Two Recent Incidents Illustrate that the U.S. Treasury Wants to Have it Both Ways With “Legal Tender”
Consider the case of a lad that tried using some $1 US Mint Presidential series proof coins as spending money at a restaurant. And now consider the hung jury in the tax evasion trial of a building contractor that paid his employees in US Eagle one ounce (“$50”) gold coins, at their face value. So if I understand these stories correctly, the U.S. Treasury wants us to accept their “legal tender” coins at face value, when the face value is more than the metal value of a coin, but they’d happily see us thrown in jail when when use a …