-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Steve Schear wrote:

This topic, of course, is near the top of many libertarian e-commerce agendas. Almost every mainstream news article and regulatory report repeats the littany that Money Laundering, that is the movement of money to disguise it origin (even if there are no predicate offenses) must remain illegal because it damages or is a threat to the world banking and financial system (not just the tax take of governments), but I have yet to see any explanation of how and why. Anyone care to comment?

Might be a bit of a stretch, but I think this is because money today is inherently a liability, that is a debt that someone, somewhere has promised to pay back. Such is the nature of fractional reserve banking and debt-based currencies under which the international financial system functions. Thus if the origin of the money (the indebted party) is obscured, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage the quality of the world's money supply. After all, how can the issuer of the money collect on the debt that ultimately backs it when the issuer has no idea who to collect the debt from? Take away the ability to manage debt effectively and the issuer's money quickly becomes worthless (be it a commercial bank issuing deposit currency as a loan to its customers or a government's central bank issuing cash currency to its citizens based on a debt placed upon future generations of citizens). A money's value is measured by the quality of debt backing it. If the debt is defaulted on (whether through obscurity, Chapter 11, etcetera), the money loses value, which in turn can have negative systemic repercussions throughout the world's financial markets. The recent Asian currency devaluations (South Korea in particular) and the accompanying financial woes are a good example of what happens when the debt quality of money devalues. Nerthus - -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 mQGiBDR6Du8RBAD/Atm9StFSTuaNTOtM0wH+BsKQcU8sB6kykqiRsCdfeoPdI2cW TifPTIFFJuSRb9JCda6OQcafloXeAN9nbE+GweDQGk9qQ3egsukPXZ1QLaZhx8Y0 bbbs1EKyNMIpPK0JyFycC+ehKbOVNnB+LlcofROS6C2BqxV6jV2bTh4/OwCg/3RA +J+IBZKJ+t8SrkePekrr8VkD+gMrK6wghoYjPJjve4GFNtIclbltnaxPvNblt3Gn TS+AKXRXvRvtqlbh6nkOzJZCGgDl5S4Sl9ugQZm4Dnhv1wJJptw1VaNIvx4vJh5k 0Ehv0QqLyyJLM1qkb+qSm726fj7x2VMUDz1B2J8BZnRSeyX7Owv96l2hbfhsWOSL kTzsA/47BVqGxA5aQhvXSuD6OuvzAsSNZUUL2pnyYmCkX/DrGzG1BDgb9AdUPbql s138nr/yLjBXwbbZnrqVLLBn9mVfqQZL1HB9MgKFaCT8Pi2Q/EpyM5kN/sMkA/c/ nmk6JVHvPyCdLwJLA0r5iKHyPbZyPbc6C1FfXD9V92O3dhvCw7QjTmVydGh1cyA8 Y3lwaGVycHVua3NAY3liZXJwYXNzLm5ldD6JAEsEEBECAAsFAjR6Du8ECwMBAgAK CRAWtXd85uJ6jrcdAJ0bB92r7CriqXzXAmPC5ldE0VftWACgoiV33M0m6V3L0OsV CFPIMuVS3oaJARUDBRA0eg8e4VbBl7TmNwkBAQXECACjSwCnkSP9Dv06s0HMLvT9 DwjXryxvx+oMgO6CjHe5eHmLpyNDMTuhnZYByr/DU9iWAEvAYJncAl7/o7e8OcU/ vrzU2hAcjS9yaKN/Q1ltZAhg01hLhadlxvclaxuHVZ/TaO+ci5Ew1d7wzMPBWUyE jBDHVN4902pTBaPpGqBV3yGYg5I403L9+bB8qD1Od8ALr83ha/mF6MRYV4m0Qar+ GHs6wwH3Zi+gAQMUVkC1rvJKoGicHBL7Ky+NmdydCTi4IBpiIalsdOVAF6aNkRI6 q41hmNYevzmjsk4KWQdCi+FWKj1f+soxyGPK4/lkQk17EWpdYR63+GpU88ecmrBy uQENBDR6Dv0QBADYL1ossXAnUFX3NgVrEg4BvRr8wyhrRrddBKI9XE8vLNdHoci1 7Xtor82Fr3kyBTx/6jW2HIkuFe1PPaJqjoXfxMQc/e5xbG3Sc65VgxUqY369rc0X yPWXnkDgGaeLJfMP6YEFWqOwyGGSkySKaiQrZXJdPnudjAhB4Aq4W/ZC4QACAgP/ UmOxIbdm014V8jSZHDpMCvHX69xMcKxk6pofza4fM+NN6wZLrUA9+us6JKMxq3j/ tSBX4M/VwhmtXdn27lbrR4blwQM/u0jGgqk3qAwEXiv2TweYCpWtfuEjbmv9LKpC um/6Sh/KhlNGoyxm6eEOTG3hSH6rKiCTACbtuotDQhKJAD8DBRg0eg79FrV3fObi eo4RAqt/AJ9qf0ixg3olUg2kYJEbmHMVzx+6EwCcC91whsrTD2nsNdCUkzhc333R Aoo= =aekz - -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQA/AwUBNIiUkxa1d3zm4nqOEQLaYQCcDRU9qkloaPTshE3coevIIdDxlXQAnjVx fcCqzFIilN8K6KLj346uJkCP =0xDo -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----