Re: Electronic cash illegal? (fwd)
Derek writes:
As far as I know, the legal definition of a "dollar" in the US is still a certain weight of silver, and payment in silver legally satisfies debts; under current silver prices, that probably costs more than a $1 US Federal Reserve Note, so nobody bothers.
Uhh, no, US currency does not have any backing. I believe it was Nixon who stopped it, possibly even earlier than him. There _used_ to be Gold- and Silver-backed dollars, but no longer.
Correct. Nixon dismantled the Breton Woods system in (I think) '71. -- Mark Chen chen@intuit.com 415/329-6913 finger for PGP public key D4 99 54 2A 98 B1 48 0C CF 95 A5 B0 6E E0 1E 1D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, On Fri, 20 Jan 1995, Mark Chen wrote:
Derek writes:
. . . Uhh, no, US currency does not have any backing. I believe it was Nixon who stopped it, possibly even earlier than him. There _used_ to be Gold- and Silver-backed dollars, but no longer.
Correct. Nixon dismantled the Breton Woods system in (I think) '71.
Well, sort of. My understanding is that the US dollar is still backed by gold on some theoretical bases. Nixon just closed the ``gold window.'' That is, foreigners are no longer allowed to get gold for greenbacks as was the case up until then. Of course, plain old Americans haven't been allowed to do that for the last 60 years or so. As for FRNs, they are ultimately backed by a promise to pay in ``lawful money,'' i.e., US dollars. Can you say Panzi? S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re-read what was originally written carefully -- it claims neither that the dollar is backed nor that paper dollars are exchangable for silver. .pm Mark Chen says:
Derek writes:
As far as I know, the legal definition of a "dollar" in the US is still a certain weight of silver, and payment in silver legally satisfies debts; under current silver prices, that probably costs more than a $1 US Federal Reserve Note, so nobody bothers.
Uhh, no, US currency does not have any backing. I believe it was Nixon who stopped it, possibly even earlier than him. There _used_ to be Gold- and Silver-backed dollars, but no longer.
Correct. Nixon dismantled the Breton Woods system in (I think) '71.
-- Mark Chen chen@intuit.com 415/329-6913 finger for PGP public key D4 99 54 2A 98 B1 48 0C CF 95 A5 B0 6E E0 1E 1D
Re-read what was originally written carefully -- it claims neither that the dollar is backed nor that paper dollars are exchangable for silver.
.pm
I interpreted ". . . the legal definition of a 'dollar' in the US is still a certain weight of silver" to imply both. Apologies if I misconstrued.
Mark Chen says: Derek writes:
As far as I know, the legal definition of a "dollar" in the US is still a certain weight of silver, and payment in silver legally satisfies debts; under current silver prices, that probably costs more than a $1 US Federal Reserve Note, so nobody bothers.
Uhh, no, US currency does not have any backing. I believe it was Nixon who stopped it, possibly even earlier than him. There _used_ to be Gold- and Silver-backed dollars, but no longer.
Correct. Nixon dismantled the Breton Woods system in (I think) '71.
-- Mark Chen
-- Mark Chen chen@intuit.com 415/329-6913 finger for PGP public key D4 99 54 2A 98 B1 48 0C CF 95 A5 B0 6E E0 1E 1D
participants (3)
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chen＠intuit.com -
Perry E. Metzger -
Sandy Sandfort