History is littered with devastating monetary fiascos.  I have shelves stacked with books that recount in lurid detail the havoc wrought from money and credit-induced boom and bust dynamics.  Each episode has its own nuances – i.e. differences in the nature of prevailing credit instruments, financial institutions, leveraging methods, governmental oversight and responsibility, and varying market, economic and societal ill-effects.  Yet in virtually all cases, the postmortem was similarly unequivocal: the inflation of money (various monetary instruments) was understood as a root cause of booms that ended with great economic and social hardship.  I most cases, there were aspects of an increasingly unwieldy escalation of money printing/debasement – along with, of course, all the attendant rationalizations, justifications and assurances