At stake is not just the value of money itself but also the value we put on money. In the United States, Main street has long been suspicious of Wall Street - and even more suspicious of Easy Street. Similarly, distrust of speculators and traders, whether merchants or banker, has a long tradition in Western history. Even in Florence, which financed the Renaissance, secular authorities fines bankers for usury and tried to prohibit credit transaction altogether, according to British historian R.H.Tawney. The German world schuld means both "guilt" and "debt."