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Pastimes : The Hot Button Questions:- Money, Banks, & the Economy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chispas who wrote (346)	8/18/2003 6:41:56 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1417

I have read all the books in our local library on the USA civil war. They have most of the "Vintage Civil War Library" including many on the Southern generals of that conflict. It was just that I remembered that Grant had a financial calamity towards the end of his life. A two term president of the USA. If it can happen to him (and the USD was tied to a gold standard at the time), it can happen to anyone. I found the link to Ferdinand Ward informative. There is little doubt he was a swindler and played a major part in Grants financial downfall. He points to some other facts though. Nearly all Grants recommendations for investment were failures. If they had been otherwise he may have been able to avoid the bankruptcy that happened. The suggestion being is that some of Grants business contacts were not real friends. From the link mentioned.. Easy Prey to Schemers. General Grant was drawn into all sorts of schemes by supposed friends, some of them bearing the mightiest names in the world of finance to-day. These men were not so powerful then as they are now, but they were coming up, and the firm of Grant & Ward, through General Grant, was one of their stepping stones. These men wanted the General's name on which to float their enterprises. They procured it from a man without business ability or business experience on the promise of enormous dividends without risk. These schemes almost invariably turned out disastrously, and the firm was called upon to foot the bills. How does one legislate against that problem? Bury a safe in the basement and fill it full of gold, silver, notes, and stock certificates perhaps? Maybe we can start a movement where every household keeps a safe in the basement with their savings stored in them. Insured against normal theft perhaps. It's difficult to run away carrying gold bars though -g-