Who Do You Believe?

From Slate:

Scholars have since theorized that the $ sign evolved out of an abbreviation for peso: The plural for pesos was "ps," which eventually became "ps," and then simply an "S" with a single stroke denoting the "p." One early instance of the $ symbol crops up in a letter written by the merchant Oliver Pollock in 1778. Pollock also uses the "ps" abbreviation, making the letter a bridge between the two. The double-line through the S variation is less easily explained. Some believe they represent the twin pillars of Gibraltar depicted on the Spanish coat of arms. Others say it's shorthand for the letter "U" superimposed over the letter "S"—for U.S.

Since reading Atlas Shrugged, I thought that the latter explanation was the correct one:

Incidentally, do you know where that sign [the dollar sign] comes from? It stands for the initials of the United States.

Looking up this quote in Atlas Shrugged, I stumbled upon this hilarious quote:

Do you know that the United States is the only country in history that has ever used its own monogram as a symbol of depravity? Ask yourself why. Ask yourself how long a country that did that could hope to exist, and whose moral standards have destroyed it. It was the only country in history where wealth was not acquired by looting, but by production, not by force, but by trade...

Ah yes, America... the land where wealth was not acquired by force or looting, but by production and trade. You might want to ask the Native Americans about that one...