At 04:05 PM 3/26/96 EDT, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote:

The Fed has done an actually rather admirable job of standing up to the pressure

Every couple of years the politicians start leaning on Greenspan. Greenspan lets it be known they are leaning on him, the money markets mark the dollar down and the politicians stop leaning on him. The Greenspan standard is not a good as a gold standard, but its not bad. Only trouble is he is mortal, unlike gold. Come to think of it, there is actually some crypto relevance here: Internet currencies will be necessarily non physical and it will be difficult to go after the issuer in the event of default, so the best currency will have a value that depends on peoples belief that the issuer will defend the value of the currency. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd@echeque.com