tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post3121016458186550591..comments2024-03-22T05:15:17.042+02:00Comments on Sudden Debt: What's For Dinner? Gullibility PieHellasioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564511281240682625noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-1998241935006425722010-03-09T14:25:01.851+02:002010-03-09T14:25:01.851+02:00Thai, even if you found a site like that, just whe...Thai, even if you found a site like that, just where would the proverbial mattress or stocking solution show up in it ? (Solutions much more frequent than we can even imagine on this blog, lack of empathy oblige...)<br />Going back to Carl the engineer... it makes me think about why all the French high school students are doing ECONOMIC high school diplomas, and the college students are heading off to business school in droves.<br />Nothing like having an economy made up of hordes of financial wizzes where you can't find hardly no one who knows how to grow a potato.<br />No "conspiracy" involved in that. No tactics, no closing windows. "It's the... MARKET, stupid." <br />Once more, it's the overwhelming collective desire for financial and personal security that is powering that boat.Debrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01510189619803992336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-31424705367632574912010-03-09T01:57:14.910+02:002010-03-09T01:57:14.910+02:00These guys would indignantly disagree as Mayor Blo...These guys would indignantly<a href="http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showpost.php?p=2615864&postcount=39" rel="nofollow"> disagree</a> as Mayor Bloomberg found out to his dismay.yoyomohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06357340275250708990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-34162173545948875242010-03-09T00:49:24.422+02:002010-03-09T00:49:24.422+02:00You have to admit it would make things a lot easie...You have to admit it would make things a lot easier for the little guyThaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00700253024420397221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-32218594899080983112010-03-09T00:48:10.231+02:002010-03-09T00:48:10.231+02:00I'm pretty certain the answer is no, not even ...I'm pretty certain the answer is no, not even close but I wouldn't bet my mohel's life on it.yoyomohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06357340275250708990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-49450110164887123552010-03-09T00:12:29.786+02:002010-03-09T00:12:29.786+02:00Hell or anyone else, do you know if there such a t...Hell or anyone else, do you know if there such a thing as a total world markets index fund?<br /><br />In other words, is there a passive index for every conceivable place place money can exist that includes all stock markets, all bond markets, all real estate markets, all emerging markets, all commodity and gold markets, all currency markets, all derivative markets, etc... that a retail investors can purchase in one place at a very low cost? <br /><br />Kind of like The Wilshire 5000 but for everything?<br /><br />To the extent money flies from from currencies to gold to commodities to savings accounts to any other market money might hide in, the individual is protected from fickle movements, etc..?<br /><br />Does anyone know if such a product exists at a low cost?<br /><br />I checked the Vanguard site and didn't find anything.Thaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00700253024420397221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-88628522046986659802010-03-08T15:57:13.267+02:002010-03-08T15:57:13.267+02:00Sorry Deb, but I was too busy giggling to spend mu...Sorry Deb, but I was too busy giggling to spend much time sighing. I can't believe it survived the 20th century much less made it into the 21st. Like I said, at least it's harmless; not like this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/nyregion/06rite.html" rel="nofollow">tragic</a> & bloody <a href="http://failedmessiah.wordpress.com/2005/09/21/nyc-mayor-gives-in-to-satmar-agudah-in-apparent-election-deal-%E2%80%93-circumcision-deal-clearly-not-kosher/" rel="nofollow">shocker.</a>yoyomohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06357340275250708990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-86112510592751614382010-03-08T12:19:01.520+02:002010-03-08T12:19:01.520+02:00Sigh, Yoyo.
Sigh. Multiple sighs.
