly make it a bad deal.

This another concern of mine

[Sirius_]

With the current language and current prices you actually save about $200 per ounce of gold used to pay debts and about $7 per ounce of silver. Is that the actual intention here?

[Mr. Reactionary]

With the current language and current prices you actually save about $200 per ounce of gold used to lay debts and about $7 per ounce of silver. Is that the actual intention here?

Last session when i proposed amended language to clean the bill up including the conversion rate my intent was to avoid speculators exchanging metals for dollars in a way that was harmful to the treasury while still being more realistic than the irl rate of $1 for an oz of silver and $50 for an oz of gold. That way it still might encourage private actors to invest in metals which as a longer term investment can cool inflation. Absent a huge inflationary spike the rates were intended not to be too wildly against the treasury so that even if metal price increased  we would still have an advantage when converting to public debt.

[Sirius_]

With the current language and current prices you actually save about $200 per ounce of gold used to lay debts and about $7 per ounce of silver. Is that the actual intention here?

Last session when i proposed amended language to clean the bill up including the conversion rate my intent was to avoid speculators exchanging metals for dollars in a way that was harmful to the treasury while still being more realistic than the irl rate of $1 for an oz of silver and $50 for an oz of gold. That way it still might encourage private actors to invest in metals which as a longer term investment can cool inflation. Absent a huge inflationary spike the rates were intended not to be too wildly against the treasury so that even if metal price increased  we would still have an advantage when converting to public debt.

In that case it seems like maintaining a certain percentage below market average is what we want?

[Mr. Reactionary]

Just quick numbers

$30 - $7 advantage ($23 price) 31% difference
$2k - $200 advantage ($1800 price) 12% difference


So would we want to say maybe 20% for silver and 12% for gold?

[Sirius_]

I think that the Senate can decide on the exact percentage but that is the general idea.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

What would be the consequences of passing this act economically with regards to:

- Inflation (given the minting)
- Stability of prices of gold and silver (in particular supply and demand)
- Stability of the market / markets in general

And what would be the consequences for the criminal market and exchanging with other nations (either directly or indirectly), given many states and other nations have substantial gold and maybe silver reserves, in particular to:

- Whitewashing (through gold and silver)
- Corruption
- Bail money

[Mr. Reactionary]

What would be the consequences of passing this act economically with regards to:

- Inflation (given the minting)
- Stability of prices of gold and silver (in particular supply and demand)
- Stability of the market / markets in general

And what would be the consequences for the criminal market and exchanging with other nations (either directly or indirectly), given many states and other nations have substantial gold and maybe silver reserves, in particular to:

- Whitewashing (through gold and silver)
- Corruption
- Bail money

Probably wouldnt create inflation. This permits payment of government debt in metals but not the free minting by the government. If we set a favorable convertability ratio, it should not lead to an explosion in private minting as convertability would not generate crazy profits. So i think the private exchange market would be mostly stable. Easing private exchange and margin accounts might lead to a small increase in supply and decrease is price which would presumably be offset by however high general inflation goes since metals are a hedge against inflation.

I dont think it would increase money laundering. This allows payment of government debt in metal but not an open exchange and only at a convertability rate below spot metal value. Its not illegal to own metals now, so anyone money laundering with it is likely already doing it. The 401K part is taxable at the time of initial purchase so its source is trackable.

Much of this is a codification of reality, the rest is to make it easier to invest in metals long-term and maybe allow the government to obtain some metals for our reserves at a favorable rate.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Amendment. 24 hours to object.

...

2. For public debts the conversion rate of legal tender shall be 90% of the average spot price for silver or gold :

A. $30 per Ounce of .999 Fine Silver

B. $2,000 per Ounce of .999 Fine Gold

3. Silver and gold offered as payment for public debts shall be minted into a uniformly sized coin, round, or bar of a clearly marked fineness of .9 or greater:

A. by the governments of Atlasia, any Region therein, or any foreign country determined by the Secretary of State to have accurate and trustworthy mints; or

B. by a private mint that has not been determined by the Attorney General or any federal or Regional court of competent jurisdiction to have engaged in counterfeiting, adulteration, fraudulent weighing or marking, or any similar unfair trade practice related to the purity, weight, or identification of minted products.

...

[Mr. Reactionary]

My amendment is adopted.

[SevenEleven]

This is incredibly stupid.

[Saint Milei]

I this is going to be implemented, it seems like a bad idea to use a fixed rate. The rates may be favorable to the government now but a crash in the gold or silver markets could very quickly make it a bad deal.

the bill is more concerned with the private sector. i dont think a crash will hurt the fed with this bill

[Saint Milei]

There has yet to be a single valid critique of this bill

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

the main concern I have is with this just creating confusion in transactions. Having 3 different things to track is, well, more difficult than just the simple 1.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

I'll vote abstain during the final vote, because i don't feel qualified enough to vote on this. I hope people will respect that.

[Saint Milei]

the main concern I have is with this just creating confusion in transactions. Having 3 different things to track is, well, more difficult than just the simple 1.

what do you mean the simple one?

[Liminal Trans Girl]

I'll vote abstain during the final vote, because i don't feel qualified enough to vote on this. I hope people will respect that.

[Mr. Reactionary]

the main concern I have is with this just creating confusion in transactions. Having 3 different things to track is, well, more difficult than just the simple 1.

But remember the government is making a small profit from metals payments while growing our readily convertible assets for foreign exchange so it should help our credit a bit. Seems worth it.

[Saint Milei]

I this is going to be implemented, it seems like a bad idea to use a fixed rate. The rates may be favorable to the government now but a crash in the gold or silver markets could very quickly make it a bad deal.

When I was setting rates, I was actually thinking about the market rate and not a real "fixed rate". I understand your concerns. I'm ok with floating rates and possibly a fixed rate for either short-term debt or long-term debt