Great video Thinking that the inflation crisis in Germany was in 1923, not during the war, and a question for you, in times of high inflation, from my experience, interest rates offered by banks to holders of cash also go up, hedging the downside effect of holding fiat, how does this work in your bigger picture? I also thought that the great depression came about by the US adhering to the gold standard, stifling investment into infrastructure and it's economic expansion? I may be wrong I think that you have great ideas, and convert complex information very well, keep it up! Cheers Alfie
I urge all the posters who posted here, take 10 mins google up the great depression of 29/30's. History has a way of repeating itself. In 1928 , 100,000 marks would get you a lovely home, In 1932 it would get you a loaf of bread. Ring A Bell.. Hoover in the 1928 Presidential Election, We have a nation of great wealth and by the end of my term"No American will live in poverty" The roaring twenties was the first time that americans could buy now, pay later and was the start of the consumer society. I have read about long lines of unemployed men walking between Hamburg and Berlin, seeing a field of potatoes, rush on to the field, dig them up with their bare hands, put them in sacks while the farmer and a lone policeman looked on. Times like these, I hope I never see again in Australia. Our people suffered too with very large number of swaggies on the road trying to survive and if they were very lucky to find some work so that their wife and children might eat for a few days. Remember desperate times mean desperate men. We all love our families and I am sure that most men and women will do anything to spare suffering by their children and grandchildren.. Have enjoyed reading the posts on this thread . Regards Errol43
You make the case that no one can be trusted, which is kinda retarded. In that case, there's really no point trying and we may as well stop caring about anything. Any system can become crook. And most will eventually end up crook. Supposedly there's 0 gold at Fort Knox, but they haven't audited in a while. But what I'm saying is that a gold backed system is inherently honest. If you have a trade deficit, then you have to forfeit your gold to other countries. I don't think you can fake gold (although I'm sure there's a lot of gold plated tungsten lying around ) The problem with using things other than gold/silver is that they don't really have the characteristics of money. Is it rare? Is it portable etc.
Yeah, I should've checked my facts a little more clearly :/ I don't think that interest rates are going to increase. America are in a sticky situation atm. They need to raise interest rates to resume sound monetary policy and to get the capitalist machine going. HOWEVER, if they raise rates their debt will crush them, increasing the amount of the interest they have to pay on their debt. They're struggling enough as it is with current debt, so raising rates which literally force them into default. By not raising rates, things are going to remain stagnant and get worse. Catch 22. I'm honestly not too educated on the great depression. But that's the thing with the gold standard: it's honest. If they were using the FIAT system, they would literally be printing money to try and get out the of crisis: which is merely postponing the crash and making it much bigger and much more painful in the long run. Basically what we're doing atm. Also, thanks for the kind comments. I greatly appreciate it.
I was too young to vote at the time. Although admittedly after nearly a decade of Howard, i was convinced that Rudd was going to be the best god damn leader IN HISTORY EVER. lol, boy how i was naive :lol:
Competing currencies ftw. If you want to pay with fiat go for it, gold/silver fine, wool go for your life. As long as someone agrees to sell you something it shouldn't matter what form the transaction is done in.
Here's my stance. I think that the government should run all the utilities. Post office, Telecoms, banks, money, water, energy etc. Then i think the private sector should control everything that they do well, things such as ipads, jewelry etc. That's my opinion. Please correct me if you think I'm fundamentally wrong.
Well, here the GOVT can't run an ant farm and turn a profit, nor provide even decent service!!! About the only thing they do well is war. Actually they F that up too, because every war the politicians became involved in we either lost or didn't win. Vietnam, Korea, Iraq II. The wars that were left to the military, we kicked A$$ and took names, WWII, Iraq I, Mexican war until the politicians got involved and had us pull out of Mexico City all the way back across the Rio Grande SMH Our's does nothing well, can't speak for yours.
