In gold we trust - at least in Utah. / Image: sirqitous/Flickr/CC BY

Last March the Utah state legislature passed a law making gold and silver coins legal tender. In the wake of that decision, a Salt Lake City entrepreneur is proposing a system by which consumers can use those precious metals for everyday purchases.

Franco plans new depository

Craig Franco, CEO of Pacific Rarities, is planning to open the Utah Gold and Silver Depository as early as June 1. His company will allow consumers to deposit their and gold and silver currency and draw on it for purchases, just like using a debit card.

A way to spend precious metals

“With the state of Utah monetizing gold and silver,” Franco said, “the question then became, how do we provide a common vehicle for commerce to transact?”

According to the new Utah law, the sale of gold and silver coins will be exempt from state taxes, which makes the idea very attractive to many. However, the state can’t force businesses to accept them in place of paper currency, hence the market niche Franco is attempting to seize.

A wait-and-see attitude

“Because we’re dealing with something so forward thinking, I expect a wait-and-see attitude,” Franco said. “Once the depository is executed and transactions can occur, then I think people will move into the marketplace.”

Legislators attempt to send message

The bill was proposed by Republican state Rep. Brad Galvez. He intended the bill to be largely symbolic, serving as a protest against Federal Reserve monetary policy. While he says “We’re too far down the road to go back to the gold standard,” Galvez maintains that Americans are losing faith in the dollar and that “this will move us toward an alternative currency.”

Economist Ralph Danker, who helped draft the Utah legislation, said, “making gold and silver coins legal tender sends a strong signal to Congress and the Federal Reserve that their monetary policy is failing. The dollar should be backed by gold and silver, so we have hard money.”

Other states consider following suit

Many other states are now considering bills similar to Utah’s. Earlier this month, a Minnesota Republican lawmaker proposed a bill to set up a special committee exploring the option. Virginia, North Carolina, Idaho and several other states are contemplating similar bills.

The gold standard abandoned

The idea of gold-backed money was set aside during World War I because of the nation’s need to pay for the war effort. During the depression, President Fraklin D. Roosevelt took steps to prohibit gold and silver currency as a measure to prevent hoarding. In 1971, President Nixon abandoned the gold standard altogether.

Critics call new law extreme and backward

Commentators have criticized the Utah bill as libertarian and extreme. Political columnist Dana Milbank said it was a bizarre formula concocted by “tea party chemists.”

“What backs currency is confidence in a government’s ability to pay debt, its government system and its economy,” said Carlos Sanchez, of N.Y’s CPM Group. “We’d be going backward in financial development.”

Sources

Huffington Post

Daily Finance

Fox News

I have read a lot of stories about payday loan stores being robbed. A striking majority follow exactly the same plot: One or two men with a gun go into payday loan store, demand money, flee with an undisclosed amount of cash, police seek suspects.

Because of changing and improving technology in payday loan store security systems, more suspects are being caught nowadays. But for the most part, the rest of the story remains the same. I’ve been reading every payday loan store robbery story that comes across my desk since mid-December, and this is the first time I’ve read a story about a woman robbing a payday loan store.

A man’s game

Though the police reported that the person who walked into a Checkline store in Ogden, Utah, and demanded cash was a woman, the robber still dressed as a man. The woman, who approached the Checkline employee from behind as she was opening the store held a black handgun and demanded money from the safe.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

The clerk handed over the money in a plastic bag the robber gave her. The woman left and a witness told police she met a man waiting outside the shop. The pair crossed 21st Street and got into a large, dark-blue sedan, possibly a Lincoln Continental. They drove east on 2100 South, then turned back westbound. The woman is described as being in her mid-20s, average height, stocky, wearing a brown ball cap and dark-blue hooded sweatshirt.

The Salt Lake Tribune also says the woman had a mustache painted on her face, so the robber still wanted to appear as a man, apparently.

The old switcheroo

I have read a couple of different payday loan store robbery stories that involve a woman who waited outside for a male robber. In one story, a couple apparently even brought their baby along for the robbery. But I’ve never come across a story in which the woman wielded the gun and went into the store while a man waited outside.

This also is the first time I’ve read about a payday loan store robbery in Utah. I’ve read about several in Washington, California, Indiana, Illinois and Kansas as well as a few southern states such as Texas and Tennessee. Usually when I read about payday loan store news from Utah it’s about legislation and zoning laws.

Doubtful social equality news

I usually like news that shows women are capable of the same things men are, but I’m somehow not very excited to read that women, too, can rob payday loan stores. I can understand why the woman painted her face and didn’t want people to know she was a woman while she was holding a gun to a lone employee’s head.

It always makes me sad when I read about people who are willing to commit or threaten violence just to get a little money. The fact that this time it was a woman with the gun honestly doesn’t make me feel worse; I still have the same level of disgust and shame about the way our money-centric, selfish culture pushes people into threatening others for monetary gain.

So many places to go.

Every year, CNN’s Money Magazine names the best places to live. Today, the list of the 100 best small towns in the United States were published at money.cnn.com.

“Small towns,” according to Money Magazine, are places with populations of 50,000 or fewer. Rather than just rehash the top few places, I’ve chosen some random selections from the top 100 Money Magazine best places to live.

Something new in Nebraska

The No. 3 city on Money Magazine’s best places to live is Papillion, Nebraska. It has an unemployment rate of just 4.5 percent, and there are plenty of places to get an easy payday loan. Money Magazine says:

It’s rare for a town to rack up great scores in both economic performance and housing affordability. This friendly community outside Omaha delivers both.

Papillion has acres of open space, traffic jams are unheard of, and par­ents feel comfortable letting their kids ride bikes unsuper­vised.

The knocks on Papillion used to be a tired-looking downtown and few things to do. But the town has been working hard to fix both problems. It is $750,000 into a multiyear downtown revitalization project that in­cludes new sidewalks and antique lighting.

Near the Great Salt Lake

No. 14 on the list of Money Magazine’s best places to live is Farmington, Utah. This town has 16,500 people, and the report says:

A one-stoplight town squeezed between the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake, Farmington has a quaint, quiet downtown with few shops.

Most Farmington residents commute south to Salt Lake City, but some travel north to Hill Air Force Base, Utah’s sixth largest employer.

Go west

No. 17 on the Money Magazine best places to live is Newcastle, Washington. This town has only 9,800 people, but it’s a favorite getaway for golfers.

Once full of coal miners, Newcastle now has a much more diverse jobs base: The town is 15 minutes from both Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters and Boeing’s 737 plant in Renton.

But the biggest draw here may be The Golf Club at Newcastle. Built by former Microsoft exec Scott Oki, the massive site includes two 18-hole public courses and a 44,000-square-foot clubhouse.

An inkling about Iowa

The town of Urbandale, Iowa, is ranked No. 42, and it has gotten some support from residents in the comments section.

Attracted by a strong local economy and low taxes, some 35,000 people have made this Des Moines suburb home since its 1917 incorporation date.

There is much to do within city limits, including exploring 900 acres of parkland and hiking 36 miles of trails.

Go for the ribs

In the home state of the president, Batavia, Illinois, makes No. 56 on the Money Magazine best places to live. The article doesn’t mention that Batavia is near Naperville, which holds a competitive rib-making festival each year. That sounds like a selling point to me.

Here’s what Money Magazine did have to say about Batavia:

Lined with 19th-century limestone buildings, Batavia has an old-town feel despite its location 35 miles west of downtown Chicago and easy access to commuter trains. … Batavia is also home to nearly 200 manufacturing, research, and warehousing firms as well as the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, a world-renowned center for physics research.