Is this kind of like a voluntary turning in of pesos in exchange for pizza program, the goal being to get pesos out of the hands of criminals?

Isn't there something in the constipitution that gives folks the right to bear pesos?



Ultimately, the difference between "legal tender" and payment of a debt boils down to the difference between what can be redeemable back to the Federal Reserve for the equivalent value in a precious metal (or other commodity) and what is accepted for barter / trade / compensation. Since we have no direct valuation based on equivalent quantity of a commodity (that is a different topic altogether, one that I don't understand) that is neither here nor there in my mind. Heck, we could have our money based on actual physical supply of a certain type of seashell, and it would be the same concept. If you look at a $1 bill, it is listed as "legal tender for all debts, public and private". The value is not that it equals $1 worth of gold, platinum, or what have you. The value is that it is recognized as worth $1 of exchange between work / effort for a good or service.

So, if a retailer wants to accept buttons as payment for their goods (a private debt), they can do so. But, they may not be able to exchange those buttons for anything they can then further do exchange with. Pesos, just like Canadian money, does not have to be accepted, but if you do, you can generally go to the money changers and exchange them for a fee. Likewise, if an employer wanted to pay an employee in buttons, pesos, or even pre-euro german marks, if the employee accepted it in exchange for the work performed, a private debt has been satisfied, so to speak. If you work OT (whether a salaried non-exempt or salaried exempt classified job), and your employer grants you comp time (time off) instead of paying OT rates, is that not essentially the same thing?