This is an interesting piece of history how JP Morgan saved in 1895 the United States of America from Default by using an obscure Coin Loophole.
Wie wahrscheinlich viele mitbekommen haben, wurde in den letzten Wochen die US Debatte über die “Schuldengrenze” von einem “komischen” Vorschlag geprägt. Das US Treasury weist die US Mint an eine Billion US$ Platinmünze zu prägen, diese bei der Federal Reserve Bank of New York zu deponieren und — Voilà — das US Treasury kann mit dem Seigniorage-Gewinn die groteske absolute “Schuldengrenze” unterlaufen.
Mehr fällt mir eigentlich nicht ein zu den €-Platitüden von Martin Walser in der FAZ. Aber der Wirtschaftsphilosoph hat sich die Mühe gemacht diese zu übersetzen.
Was heisst die EZB will Staatsanleihen kaufen und wer ist überhaupt diese EZB?
or why Paul Krugman doesn’t understand Modern Banking. Some readers may have noticed the brouhaha in the blogosphere about a blog post from Paul Krugman criticizing the paper from Steve Keen, which will be presented at the upcoming INET conference in Berlin. Paul Krugman then doubled down with another post and again with another post. First a personal advice: Folks, all these screaming and yelling “Dear Paul, but …” is only a waste of time. Paul Krugman will never ever concede that he’s wrong on anything concerning economics. The only appropriate response in my humble opinion is to state the obvious and then move on. These people take a perverse pleasure being yelled at from laymen, because … Well, they’re thinking like a “Nobel” economist and you are not!
Der Wirtschaftsphilosoph schreibt manchmal kleine Anekdoten aus seinem Berufsleben. Das möchte ich zur Abwechslung auch mal machen. Die Vorgeschichte: ich war letztes Jahr auf einer Tagung in Hamburg. Bei einem Abendessen mit ein paar Hedge Fund Managern plauderten wir unter anderem über das von George Soros initiierte Institute for New Economic Thinking. Es stellte sich heraus, dass ein paar der Hedgies regelmäßige Besucher der jährlichen INET Konferenz sind. Da die nächste INET Konferenz in Berlin stattfindet fragte ich ob ich an dieser Konferenz wohl auch teilnehmen könnte? Meine Gesprächspartner wollten sich darum bemühen.
If you read the financial media in the last days you must come to the conclusion: Damn, the sky is falling. A hysterical media is producing an avalanche of bad news: A debt crisis in Europe, Japan and USA. Deficits are totally out of control. Hyperinflation is imminent. 2.5 trillion US$ just vanished (Translation: The financial ruling class lost nominal wealth. Which is truly bad.) So the stories go. But here’s the good news. I will walk through one of this articles so you must not and afterwards we can hopefully put our worries to rest. The article was written by some Patrick Bernau — a neo-liberal minion — in the FAZ. It is titled “Börsenchaos: Die Welt vor der Rezession” (German) [Stock Market Chaos: The world on the brink of recession] So what worries our author?
No comment.
Maybe you have not noticed it yet. But we Europeans live under a European Tyranny. Unfortunately the messenger doesn’t inform us who exactly is the Tyrant who wants us to live under oppression and in misery. (Digression: Me thinks it is the ECB.) But this particular messenger — The Tea Party Folks — most probable haven’t heard that there’s such a thing as the ECB and have a hard time to locate Europe on a map. But there’s one thing they learned about Europe while traveling the place via Fox News. A bunch of Socialists, Marxists, Communists and other freedom hating monsters are living there. Via Bloomberg Businessweek “Summer Camps Offer Adventures, Training, Politics”:
Tampa Liberty School, hosted by Tea Party affiliate group The 912 Project, teaches 8-to-12-year-olds “the principles of liberty, free markets, and limited government.” Jeff Lukens, 53, whose day job is at an auto auction firm, will run this year’s session. The first lesson will teach campers the difference between European tyranny and freedom in America: After walking into a room that’s “kind of dark and gray and austere … [and being made] to sit down, be quiet, and do what they’re told … we tell them, there’s this other place you can go to called the New World,” says Lukens. Once they’ve crossed an obstacle course representing the Atlantic, the campers arrive in America. “It’s colorful, it’s bright, it’s cheery—they get over there and we pop confetti in the air and it’s a party,” says Lukens. The kids later clean up the mess, so they know that “with freedom comes responsibility.” Other lessons teach campers about the gold standard and that “our rights come from God, not from government,” he says.
So in case a future generation reads this blog post in 30 years you can stop wondering why US Congress has abolished Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And it is also no mystery anymore why you must carry Gold coins around. Finally you can also stop whining about people dying in the gutter because of no health care. It is a God given right to dye as a free man.
Delighted German chancellor Angela Merkel said: “Hitler was an arse. All those people slaughtered and cities laid waste when all he had to do was get everyone together in Rome and suggest a series of treaties that would eventually deliver a Thousand Year Reich but without all those ridiculous SS trousers and the pointless arm waving.”
Nice.
Which makes me proud to be an Austrian (by passport and not persuasion). Living in the US looks like living in a hellhole. Check it out!
