Via Daniel Indiviglio . It seem that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was before some Congressional committee, when Ron Paul asks him how he would define the dollar. Now one good reason I would never suceed in politics is that I think a stupid question deserves a stupid answer. So here's dictionary.com's top three. 1. a paper money, silver or cupronickel coin, and monetary unit of the United States, equal to 100 cents. Symbol: $ 2. a silver or nickel coin and monetary unit of canada, equal to 100 cents. Symbol: $ 3. any of the monetary units of various other nations, as australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Fiji, Guyana, Hong Kong, jamaica, Liberia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Solomon Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zimbabwe, equal to 100 cents. Bernanke, of course, knows that a gold-plated wack job like Paul would take offense at this kind of blunt honesty, so he offers: My definition of the dollar is what it can buy. Consumers don't want to buy gold; they want