I was listening to an "Economist" who held the opinion that the USD works because 'workers can migrate around the States to find work'. Whereas the Eurozone still has cultural divisions and it's not easy for someone from Greece to up and move and live and work in Germany and this is a weakness in the Euro. He called for more "Centralization". The idea is that IF you can put the Greeks under enough pressure, they'll suddenly start speaking German. Why is THAT so great? Why should Greeks have to live and work like Germans? Everyone seems to default to this notion the "USD" is good or the "Euro" is worth saving. Why? Take Michigan as an example. Our economy was decimated and about 1 in 4 left the State (people like me). What's so great about that? It destroys 'community' and unravels family. Why is it the 'worker' is made to move? Why can't the currency move? What I mean by that is if the economy in MI is so poor, then the currency in MI should be poor and this makes investment in MI an opportunity. If we do well, then our currency goes up and we buy more. Obviously this is easier to 'see' in Europe where it makes sense Greece should leave the Euro (and Spain, Ireland and Italy too). Look at Iceland. They felt the pain for a few years and now that their debt is liquidated they're back to growth. Greeks did borrow money, but the lender took a risk and now the lender should suffer if the people of Greece do (can not) pay back in full. That's life. It's a negotiation. In the USA when the pain comes, and it will come, we shouldn't buckle and endure like the Japanese - resigning 25 years + to debt laden public. I hate to imagine what this would do to the world economy at large. We need to have a discussion around how competing currencies function, what modern innovation has to offer in terms of making them work in the real world and how it might make life a bit better and more fairer if people had them. Lastly, did you know in LA the detergent TIDE has become a local currency? That's organic. It arises out of need. Unlike income-tax fueled USD local currencies are natural. They function FOR the community. So, when the pain comes. Don't be afraid to sacrifice the USD and don't be scared into accepting To Big To Fail Banks. They're not to big to fail, they're to big NOT to fail. Let them. This post is a little disjointed but I am hoping to make the case it's worth TRYING to at least consider local currencies. Or even State-backed currencies. Sadly, I hear these idiots suggesting we have a 'World Currency' run by unelected Banker Technocraps. Let's hope not.
For Germany this was WWIII. Rather than take over Europe again, They decided to use the Money. They knew it is Dollar that is keeping USA at the top. But they did forget that Europe, people speak different languages and behave differently....so now they are paying for it. The Euro may last another 5 years or if BillyT is right, it will die out in 12 to 16 months. Funny part though...if Euro goes down, they may ask USA to put in Dollars to cover Euro...So, in a way, it will save Dollars since we are not doing too good at this time. Then we all worry about the whole affair...
Uh, I hope that wasn't quite the idea. But the upshot is that the proliferation of different languages makes labor mobility really problematic. And that is a problem for a currency union, because it means that labor can't move around to address imbalances. Because the Germans are paying their bills, I suppose? Because the costs associated with the collapse of either of those would be staggering. It isn't that it's so great, so much as that it's still imminently preferable to the economy collapsing and the workers not moving to where there are jobs. Because then they're left with nothing to support their families. He isn't. Nobody shows up and forces any workers to get into a truck at gunpoint. They decide to move on their own, as individuals, to pursue opportunities as best they can. ? It does. It moves a lot faster than the workers, in fact. That's what causes these dislocations in the first place, which the workers are left to move around to compensate for. THe faster the workers can move, the less damage that mismatch causes. You mean the currency should change in value, not physically "move" like the workers? You can do that, of course, but overall the upshot of being in the USA is more of a net benefit than monetary independence would be for MI (or any particular state, mostly). The point is that Europe gets the worst of both worlds: the component states don't have monetary sovereignty, and the workers in each state don't have the ability to move elsewhere in the union in response to those dislocations. The two things go hand-in-hand - monetary zones need to correspond to zones with high labor mobility, or it doesn't work well. Sure. But haven't you always insisted that inflating the currency is immoral theft, and renders said currency and government immoral and worthy of destruction? So how are you now trumpetting the virtues of devaluation? Again, the world already has many competing currencies. The question here seems to be at what exact scale they would best be structured.
