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to be burdensome. One risked robbery or loss. The oldest banks were originally storehouses where the wealthy could park their money and pay someone to watch it for them. Rather than carry around 20 or 30 gold coins to make a large purchase, a system soon developed where, when someone wanted to make a purchase, he simply gave the seller a piece of paper that the seller could take to the banker' and trade for the appropriate amount of gold or silver-something like a primitive checking account. Again, the system only worked because people were willing to trust the banker, the buyer and the value of the gold or silver. Now, given human nature, some bankers were more trustworthy than others. Some actually skimmed a little more off the pile of Sir Henry's or Lady Anne's gold than was agreed upon. Others, figuring they could use that gold just sitting there gathering dust while they totaled up credits and debits, started loaning that same gold out to third parties-for a healthy return-which they pocketed. Some bankers, less willing to wait for returns on their ill-gotten gains, simply absconded with the whole shiny pile, never to be seen in those parts again. Bankers tended to become very rich and therefore, very powerful. It became necessary that, when a king or powerful noble decided to wage war on a neighbor, he needed to know a banker-to lend him the money to go to war.

It quickly got to the point where a lot of the ruling class were more than a little worried over the power wielded by rich bankers. Moreover, there were quite a few formerly rich nobles who suddenly found themselves with insufficient fund s because their money had disappeared along with the banker. Central banks were born.

Central banks, under the control of local government, standardized monetary units of exchange and the vouchers that passed from hand to hand instead of the actual gold or silver. This didn't prevent the same-and newer -forms of shenanigans from happening. Bankers still lent the deposits to others-often several times over. As long as no one wanted their actual gold and silver, there was no problem. And the ruling class always had a steady supply of cash to wage wars and vacation on the Riviera..it just wasn't their money. The abuses were rampant-but government-sanctioned, and everybody pretty much learned to live with the fact that the King and the banker were both going to make money off the depositor. However, every check, IOU and bank script no longer had a piece of gold or

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