From: kurkku@hassuserveri.fi   
      
   "Eugene Holman"  kirjoitti   
   viestissä:holman-2208080716430001@c518-m3.eng.helsinki.fi...   
   > In article , David Friedman   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >    
   >>   
   >> "Worthless" was false. But the response, that the transactions were in   
   >> clearing dollars and rubles had nothing to do with it, was also false,   
   >> at least according to the long article discussed here--it was in   
   >> clearing rubles. And it looks as though the worth of those clearing   
   >> rubles, from the standpoint of the Finnish business exporting, came from   
   >> the willingness of the Finnish authorities to exchange them for Finnish   
   >> currency. That's consistent with James view of what was really going on,   
   >> although it doesn't compel that view.   
   >   
   > The trade was denonimated in clearing dollars. In the fiancial pages of   
   > all the major newspapers the clearing dollar rate was given every day. The   
   > clearing ruble was never mentioned. The fictional and mysterious clearing   
   > ruble only existed because the Soviets had a complex set of partially   
   > secret exchange rates for the ruble, depending on the nature of a   
   > transaction and which country it was being implemented with. It played a   
   > minor role in the overall five-year clering dollar denominated plans with   
   > annual revisions that formed the basis for Finnish-Soviet trade.   
   >   
   > For some discussion of the mysterious clearing ruble, see   
   > http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/57-2-454.shtml.   
   >   
   > Regards.   
   > Eugene Holman   
      
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