We also used the Spanish Dollar (aka pieces of 8) here in the US well into the 1800’s. It was used to transact with the German thaler, which was the basis of our dollar (pronouncing thaler sounds like dollar). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_dollar
I digress…I understand the supposed benefits of having a central bank like the Fed. However, giving power to a small group of elite to control a currency is just asking for trouble.
The Fed is the 4th iteration of a central bank here in the US. Like the 3 others before it, I think the current central bank is due to be disbanded at some point. The people in this country used to have a healthy suspicion of banks. I think we’ve been a bit drunk from our prosperity since WWII. Now that times are tougher more people are starting to follow the money trail.
@Rich: Totally my fault on the black listing. I was having trouble trying to selectively quote portions of Eugene’s post. I’ll figure it out at some point.