Organized aliena...Sigh, Yoyo.<br />Sigh. Multiple sighs.<br />Organized alienation is SO sad...<br />Especially when you keep telling yourself that you're FREE because of your alienation...Debrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01510189619803992336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-51206612896575458632010-03-08T12:13:22.859+02:002010-03-08T12:13:22.859+02:00I submit that we raise our collective glasses to t...I submit that we raise our collective glasses to the prophet "caste" to which WE ALL BELONG, in one form or another.<br />We on this blog, in any case. ;-)<br />The prophet caste is the thorn in the side of organized power.<br />Always has been. Always will be;<br />(Well not EXCLUSIVELY. We know that there are prophets who take wrong turns, right Yoyo ? ;-))Debrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01510189619803992336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-71519911749966115572010-03-08T04:12:12.587+02:002010-03-08T04:12:12.587+02:00Edwardo
One caveat. Carl the Chemical Engineer di...Edwardo<br /><br />One caveat. Carl the Chemical Engineer did have as bright a future: he became a quant.<br /><br />What do you think Hell is?Thaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00700253024420397221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-7890096499319115362010-03-07T21:29:31.549+02:002010-03-07T21:29:31.549+02:00Deb wrote:
"Edwardo, your cynicism is showin...Deb wrote:<br /><br />"Edwardo, your cynicism is showing"<br /><br />-Something is indeed showing, but not cynicism.<br /><br />"YOU know that globalization was going on in the Venetian empire, and that nobody closed a gold window at that time."<br /><br />- I know nothing of the sort. This is a poor juxtaposition. The differences far outweigh the similarities. <br /><br />"Our ancestors went through the same angst on the subject of the... composition of their coins, as they increasingly FEARED that their money was worth less and less as the gold and silver IN THE COINS diminished.<br /><br />-Yes, Deb, it's true that gold can and has been debauched, ergo, Gresham's Law. However, precious metals fraud and counterfeit is far far more difficult to pull off in gold than in paper.<br /><br />No conspiracy. <br /><br />-None of the sort that involves fat, balding, men puffing incessantly on stogies within a sanctum sanctorum. But, elites making decisions in a manner that can not be remotely described as ad hoc, YES.<br /><br />"Political power is too diffuse at this time, I feel, for conspiracy to be really viable."<br /><br />-Yes, (and though I am not religious) the Devil's greatest trick is getting the world to believe he doesn't exist. In any case, political power is provisional, the entities who pull the strings aren't in politics. <br /><br />4-8 years in an electoral position do not provide the kind of stability that you need for widespread conspiracy. <br /><br />-See above. If you look there you'll find nothing.<br /><br />"Too much uncertainty there as to who you're going to have as a "partner" in the future. Unless you mean that the technocrats are ruling everything anyway, and our electoral leaders are figureheads ? The corporate world (a vast number of people..) still craves the legitimacy that the word "democracy" gives."<br /><br />-No, "they" crave power, and legitimacy when it is sought is merely done so for strategic purposes.<br /><br />"If we are governed by IT, at least "it" feels like keeping up appearances for the time being ?<br />This is probably just another example of the old adage "nothing new under the sun"..."<br /><br />-There's nothing new in human behavior or motivation, which is exactly to the point.Edwardohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03613197383283896190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-57326054747850189362010-03-07T17:17:39.245+02:002010-03-07T17:17:39.245+02:00Debra,
You've got to read this; admittedly, it...Debra,<br />You've got to read this; admittedly, it's harmless but it's<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/us/06religion.html?em" rel="nofollow"> ROFLMFAO</a> hilarious. The longer you live, the more you learn.yoyomohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06357340275250708990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-91229961301263146702010-03-06T09:44:35.542+02:002010-03-06T09:44:35.542+02:00Edwardo, your cynicism is showing.
YOU know that g...Edwardo, your cynicism is showing.<br />YOU know that globalization was going on in the Venetian empire, and that nobody closed a gold window at that time.<br />Our ancestors went through the same angst on the subject of the... composition of their coins, as they increasingly FEARED that their money was worth less and less as the gold and silver IN THE COINS diminished.<br />No conspiracy. Political power is too diffuse at this time, I feel, for conspiracy to be really viable.<br />4-8 years in an electoral position do not provide the kind of stability that you need for widespread conspiracy. Too much uncertainty there as to who you're going to have as a "partner" in the future.<br />Unless you mean that the technocrats are ruling everything anyway, and our electoral leaders are figureheads ?