| From: | IronRaven cyberraven@********.net |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Cash, Credit and Crime |
| Date: | Thu, 01 Jul 1999 14:24:10 -0400 |
>very concept... If nothing else, a crime bosses word should be his bond- if
Do you have any idea how big an organized crime organizaton can get? Not
every member of that endoevor is going to know who the boss owes LITTLE
favors to. Nor are you likely to ever meet the big boss.
OC scrip would be usable for big items, but for little ones, like a drink
or a chip, or for minor services, for which I ask you to use your
imagination, it would be accepted at a higher price (say +20%, "Yah, I know
that is the advertised price, but read the fine print: it says that the
display price includes a 15% discount for REAL money").
>he says he owes you, then thats as good as cash - or, more to the point, any
>script the issued would only be as good as their word.
How is that any different from regular money. Money is only what people
think it is. All a dollar bill is is a piece of paper with some ink on it.
There is mutual agreement that it is worth roughly "X" amount, and since
the US is a major player, it is excepted everywhere. Fluctuations in the
confidence of what "X" means is the source of inflation and (rarely)
deflation.
Look at CSA currency at the end of the US Civil War, or the D-mark at the
end of WWII, or the ruble. No one had any confidence in the power backing
those currancies, and as a result, they had little value. People are
confident that America, Britian and Germany are strong. That is why the
dollar, pound, and d-mark are popular methods of getting paid if you are an
international worker. For a time, the yen looked strong, but when the
Japanese banks started to revele that they had been gutted, folks dumped
yen like they were hot coals
Even "hard" items, like gold, have relative value. An example of this is
the Incan and Aztec civilizations. The had lots of gold, and thus to them,
wasn't worth very much, about as much as steel was worth to the Spanish.
And the rest is history.
> In any case, organized crime doesn't NEED script. They have a system of
>barter for goods, influence, and so forth - its a "cashless economy", in
OK, 1 Panther cannon = 1 Volkswagon Electro = 7000 nuyen = 1/2 cow. I'll
take the money please- it's easier to carry on the bus.
>some ways primitive as the stone-age, in some ways as sophisticated as the
>ZOG bank.
Excuse me!? What precisely do you mean by that?
CyberRaven Kevin Dole
http://members.xoom.com/iron_raven/
"Once again, we have spat int he face of Death and his second cousin,
Dismemberment."
"Briar Rabbit to Briar Fox; I was BORN in that briar patch!"
