Business: True Yardsticks of Solvency

MONEY BLACK MARKETS

THERE are three things," said an old Swiss banker, "which determine the price that money brings—the stupidity of men, the mess they've made, and the law of supply & demand." One of the greatest stupidities of men is the notion that the value of a nation's currency can be set by arbitrary government controls. Instead, it is a nation's internal solvency, its balance of exports over imports, and the competence of its government which determine the price of its currency. That price is not set by official fiat but by the black (or "free") currency markets of the...