A Monetary Unit For Leprechauns

Republican extremist Rep. Bob Wagner (of Anderson Cooper 360 fame) today received approval from the House State Administration Committee for his bill that seeks to make gold the official currency of Montana. This is a bill that St. Patrick’s Day leprechauns would love. (Sorry for all the St. Patrick’s Day references, I just can’t help it.)

This bill, much like most of Rep. Wagner’s bills, is based on a wild conspiracy theory. This one, is based on the notion that the federal government doesn’t have the right to coin money, despite what the U.S. Constitution and judicial precedent says.

Since the hearing on this bill, Rep. Wagner has picked up an interesting habit. Now, whenever discussing the cost of a bill or policy, he will not talk about the dollars, he instead simply refers to “fiat money.” In fact, he sometimes says reports of the fiscal impact of policies are totally pointless because they are not measured using gold and other metals.

Not only is this bill bizarre, it would also have a terrible impact on the state’s finances. It would set up additional fiscal barriers for the state government and its employees. Also, how many businesses would like to come to the state if they were forced to deal with a totally different unit of currency than in the other 49 states?