About the Nothing Store

As Obama and crew print and borrow more and more money, the U.S. dollar faces an uncertain future.

But three cheers for our Unmighty Dollars -- print as many as you like. They're already worth Nothing, so they can't go down in value.

Comments? Email The Nothing Store team!

The Nothing Store issues new currency weekly.

Counterfeiting Instructions:

Click on a denomination above, print the bills, cut them out, and stuff in an envelope. Send to your congressman or senator marked as a CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION. They'll get the message! For the address of your congressman, click here for senators and here for representatives.

Soda Pop or Gold?

September 8, 2009. Update: Gold moves past $1,000/ounce!

London's Financial Times reports that Germany now has vending machines that dispense gold bars. Put in paper money and you can get one, five or ten-gram bars of the precious metal. The price is updated every 15 minutes by computer.

The machines are popular in airports, and Germans are apparently lining up. We guess they still get the heeby jeebies remembering the old folks' stories of the runaway inflation in the 1920s.

The owners of these machines charge a twenty percent premium for the convenience, and they probably dance a jig every time the Federal Reserve meets. The more the world's polibankers mess with the flimsy currency, the more the nervous peons scramble for a little of the solid metal.

The watchful ghost of President Andrew Jackson, tough Old Hickory, must be ripping his hair out over the latest incarnation of politicians and central bankers getting together to manipulate the people. Here's what he said when he vetoed the renewal of the charter of the central bank way back in 1832:


It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes... There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.


We bet Old Hickory would approve of the vending machines spitting out gold in exchange for euros. He believed in the rights of ordinary people to run their own financial affairs, free of the heavy hand of government. He trusted the people's wisdom and respected the power of choice.

After all, vending machines they might be, but they are also voting machines.