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To: Ilaine who wrote (15707)	2/26/2002 9:28:13 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74559

Random notes: double entry book-keeping, one of the bulwarks of modern capitalism, was imported into Europe from the Arabs in the 15th century. No mention was made in the source as to where the Arabs got it - invented, learned from the Indians, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Chinese? If double entry book-keeping was so important to the development of modern capitalism (I think this is one of Max Weber's ideas) then what happened to the Arabs? They have rule of law, enforcement of contracts, private property, private banking, why are they so backward? This is the kind of question that irks El Mat, I fear. How bad was the Great Depression? I am always yadda-yadda about Germany. Consider this. In 3rd quarter 1932, unemployment in the building trades in Germany was 88.7%. Goes a long way toward explaining Hitler, no? Spent the last two days trying to track down the origin of fractional reserve banking, and was on my way to the library. Stacked up some books to take back, then nature called (American for I had to go to the bathroom), and I picked up the book on top of the stack. Turned out to be (this was completely random, except for my subconscious) Rothbard's The Mystery of Banking, which is, like all Rothbard, tendentious, but has good ideas and good footnotes. Led me to Tullock's "A Season in Cathay," which is real history. Paper money under the Mongols. My subconscious loves me.-g-