February 03, 2010 07:40 PM UTC

Glenn Beck Greatly Disappointed By "Buy Gold" Bill's Failure

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• by: Colorado Pols

Putting the “silly” in “silly season,” the Denver Post reports:

It’s easy to see the gold on the outside of the Colorado Capitol, but if one lawmaker had his way, the state would be hoarding millions of dollars of bling inside the building.

That’s the idea being pushed by Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, who thinks the state should take the severance-tax revenue it collects from the extraction of gold and other precious metals and convert that money into gold.

Lambert believes having a portion of the state’s assets in gold would provide a hedge against inflation. And, he said, it would give taxpayers confidence to see their money vested in actual physical assets…

The bill would require that the gold be kept in the Capitol itself and that media outlets be allowed to see it once a year. There are three vaults in the state treasurer’s office in the Capitol – one historical and two of which are in use – and a few older vaults scattered throughout the building.

However, the Department of Personnel and Administration said the state would need to build a new vault in the spooky sub-basement of the Capitol. Estimated cost of construction: $2.3 million…

The House State, Veterans and Military Affairs committee rejected the bill Tuesday on an 8-3 vote. Some members said they were concerned about potential security issues.

Now, Rep. Kent Lambert (a member of the Joint Budget Committee, where being a grownup used to be a prerequisite) reportedly dismissed his own bill afterwards as a “hare-brained” idea, but he also promised it would be back next year. So maybe it’s just that Lambert likes buying an asset valued at what many economists believe is the peak of a long and somewhat irrational upward spike (usually considered a bad idea by responsible investors), or maybe…

That’s why Glenn Beck thinks you ought to buy gold anyway. That, and the checks he gets to promote something called “Goldline.” Rep. Lambert has always struck us as someone in Glenn Beck’s target demographic, from “VA Tech all over again” to those armed Minuteman patrols of the border–which is why we warned months ago that giving him a seat on the JBC would turn out…well, more or less like this.