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| | Fiat Money |
 | | Anciently money was unknown, and there existed no terms by which merchandise could be precisely valued, but every one, according to the wants of the time and circumstances, exchanged things useless to him, against things which were useful; for it commonly happens that one is in need of what another has in excess. |
 | | In spite of a constitutional bar to un-backed paper money which existed at the time Abraham Lincoln was forced, in 1862, to issue the first trance of what was eventually $450,000,000 of "greenbacks" needed to finance the North's efforts during the civil war. |
 | | This brief treatment of the history of money reinforces that gold is simply not practicable as a universal money, but that it operates as an occasional money for rich trading societies, and more commonly as an agent of transfer during periods of currency implosion - whether hyperinflationary, political, or military. |
| www.baldwintrustgroup.org /Money/fiat_money.htm (6972 words) |
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