So, in my continuing research indirectly (seemingly) related to Dodd-Frank, I’ve been reading a scholarly type report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in 1984. It is called: Private Clearinghouses and the Origins of Central Banking by Gary Gorton.

Sounds so dry, and it is, but then I read this:

Before 1850, banks cleared checks with a daily exchange and settlement-each bank went a porter to make the rounds to all of the other banks. The porter carried a ledger book, checks drawn on other banks, and bags of gold.

OMG! Can you imagine? I LOL when I read it.

When the number of banks got to 50, they decided to create the clearinghouse. FIFTY! 50 “porters” running around NYC with bags of gold,

ROTFLAMO.