Golbal Econ.

[p.v.mcmahon.rea0803 at oasis.icl.co.uk]

> > All payment mechanisms require a basis of trust - so 
> > that the seller knows s/he will get paid .

> The above bank/vendor/customer/mix scenario seems the 
> simplest to start out with on the Internet at this time.

Indeed. But what I have still not seen in this thread is an articulation
of a business case for existing financial institutions to support
the putative [on|off]-line payment mechanisms - in particular as an
alternative to charge/credit cards for one-off transactions.

- pvm