Ch 8, CREDIT VERSUS BULLION AND THE CYCLES OF HISTORY, e.g., p. 213: "If we look at Eurasian history over the course of the last five thou sand years, what we see is a broad alternation between periods domi nated by credit money and periods in which gold and silver come to dominate-that is, those during which at least a large share of transac tions were conducted with pieces of valuable metal being passed from hand to hand. Why? The single most important factor would appear to be war. Bullion predominates, above all, in periods of generalized violence. There's a very simple reason for that. Gold and silver coins are distin guished from credit arrangements by on� spectacular feature: they can be stolen. A debt is, by definition, a record, as well as a relation of trust. Someone accepting gold or silver in exchange for merchandise, on the other hand, need trust nothing more than the accuracy of the scales, the quality of the metal, and the likelihood that someone else will be willing to accept it. In a world where war and the threat of violence are everywhere-and this appears to have been an equally ac curate description of Warring States China, Iron Age Greece, and pre Mauryan India-there are obvious advantages to making one's trans actions simple. This is all the more true when dealing with soldiers." On 11/12/11 2:05 PM, Michel Bauwens wrote:
tere, do you have the page numbers or secion headings 4 that?
On Sat, Nov 12, 2011 at 5:51 PM, Tere Vaden <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Yes, the possible centralization (and physical capture) of gold seems to be one of the reasons that gold as currecy (or gold-backed currency) goes relatively tightly together with imperial and expansive-aggressive regimes, as David Graeber points out in his book Debt.
Quoting Dante-Gabryell Monson <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>:
> Sure - thanks for reading. > > Yes, personally, various views can be of interest, even if only for > understanding, or questioning. > > As for gold, I am personally ok with gold backed currencies for certain > complementary currencies for those who choose to use them, > > but on a large scale, I do not wish to go back to a gold standard, > because there is a very limited amount of gold in the world, > and this makes it easier to centralize control, > hence easy to control a monetary system backed by gold, > by buying ( or taking by force ) gold reserves. > > Hence I personally support a hybrid - networked approach, > with a variety of solutions ( some providing community and/or local > economic resilience, others easier for global trade, ... ) , as to avoid > monopolies in relation to some specific currency or financial/economic > system. > > On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 3:14 AM, Natalie Golovin <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > >> Rikards is excellent. He?s also very Christian and a Goldbug. Kudos 4 >> being broad-minded. >> >> *From:* Dante-Gabryell Monson <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> >> *Sent:* Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:52 PM >> *To:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ; >> p2p-foundation<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> >> *Subject:* [P2P-F] "Currency Wars" ? >> >> >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=rAPM7syIcts#t=1040... <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=rAPM7syIcts#t=1040s> >> >> Financial War Game : >> >> "Using Stocks, Bonds, Currencies and Derivatives to fight a war... " >> >> "Fiat - Organized theft, giving it to the elites" >> >> "Europe can not pay its debt, but you can print some SDR's... " >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Rickards >> >> >> http://www.amazon.com/Currency-Wars-Making-Global-Portfolio/dp/1591844495/re... <http://www.amazon.com/Currency-Wars-Making-Global-Portfolio/dp/1591844495/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314198116&sr=8-1> >> >> SDR : >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Drawing_Rights >> >> /// >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_war >> >> *Currency war*, also known as *competitive devaluation*, is a condition >> in international >> affairs<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_relations>where >> countries compete against each other to achieve a relatively low >> exchange >> rate <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_rate> for their own >> currency<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency>. >> As the price to buy a particular currency falls, so to does the real price >> of exports from the country. Imports become more expensive too, so domestic >> industry, and thus employment, receives a boost in demand both at home and >> abroad. However, the price increase in imports can harm citizens' purchasing >> power <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power>. The policy can >> also trigger retaliatory action by other countries which in turn can lead >> to a general decline in international trade, harming all countries. >> >> ------------------------------ >> _______________________________________________ >> P2P Foundation - Mailing list >> http://www.p2pfoundation.net >> https://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation >> >> >
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