Sam Price, now 44, can trace his credit problems back to college.
"The Silver River," another chamber opera on the 2002 program, with music by Bright Sheng and a libretto by David Henry Hwang, bears a long list of credits tracing a path from its genesis at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in 1997 to the current production, via Spoleto U.S.A and the Prince Theater in Philadelphia.
Although most payments are made through major credit cards, tracing them can be difficult.
Ms. Harrison said four of the women, herself among them, obediently answered questions from the official-sounding caller, who wanted information to trace their stolen credit and bank cards -- their names, husbands' names, Social Security numbers, personal identification numbers and mothers' maiden names.
Mr. Marentis said AOL was focused on tracking offline sales with tactics like online coupons that are redeemable in stores but that can then be traced back and credited to AOL.
"Technology is a double-edged sword," said Mr. Ahearn, a "skip tracing" expert who used to track missing people through credit-card and phone records and the like.
Tracing resources included Massachusetts Resident's Lists; death, marriage, divorce, credit bureau and alumni records; telephone books, directory assistance, and the Internet White Pages.
It is not clear who was behind the comments about Mr. McCain's divorce, but the two other attacks can be directly traced to groups claiming credit, who seem primarily to attack at the time of presidential campaigns.
A significant portion of Dean Witter's success can be traced to its Discover credit card, which became profitable several years ago and has been reporting improved results ever since.
Instead Mr. Ferguson discusses such cycles of euphoria and panic within a larger historical context: he traces the evolution of credit, debt and the idea of risk management over several centuries, and as he did in an earlier book, "The Cash Nexus," he examines the potent links between politics and economics.
