Arizona pushes to have gold as legal tender – RT USACan the paper dollar be any more worthless? Some lawmakers in Arizona think so, and are hoping that gold and silver will soon be counted as legal tender. As evident by last week’s dismal jobs report, the effects of the recession are still apparent across the United States: the labor force participation rate in the US has hit a three-decade low, and unemployment remains stagnant at close to the 8 percent mark.