"It's worthless!"
"Yeah? Listen: 'For all debts, public and private....'"
Parr's mind reached out to grasp the unsettling immensity of it. He flipped on the radio, half heard an excited announcer.
Parr thought: All over the world, each to his own: coins, bills, dollars, rupees, pesos, pounds—how many million parcels were there? Each stuffed with enough to make its owner a man of wealth, as wealth was once measured.
Parr thought it was terrifying, somehow.
And the headline of the paper admitted: "No Test To Reveal Good Money From Bad."
(There was a mob. They were storming a liquor store, while the owner cowered inside. He was waiting for the police. But the police were too busy elsewhere, so finally, to salvage what he could before the mob took his stock for nothing he opened the door, crying, "Form a line! Form a line!")
Parr thought of the confusion that would grow.
Prices spiraling.
(In the United States Senate, a member took the floor to filibuster until California had its mail delivery and its fair share of the free money.)