<br />The corporate world (a vast number of people..) still craves the legitimacy that the word "democracy" gives. If we are governed by IT, at least "it" feels like keeping up appearances for the time being ?<br />This is probably just another example of the old adage "nothing new under the sun"...Debrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01510189619803992336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-18423069980906372642010-03-05T23:02:37.349+02:002010-03-05T23:02:37.349+02:00Thanks for the response but I am not sure it reall...Thanks for the response but I am not sure it really answers my question. <br /><br />Does anyone else know if productivity growth rate changes have been temporally linked to changes on or off gold standards for a variety of nations at a variety of times in history?<br /><br />... I am guessing that citizens of various nations probably wouldn't be willing to cooperate enough to let someone else do the necessary prospective randomized controlled trials required to settle the issue once and for all.<br /><br />Anyone else have any other thoughts on a surrogate marker that might get at this particular variant of the endless "complexity is not your friend" thread?Thaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00700253024420397221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-776996228661952662010-03-05T21:58:32.825+02:002010-03-05T21:58:32.825+02:00Thai asked:
"For if Rich and Hell's basi...Thai asked:<br /><br />"For if Rich and Hell's basic premise is correct- namely all this financial complexity is a giant waste of time and talent- then wouldn't we expect to see a temporal relationship between a drop in US productivity anda the closing of the gold window in 1971? I.e. our "real economy" suffered as brilliant minds move away from careers in chemical engineering to finance 30+ years ago. ;-)"<br /><br />You are on to something. Now take it further. Calling what ensued as a result of "globalization" a waste of time and talent lets the architects of what you allude to off much too easily, especially since they knew exactly what they were doing. <br /><br />Perhaps you know this, but, essentially, globalization has been nothing more than a cover for a corporate agenda designed to both undermine democratic governance, and exploit labor overseas which would leave it supine at home.<br /><br />The leaving labor prostrate at home part would lend itself to the erosion of democracy-which has always been a fragile socioeconomic arrangement even in the best of times-by eventually destroying the middle class. In a cruelly ironic turn, government swirls the drain that much faster as it can not meet its fiscal and financial obligations (due to a chronically shrinking tax base) thereby losing credibility amongst the same group whose taxes were what allowed the system to maintain itself in the first place. <br /><br />The FIRE economy was the compensation, booby prize more like it, for the elimination of the U.S. manufacturing base and its workers. It should go without saying that Carl the Chemical engineering major didn't have nearly the bright future with the onset of the aforesaid agenda than he did before it came into being.<br /><br />Closing the gold window was an early and integral part of the process of globalization. We can't have things like gold enforcing limits on the actions of those who seek to loot either through the ill advised creation of dodgy credit/debt, or through the equally egregious use of public monies for military expeditions against phantom enemies whose threat is vastly overstated. <br /><br />Debauching the currency, which is what closing the gold window was, was essential to enabling the global pillagers to implement their program. <br /><br />If it all sounds a tad conspiratorial, it is, but it was all right out in the open as I imagine the biggest and best conspiracies are.Edwardohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03613197383283896190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-78385863147713325152010-03-05T20:38:37.789+02:002010-03-05T20:38:37.789+02:00I'm getting indigestion.
Lemon chicken and f...I'm getting indigestion. <br /><br />Lemon chicken and fillet mignon....? How pedestrian..!<br /><br />Best regards,<br /><br />EconoliciousAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-47316481035785734062010-03-05T20:13:31.581+02:002010-03-05T20:13:31.581+02:00Well, dink, perhaps there are different ways of tr...Well, dink, perhaps there are different ways of trying everything possible ?<br />Perhaps everything possible has different meanings, different contexts ?Debrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01510189619803992336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-8736001682221646542010-03-05T20:03:14.418+02:002010-03-05T20:03:14.418+02:00"By the way, I am not sure if any of you read..."By the way, I am not sure if any of you read this but if not, I highly recommend it."<br /><br />What an impossible situation; we can't possibly continue to have healthcare operate this way, but we can't possibly not try everything possible either.Dinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10907199567928816652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-86968502527021999272010-03-05T18:55:47.281+02:002010-03-05T18:55:47.281+02:00Thanks for the link, Yoyo.
