From: Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 95 12:57:10 PST
To: Mark Chen <chen@intuit.com>
Subject: Re: Electronic cash illegal? (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <9501201930.AA01571@doom>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950120124532.10660A-100000@crl.crl.com>
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                          SANDY SANDFORT
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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

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