Valid observation. Unfortunately, I have lost faith in the vast majority of politicians. They no longer serve the people, rather themselves. I don't think it is even worth speculating how much gold is in fort knox, given it has been so long since it was audited. The trouble is though if they have next to none remaining, then how are they going to create a gold-backed currency? They would have to confiscate it forcefully - whether on a free or some massively undervalued "cash" amount. Even if they do have what they claim to, that puts the "true value" of gold over $20,000 per once in today's dollars. I can't see them allowing those holding to gain that sort of wealth overnight. So they would probably confiscate regardless, and prevent that instant wealth whilst also increasing their holdings. Obviousely there would be uproar if this eventuated, so I don't really see it being possible and with communication and media today can't see that being likely. Yes, I agree that a gold-backed system is inherently honest, in theory at least. In reality I think it can still be corrupted as easily as any other currency. How can we trust auditers to provide true reporting from a maximum security vault that very few people ever see inside of? They could report 212 ferraris and 2 space shuttles and no-one has the ability to disprove. I am not so sure that a gold backed currency is fool-proof. Theoretically it would prevent the irresponsible printing of money by governments but there are other issues. I guess it would function like the GLV, but on a grander scale. I figure they can only issue shares after the additional gold to back them has been purchased? I am uncertain of the logistics. Regardless, money is still going to be created everyday through our electronic credit systems. Would credit cards be banned? This is where I start getting confused about how you actually prevent the creation of unbacked currency as a result of credit. Would it still be a credit orientated society, with the majority of the cash would be backed by gold? I think it is more likely that an "independent" trade currency is created against which all other currencies are measured. Maybe by the IMF? Similar to an index I suppose. A currency that is not not issued physically and rather used to ascertain the value of one currency to any other without being influenced by any currency.
I still think he's a pretty cool guy (ps. I couldn't vote for him either). In my view, he had the wrong team and was too naive. If he comes back as Kevin 11, I hope he isn't as naive. He's gotta realise no one wants to help in this country. Vested interests everywhere @_@ That's why I never cared when they said he demanded too much from his workers. You really do need a one man team to get anything done >_>
I live in Melbourne and i know what you mean. But at the same time, it's because we've had this quasi-privately owned system. Public transport is a classic example. Here in Melbourne, i believe that Metro control all the services, timetables and administration. Yet the government own all the infrastructure. So it's not quite publicly owned. This disparity essentially creates a massive blame game between the parties - nothing ends up being done as there is no accountability.
You're presenting a very simple case. Obviously there would be measures in place to ensure that the truth is being told. But yeah, I'm not economist so i don't know too many of the specifics behind a gold backed currency. All i know is that we've had one in the past, and it worked. I suspect that there'd still be leverage under a gold backed currency, so it'd be similar to now. Also, as the economy grows and since there's limited gold, would that mean that the price of gold would rise? haha yet again, I'm vague in my understanding. You have to remember, the only reason why America moved to the gold standard in 1971 is because of their deficit, and other countries demanded their gold. They realised, "wait a second: we're America. We don't have to give them anything". Then BANG - A currencies backed by the false promises of a government. One thing I'm not 100% on atm, is that once the US dollar collapses: How are people going to view government? Is there going to be a complete lack of faith in government? Or are people going to continue blindly following their leaders in power? I seriously doubt any independent currency. If we had 6 equally strong super powers, then maybe. But i suspect that the next "world reserve" currency is going to be run by the Chinese, since they're basically going to be the next world super power. I'm also fairly sure that regardless of the institution, the US are currently going to have complete influence over it.
In retrospect, I think he was an incompetent hack i.e Julia Gillard's twin sibling. He couldn't government even if you payed him to It's weird, maybe i was too young, but while John Howard was controversial, it seemed like he actually got things done imo. The only thing that Rudd has is his branding and image. There's just something about him that's so very electable.
Look at what we have to vote for now, Gillard or Tbone Tony. How can anyone put a tick next to either of these names with any conviction.... The Libs should just bring back Costello, but they wont because even though Tony is next to useless, he will win the next election because Labor has fucked things up soooo badly. I mean I know elections are about picking the best of the worst, but its getting harder and harder..
Have to agree with you! I wouldn't vote for Abott if you paid me and I have not been impressed by Julia - I might vote for Turnbull though, pity they dumped him. I might even vote for Rudd if he came back - the choice is like you say, picking the best of the worst! These are only figureheads in reality but if you are going to have someone meet with leaders from overseas countries you need someone who at least can talk sense so as not to be an embarassment! :/
