An open letter to Hugo Salinas Price  

Good Morning!

I just read your article "Silver money for Americans" posted 25 October, and I think you are making two important mistakes in your thinking. As your work is very interesting and you are mostly right, I would like you to consider some friendly criticism.

First, your assumption that only governments can produce money that will be accepted is, I believe, mistaken. As long as politicians can control the money, they will manipulate it to their will and not for the good of the people or economy. Yes, you might have some good politicians running the system for a while, but eventually the power of money will corrupt them and they will at least debase. That is why I strongly believe that the power to create money must be returned to the people as individuals.

In fact, as you indirectly point out but don't seem to fully explore, the very first step in the replacement of silver (and gold) by paper was simply naming a unit of trade: "dollar". By naming a unit, it creates an abstraction in people's minds; and they begin thinking of that unit as money instead of the amount of silver. When people have been trading in "dollars" for long enough, it is easy for politicians (and bankers) to manipulate the definition of "dollar" and begin the debasement process.

Second, silver money didn't disappear from circulation because of the rising cost of silver, but because carrying around coins is less convenient than carrying around paper. Put another way, paper long ago won over coins in the market due to convenience. Most people just aren't going to accept carrying around heavy bulky coins again, especially when they can just carry a debit card. And unless they are going to carry the actual precious metal, any paper or digital representation of money remains susceptible to debasement and seizure.

These are two of the primary reasons why I created Shire Silver cards, which I would like you to consider. It puts precious metal bullion into a size and form that is suitable for everyday trade and fits well in the wallets that are so common today. It can be produced relatively cheaply, requiring far less capital to set up a "mint" - in fact, an entire mint can be bought for less than $500 and it can fit into a box not much larger than the proverbial breadbox.

I have also put the idea into the public domain, only retaining the trademark of Shire Silver to protect the integrity of the cards I produce. Everyone else is free to use my idea to produce their own branded versions and compete with me. You might consider replacing the coins in your plan with these cards, leaving everything else in your plan the same. I think that would improve the chances of success. BTW, Shire Silver also has a co-branding process, where we produce the cards for you with your branding on the front and our branding less prominent and on the back.

I would be happy to send you a few cards to examine if you would send me a postal mailing address.

Thank you,

Ron Helwig
Principal: Shire Silver