I was reading some artist biographies from the 1800s recently. What amazed me was the credit system that allowed them to work and travel nearly as freely a the

I was reading some artist biographies from the 1800s recently. What amazed me was the credit system that allowed them to work and travel nearly as freely a the modern hacker would do. Instead of credit cards you had a network of IOUs, which enabled the economy to keep going. Of course much of that network got wiped out in the 30s recession.