[Avodah] T'uM

[Zev Sero]

Richard Wolpoe wrote:

>  From a strictly puritanical vewi once the US governmetn stopped paying 
> gold or silver for paper miny it is ARGUABKLE that all w have is US 
> Scrip instead of Golden Acres Scrip. 

No, it isn't arguable.  It's nonsense.
 
> Coins are different, albeit they have little intrinsic value nowdays
> either.

Exactly; their value comes from the same government fiat as that of
notes.



> Is a shtar chovvv [in other words an IOU or p[romissory note] with 
> $10.00 face-value  really muktzeh on Shabbos? It may be assur to read as 
> "shitrei hedyotos" but is it really muktzeh?

Surely it is, for the exact reason that money is muktzeh.  It's too
valuable to be used as wrapping paper, and it has no other legitimate
use on Shabbos.


> If TODAY"S US money - no longer back by gold/silver is ONLY a promissory 
> note

This is nonsense.  What do they promise?  Nothing at all!  Back when
they *were* backed by gold or silver, they *were* promissory notes:
they promised gold or silver.  Now they promise nothing, they merely
assert themselves to *be* money.  As I said, if you show up at the
Treasury with a $10 note, all they'll give you for it is two $5s.

Gold and silver are *not* money in our society - if you owe someone
$800 and you give him an ounce of gold, he doesn't have to accept it,
and you still owe him the money; whereas if you give him 800 $1 notes
you have paid the debt even if he leaves them lying on the table and
refuses to pick them up.

This is the reality; the question is only to what extent halacha takes
notice of this reality, and for what purposes.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas