Value for Value

"Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value."

-Ayn Rand At the present moment, the AOCS trade group exchanges a 1oz .999 fine silver piece at a value of "fifty". This means a merchant is willing to exchange fifty dollars of goods or services for a 1oz AOCS round. Many people ask why merchants would do this, when the "market" price of silver is not that amount. A good way to understand this is to think about the US fiat currency. Imagine a $50 US Federal Reserve Note. Think about what it is "worth". Most people will quickly answer "$50". However, the note is merely paper with ink on it, worth plainly no more than a few cents. The currency is worth "$50" only because a merchant is willing to give you $50 worth of value in exchange for it. Also, the courts have decreed Federal Reserve Notes "legal tender", meaning that the can be used in payment of taxes and to satisfy a debt obligation. So a paper currency is worth something only when someone is willing to give you something in exchange for it. An AOCS silver currency, however, is valuable whether it is traded or saved. When you exchange silver with a merchant, you are trading value for value. It has two "values": an intrinsic value and a face value. When you exchange an AOCS currency at a participating merchant, you receive "face value". If you ever need to melt and sell the currency (which we do not recommend), you will receive "bullion" value. Either way, the currency can not be artificially inflated and will never be "worthless". When you exchange in trade with an AOCS Merchant you trade Value for Value, instead of paying for goods and services with worthless fiat Debt Money.

We want YOUR help!

The strength of any private barter network is in the quantity and quality of the participating Merchants. A fiat currency is only valuable when it is exchanged for something of value; before that, it is simply paper or symbols in a ledger. AOCS Currencies have value whether you exchange them or not, as they are minted from pure silver and gold. However, to achieve maximum value and get the best rate of exchange, AOCS Currencies are to be used as private money: for food, goods and services. If there are no participating Merchants, AOCS Currencies become more collectible than practical. While they will always be worth something, our project instead is to see gold and silver used once again as money.

You need OUR help!

If you have a savings account, chances are that you're losing money. It may not appear that you're losing anything, especially if your account bears interest. The trouble is that inflation is increasing at a rate higher than banks can/will pay to depositors. Simply stated, while the value of your money grows slowly, the cost of food, gasoline, and other commodities rise exponentially faster. If you're one of the lucky few that holds gold or silver bars, you still have trouble. When the fiat system finally fails, and the only thing worth "money" is gold and silver, it still won't be any easier to buy a loaf of bread with a 100oz silver bar than with a pile of paper. An AOCS Currency can be be exchanged more easily than bricks of metal. To that end, joining the AOCS will help you to transform your silver bullion into minted pieces already acceptable by Merchants across the globe!
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