
Rand Paul: What If Companies Could Create Their Own Currencies? - prostoalex
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rand-paul-companies-could-create-183606408.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=tw
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digikata
Does he mean like old mining or lumber towns where the companies would pay in
scrip and extract even more from the employees with the high markup at the
company store?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip)

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meric
They can only extract "even more" if employees don't look at how big the
markup is before signing up for the job. You can't get ripped off unless at
the point of the gun, or lazy.

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4ydx
Or have no other way to feed yourself?

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meric
Then that isn't the problem of 1 employer but a systemic problem.

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stolio
> "Because I’m sort of a believer in currency having value," Paul said in a
> separate interview, "if you’re going to create a currency, have it backed up
> by—you know, Hayek used to talk about a basket of commodities? You could
> have a basket of stocks, and have some exchangeability, because it’s hard
> for people like me who are a bit tangible. But you could have an average of
> stocks. I’m wondering if that’s the next permutation."

What? "Aw shucks, silly ol' me, you know, fiat currencies just seem like
voodoo to my good ol' down-home values. You know, just, uh, what's it worth,
ya know? I'm just sayin' I don't understand all this gobbeldy-gook these
economists are throwing around, but I know I don't trust it."

> What if Bitcoin or Wal-Coin was exchangeable for Wal-Mart stock?

Does he understand how stock or bitcoin function? I would really hope somebody
at the forefront of the fight against the Fed and the dollar would understand
these things more than your average biologist.

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Coffeewine
This doesn't strike me as the best of ideas, but I do love the thought of a
future wherein the news reports that everyone's savings accounts devalued a
certain amount against the dollar because Walmart didn't meet their quarterly
earnings or whatever.

That all said, I suppose this could exist today, if there was a payment
processor who could transact vanguard shares.

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meric
There is, but it costs something like $40 to transfer your shares, and so only
companies do it when they want to buy other companies, or do big deals.

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leaveyou
All my respect for Ron Paul, but with this interview, Rand leaves me the
impression he has no clue about currencies or economy. And that "I have a
biology degree" remark only makes it worse. It's like "Vote me, I know a lot
about cells and organisms".

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diminoten
He was saying that he isn't very educated on the topic. It was a humbling
qualifier, not a brag or appeal to his expertise.

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diminoten
It just strikes me as a little funny that Rand Paul might be supporting
cryptocurrencies on their face, considering he (like his father) prefers to
have currencies backed by something.

I guess that's why he is so intrigued by the corporate stock idea.

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A_COMPUTER
His father expressed skepticism about Bitcoin for the exact reason you have
said. But ultimately while he supported the gold standard for the USA's
official currency, he also supported "currency competition" where people could
issue private currencies so anybody could opt out of the dollar. Whether one
thinks the idea is stupid or viable, it was actually at least consistent.

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nerfhammer
It's not like it hasn't been tried in our history before:

[http://i.imgur.com/LTolA7A.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/LTolA7A.jpg)

[http://i.imgur.com/baNAKIP.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/baNAKIP.jpg)

The obvious solvency problems you might expect largely did occur

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dlu
Wouldn't this just trade effectively more or less at the same price as
corporate bonds?

Here is this piece of paper, I promise you it is worth this much at this time.

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diminoten
Isn't this basically what Reddit Notes were going to be?

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kavalec
Then corporations could rob poor people EVEN EASIER!

