[P2P-F] "Currency Wars" ?

Sun Nov 13 22:58:50 CET 2011

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 <Tere.Vaden at uta.fi
> <mailto:Tere.Vaden at uta.fi>> 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 <dante.monson at gmail.com
>     <mailto:dante.monson at gmail.com>>:
>
>      > 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
>     <10natalie at cox.net <mailto:10natalie at cox.net>> wrote:
>      >
>      >>   Rikards is excellent. He?s also very Christian and a Goldbug.
>     Kudos 4
>      >> being broad-minded.
>      >>
>      >>  *From:* Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson at gmail.com
>     <mailto:dante.monson at gmail.com>>
>      >> *Sent:* Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:52 PM
>      >> *To:* econowmix at googlegroups.com
>     <mailto:econowmix at googlegroups.com> ;
>      >> p2p-foundation<p2p-foundation at lists.ourproject.org
>     <mailto:p2p-foundation at lists.ourproject.org>>
>      >> *Subject:* [P2P-F] "Currency Wars" ?
>      >>
>      >>
>      >>
>     http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=rAPM7syIcts#t=1040s
>     <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/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314198116&sr=8-1
>     <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.
>      >>
>      >>  ------------------------------
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>      >>
>      >
>
>
>
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