Well, it's happening as we speak. Greece is IN a Depression along with Spain, Ireland and soon to be Italy. This uniform currency is finally being found to be the failure many said it was WAY back when some idiot technocrats conjured it up. He is if he wants to eat. Considering he's lost control over the account of his productivity he must 'go where the jobs are'. I believe we're starting to see the maco-social implications of uniform currency as the family unit breaks down, democracy becomes a game of who has the most money and people find that without employment life feels pointless and without family their lives feel meaningless. Oh, but at least we can 'efficiently move the workers around on the peg board called America". Hey, if we're really lucky we might get a one world currency and we can stamp the passport number onto the workers cheek and send them anywhere a factory opens. Well, to be fair, not 'send' them. Give them the choice of either moving or starving. As soon as you start talking M0, M1, M2, etc... you'll have to be more explicit. Europe was doing just fine without the Euro. If they wanted a common currency they should have used commodity-money like gold and silver. Which, as we speak, I wouldn't be surprised if Germany isn't taking their gold!! Shit, forget bombing people with tanks and artillery, just give the greedy bastards the importunity to sell their children's labor and watch as humanity shows it's true face. Then guilt the bastards into giving up their gold, which you were after the whole time! You can see 9 and 10 year olds pay similar games with marbles. The short answer is everything has risk. The long answer is it seems that I recall there are Icelandic bankers living in London who are wanted in Iceland to stand trial. I also seem to recall GoldmanSux 'cooked the books' for the Greek politicians to get even more money to waste on "public good". GoldmanSux even bet AGAINST Greek bonds while at the same time arranging for them to take on more god damn debt. Why isn't anyone in jail? Yes, purposely defaulting on an obligation is IMO immoral. If you borrow on your CC and then sneak off with the money and don't pay - that's immoral. That's stealing. Going bankrupt OTOH is not immoral. Iceland did the moral thing because sticking their unborn children with debt they had no say in creating that debt IS immoral. The people selling the that type of debt were immoral. As you already know, 30 year public bonds backed by income tax is already immoral. Being forced to pay for fraud is also moral. The World do not have 'competing' currencies as in a free-market. People who run carry trade 'schemes' or try and make money off the swap are simply trying to get the inside track on what the money masters in each central bank are up to. It's one big F-ing farce made only more pathetic by our seemingly willingness to entertain the notion it's 'competing currencies'. Give me a break.
The point is we're sacrificing 'friends and family' to the USD so that we can shift people to the jobs instead of the jobs to the people. While in Europe the Euro is seen for what a mess it's made of society, in the USA the USD isn't. We've simply accepted that breaking up families is the 'norm'. I personally think the chickens are coming home to roost. Everything has a price. Our is our society. Which is why it's nicer to live in Europe where there's still a sense of 'culture, society and community' in many places. Meanwhile back in USSA it's one big efficient strip mall from CA to NY. The same crappy homogenous corporate shit-smear everywhere. So, here we are, knowingly sacrificing our children to the USD through 30 year Bond sales (and to the Chinese who own our children's future labor + with interest). Here we are, knowing sacrificing our parents LIFE-savings to the USD through Bernanke's stated 2% or more inflationary policies. And here we are, sacrificing our life, friends, family and community because shifting workers around the pen that is USDAmerica is prime-choice 'efficient'. Oh, and lucky us, we've created one big monotonous warm cultural poo smear covered in US Federal Promissory Notes backstopped by our children, parents and community. One does have to wonder if maybe.... JUST maybe, the USD isn't really worth all this sacrifice? That maybe we could use a different monetary system to conduct exchange with one another? That life might actually be a bit more diverse, a bit less efficient but more livable, dare I say 'prosperous' without the Oligarchs taking the cream off the top as they run us around by the nose? Maybe life as free individuals, you know, like WAY back in the 'day'? WAY back then.... when life was more equitable, when prosperity was the norm, when deflation followed productivity gains... not inflation. Oh, but that might make change happen, and people don't like change contrary to what they may bleat.
At this point, I'm honestly at a loss as to what your phrase "competing currencies" is supposed to mean. Please define how this idea is supposed to work, and how it differs from the global system of national currencies we already have.
WIKI sums it up pretty succinctly: Currency competition is a monetary system in which private entities print money (usually backed by a valuable, exchangeable commodity such as gold or silver) in order to satisfy the demand for a simple, low-cost method of trading goods and services. Competition in currency is relatively rare today, as most countries have a fiat currency system in which there is a single, nationalized currency that is controlled by a central bank. Legalize Currency Competition By Ron Paul There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose. -- John Maynard Keynes (for all you neo-Keynesians)
So is there any meaningful difference between that, and the current system of world currencies, other than the part about backing them with commodities?
Yes, it implies that private Citizens (as well as organizations and States) can create their own currencies. Not only commodity backed, but anything they'd like. Take bitcoin as an example. Or Tide detergent for that matter. As it stands it's impossible to compete against the USD inside the US because we're forced to pay income tax in it.
Maybe you're right. Michigan was one of the wealthiest States in the Union - until recently. Our wealth was the backbone of America - manufacturing and export. Unions, wages and regulations pushed most production overseas. Today's starting GM worker makes less than my grandfather did 25 years ago NOT counting inflation. I know workers on 45K a year whereas he was on 85K a year. And that's if they can even find a job. When they do, it's often part time and like lepers they're not allowed into the Union. Michigan could be seen as the model of what NOT to do. That said, now that our economy is close to being as pathetic as Mississippi's we should have a decreased monetary unit to reflect that. In a normal functioning world, where currencies reflected reality, this would be the case. Instead of monetary value leaving the State (which should be the case), Michiganders are. Destroying community and family. While environmental regulations and Unions are cut to try and draw in investment (to little avail).