Just what I wanted to r...Thanks for the link, Yoyo.<br />Just what I wanted to read...<br />An update on the carpetbagging era...<br />I wrote a piece in the Saloon called "Equality, Fraternity and.. SECURITY recently. Enjoy.Debrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01510189619803992336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-65208817295353136042010-03-05T14:18:05.914+02:002010-03-05T14:18:05.914+02:00"I Want to Kill Somebody Today ... Because I ...<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley03032010.html" rel="nofollow">"I Want to Kill Somebody Today ... Because I Am Going on Vacation Tomorrow"</a>yoyomohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06357340275250708990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-28096433174715576302010-03-05T11:31:54.594+02:002010-03-05T11:31:54.594+02:00"...while shamelessly ignoring their base.&qu..."...while shamelessly ignoring their base."<br /><br />There's the popular base and then there's the financial base which politicians never deviate from and that is the one Quigely was referring to.yoyomohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06357340275250708990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-366260386721900372010-03-05T11:24:36.831+02:002010-03-05T11:24:36.831+02:00For those interested, I have fleshed out my commen...For those interested, I have fleshed out my comment on the economics of benediction/malediction on Street Rat. (I am encroaching just a little on your terrain, for once, Hell, but from a psychological standpoint, not a strict economic one.)<br />Enjoy.Debrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01510189619803992336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-42453618911664434642010-03-05T01:21:38.970+02:002010-03-05T01:21:38.970+02:00By the way, I am not sure if any of you read this ...By the way, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avRFGNF6Qw_w" rel="nofollow">I am not sure if any of you read this </a> but if not, I highly recommend it. <br /><br />Warning- it will have you shedding a few tears.Thaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00700253024420397221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-19523557773233260092010-03-05T00:40:37.791+02:002010-03-05T00:40:37.791+02:00I have remained silent out of respect for the sole...<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/national-grammar-day-2010_n_485716.html" rel="nofollow">I have remained silent out of respect for the solemnity of national grammar day</a>, but I thought I would cheat (at least) once. ;-)<br /><br /><br />Edwardo, great video. The fractal building blocks of my mental opinions ended up agree with both sides of the video and disagreeing with each other.<br /><br />If I can't get my own head to agree, I think the rest of us are doomed. ;-)<br /><br />But it did get me thinking... Do you know if anyone has ever observed a temporal relationship between changes in a nation's productivity growth and its movement onto or off a gold currency standard?<br /><br />For if Rich and Hell's basic premise is correct- namely all this financial complexity is a giant waste of time and talent- then wouldn't we expect to see a temporal relationship between a drop in US productivity anda the closing of the gold window in 1971? I.e. our "real economy" suffered as brilliant minds move away from careers in chemical engineering to finance 30+ years ago. ;-)<br /><br />Interestingly, I did once read such a productivity did occur in the 1970s... <a href="http://www.roubini.com/us-monitor/257484/a_staggering_term_of_productivity_growth" rel="nofollow">Rich, I must say you guys produce some very impressive information</a>. I think I speak for all of Joe public when I say "thanks". <br /><br />... But this does not answer my thought question and I can't find any other articles on whether others have noticed similar relationships in the past with other nations. Are you aware?Thaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00700253024420397221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-42381540825422279762010-03-04T23:59:49.118+02:002010-03-04T23:59:49.118+02:00Aw, Yoyo, the kind of thinking present in your las...Aw, Yoyo, the kind of thinking present in your last comment (not yours, I hope, but obviously somebody else's...) exemplifies the kind of simplistic scapegoating that gets me irritated.<br />For every politico who reasons in terms of illegality or making a quick buck, there are 100, just like William Clinton during his first presidential campaign who cuttailed it back to Arkansas to have Ricky Ray Rector executed (remember, the guy who lobotomized himself during his holdup attempt, and wanted his dessert saved for after the execution ? !!!!) I know, I know, I resort to this example often but it is so TELLING, so... symptomatic of a certain political.. COWARDICE that makes our leaders so desperately try to appeal to those outside of their fold, while shamelessly ignoring their base.<br />Why blame dishonesty when it requires MORE BALLS than cowardice ??Debrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01510189619803992336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4102429195693595750.post-83016356671403293552010-03-04T22:16:05.132+02:002010-03-04T22:16:05.132+02:00Ron Paul exposes Prof. Carroll Quigley and the fal...Ron Paul exposes Prof. Carroll Quigley and the false Left-Right paradigm of the political parties. Professor Carroll Quigley, Tragedy & Hope: The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one perhaps of the Right, and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can 'throw the rascals out' at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.... [E]ither party in office becomes in time corrupt, tired, unenterprising, and vigorless. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party, which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same policies.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jbs.org/news-center/birchtube/756-Ron+Paul+exposes+Prof+Carroll+Quigley?userid=104&Itemid=158" rel="nofollow">Video Link</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/brown03022010.html%22" rel="nofollow">Dr. Quigley wrote in Tragedy and Hope in 1966:</a><br /><br />“[T]he powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences.”yoyomohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06357340275250708990noreply@blogger.com