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Wildcat currencies are why abandoned haunted mansions feature heavily in the American imagination: US towns and cities were dotted with giant mansions built by financiers who got rich as bubbles expanded, and lost it all in the crash.

Prudent management of the money supply didn't end those booms and busts, but it substantially dampened them, ending the "business cycle" that once terrorized Americans, destroying their towns and livelihoods and wiping out their savings.

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