NODE 6d768931Re: Electronic cash illegal? (fwd)
chen@intuit.com (Mark Chen)Fri, 20 Jan 95 11:32:04 PST
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
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NODE a06d9d1bRe: Electronic cash illegal? (fwd)
"Perry E. Metzger" <perry@imsi.com>Fri, 20 Jan 95 11:50:26 PST
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
NODE 85076e88Re: Electronic cash illegal? (fwd)
chen@intuit.com (Mark Chen)Fri, 20 Jan 95 12:21:09 PST
> 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
NODE 10ee158bRe: Electronic cash illegal? (fwd)
Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>Fri, 20 Jan 95 12:57:10 PST
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
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