Money
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A short article on money that is quite interesting
Quote:Those tally sticks, by the way, met an unfortunate end. The system was finally abolished and replaced by paper ledgers in 1834 after decades of attempts to modernise.To celebrate, it was decided to burn the sticks – six centuries of irreplaceable monetary records – in a coal-fired stove in the House of Lords, rather than letting parliamentary staff take them home for firewood.Burning a cartload or two of tally sticks in a coal-fired stove is a wonderful way to start a raging chimney fire.So it was that the House of Lords, then the House of Commons, and almost the entire Palace of Westminster – a building as old as the tally stick system itself – was burned to the ground.What a delicious irony.
Usefully, this blows away the fractional reserve/banks create money conspiracy theory: anyone can create circulating medium (IOUs), but they are limited by their ability to (eventually) repay in Real money (eliberate capital, real=Royal, i.e. authorised money from the state). Attracting money still relies on genuien economic activity, and backing notes up with wealth.What the article doesn't mention is, were the Irish transactions taxed, that's usually been the thing that has hampered LETs scheme, because the British state has always asked for tax in sterling even if the transactions were in lets. there is an argument that it is the tax system that backs up fiat money.
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