On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 5:22 PM, Bruce Johnson <johnson@pharmacy.arizona.edu> wrote:

But in general, look to the Age of Sail for answers, and those were gold and letters of credit. Pirates and forgers made out like, well, bandits :-)

And that's the main reason there is pirate problem IMTU; pirates pay in hard coin, but only so long as the locals keep them off the official books.

To paraphrase Gordon Gekko, "Greed is [impossible to legislate away]."

Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident." Robert A. Heinlein

"A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice." - Bill Cosby

"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester