Money can be issued only in the act of buying, and can be backed only in the act of selling. Any buyer who is also a seller is qualified to be a money issuer. Government, because it is not and should not be a seller, is not qualified to be a money issuer.
E. C. Riegel
Source: http://www.mind-trek.com/treatise/ecr-pem/intro.htm
Contributed by: peter