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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lettow, post: 843107, member: 6986&quot;]This is a common misconception.&nbsp; Military Payment Certificates did not evolve from Allied Military Currency.&nbsp; They served two very different purposes.</p><p><br /></p><p>AMC was issued as occupation currency.&nbsp; This is done to compel the occupied country to pay the cost of the occupation.&nbsp; AMC is occupation currency.&nbsp; Occupation currency is used by the occupying power to purchase and requisition goods and services for the occupation. Occupation currency is valid for general circulation in the areas in which it is declared to be valid by the occupying power.</p><p><br /></p><p>MPC was issued to prevent blackmarketing by issuing a currency that can be converted into the currency of the host country but not the other way around.&nbsp; After the end of the war, US forces in Europe and occupied Asia were paid in US dollars.&nbsp; During the war they were paid in the local currency.&nbsp; US personnel would convert their dollars to the local currency on the blackmarket at higher than official exchange rates.&nbsp; They would then convert back to dollars at the official exchange rate and send the overage back to the US in the form of money orders (or cash).&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Here is an example:&nbsp; $1.00 = RM3.5 on the official exchange.&nbsp; On the blackmarket, $1.00 went for up to RM 50.&nbsp; I exchange my dollar for RM 50, take the RM 50 back to the Army finance cage and exchange it for $14.30.&nbsp; I just made $13.30.&nbsp; WHo lost out?&nbsp; The US government.&nbsp; This created an overdraft in finance where there were more dollars coming out of theater than there were paid in.</p><p><br /></p><p>MPC allowed US personnel to still be paid in dollars.&nbsp; They could convert them to the local currency but could not officially convert the local currency into MPC.&nbsp; MPC was the only money authorized for use on US military installations and was the only money accepted to purchase money orders and plane tickets.&nbsp; It did not stop blackmarketing, but it slowed it down considerably.</p><p><br /></p><p>MPC and AMC were used at the same time in Germany until the German Currency Reform of 1948 when the DM was introduced at which point AMC went away.&nbsp; MPC was only used in US installations and AMC was used by Germans and the occupying forces on the German economy.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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