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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2013 8:26:35 GMT -5
The current Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, is about to retire. Sir Mervyn studied at John Maynard Keynes's old college in Cambridge in the 'sixties, a time when "Keynesian" economics was in the ascendant, but about to come under attack from monetarist economists such as Milton Friedman. Has Sir Mervyn remained a King's man, or even a Keynes's man ever since? The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might have become jealous when her current Guv gave the BBC's economics editor Stephanie Flanders an extended interview in February 2012 for the BBC Two television programme ' Masters of Money', a documentary series about the lives and economic thinking of Keynes, Friedrich Hayek and Karl Marx. In the interview in the link below, Sir Mervyn comments on each man's contribution to economic history and the relevance of their ideas to recent events. He also says that the last few years have given him a deeper understanding of some of Keynes's writing about the 1930s. Before the financial crisis of 2008, Sir Mervyn says, he had struggled to comprehend how policy makers had allowed the economic disasters of the interwar years to take place; now he understands all too well. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19749812The Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, studied at John Maynard Keynes's old college in Cambridge in the sixties, a time when "Keynesian" economics was in the ascendant, but about to come under attack from monetarist economists such as Milton Friedman. Has Sir Mervyn remained a King's man, or even a Keynes's man ever since? The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might have become jealous when her current Guv gave the BBC's economics editor Stephanie Flanders an extended interview in February 2012 for the BBC Two television programme 'Masters of Money', a documentary series about the lives and economic thinking of Keynes, Friedrich Hayek and Karl Marx. In the interview in the link below, Sir Mervyn comments on each man's contribution to economic history and the relevance of their ideas to recent events. He also says that the last few years have given him a deeper understanding of some of Keynes's writing about the 1930s. Before the financial crisis of 2008, Sir Mervyn says, he had struggled to comprehend how policy makers had allowed the economic disasters of the interwar years to take place; now he understands all too well. Below, watch John Maynard Keynes versus Friedrich Hayek! Arguably the greatest philosopher of all time, Karl Marx (1818-1883) decided that previous philosophers had only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. For many, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 consigned Marx and his writings to history. The Communist states that took Marx as their inspiration had not delivered freedom or prosperity for their workers. The Communist approach to the economy just had not worked and Marx’s reputation as an economist was in shreds. But in the last few years, something strange has happened. It is as if the ongoing 2007-13 global financial crisis has finally brought Karl Marx back from the dead. His key insight that capitalism was inherently unstable and would lurch from crisis to crisis as society became increasingly unequal seems more relevant than ever. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mzqw9Karl Marx's ideas left an indelible stamp on the lives of billions of people and the world we live in today. Marx argued that capitalism is inherently unfair and therefore doomed to collapse, so it should be got rid of altogether. Today, as the gap between rich and poor continues to cause tension, his ideas are once again being taken seriously at the heart of global business. Stephanie travels from Marx's birthplace to a former communist régime detention centre in Berlin and separates his economic analysis from what was carried out in his name. She asks what answers does Marx provide to the mess we are all in today? The nineteenth century Industrial Revolution was a time where many workers lived and worked in appalling conditions and Stephanie asks if Marx's analysis can still be relevant in the twenty-first century, where the distinction between worker and boss has become more blurred. Today, we invest in pensions and shares and many of us are self-employed. In the twentieth century, both John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek also saw that capitalism was unstable and unfair. But Karl Marx was the first, and unlike them, he did not think that we should find a way to live with capitalism. The programme concludes by observing that capitalism has lifted millions out of poverty in China and the developing world, but for many ordinary people in the West, the system has not been working at all well. Stephanie Flanders concludes in Kantian terms that what is really of value in Marxism is its reminder that if capitalism does not work for everyone, it might not work at all. Yet what can?
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Post by neilmcgowan on Feb 24, 2013 9:35:01 GMT -5
For many, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 consigned Marx and his writings to history. The Communist states that took Marx as their inspiration had not delivered freedom or prosperity for their workers. The Communist approach to the economy just had not worked and Marx’s reputation as an economist was in shreds. And yet in the last 72 hours a skinheaded former nightclub bouncer, and erstwhile 'President' of Bulgaria, one Mr Borisov, was forced to flee as his Americo-friendly neoconservative government fell in tatters.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 5:18:31 GMT -5
Few Englishmen deign to discuss money. But Professor Shield Nicholson, educated in the cellars of Somerset House, left us not only the novel Dreamer of Dreams but also the following most helpful observations: At the time of the Domesday survey in England (1086) every important town had, as part of its privileges, the right to a mint. It is probable, both from the analogy of other cases and the particular evidence to hand, that the profits of the king or feudal lord acted at least as powerfully as the interests and convenience of the subjects in the institution of coinage, and it is certainly noteworthy how surely and steadily the nominal weight diminished in reality. At the same time, however, in the interests of historical truth, it must be observed that in most cases (until the reign of Henry VIII.) the lowering of the weight of the standard coins was only the legal expression of an accomplished fact (through lawful and unlawful wear and tear). The purity of the standard silver was never tampered with except by the first Defender of the Faith. Sir Robert Peel, in the debate on the Bank Charter Act, May the sixth, 1844, asked his famous question — "What is a pound?" "What is the meaning," said he, "of the pound according to the ancient monetary policy of this country? The origin of the term was this: In the reign of William the Conqueror a pound weight of silver was also the pound of account. The 'pound' represented both the weight of metal and the denomination of money. By subsequent debasements of the currency a great alteration was made, not in the name, but in the intrinsic value of the pound sterling; and it was not until a late period of the reign of Queen Elizabeth that silver, being then the standard of value, received that determinate weight which it retained without variation, with constant refusals to debase the standard of silver, until the year 1816, when gold became the exclusive standard of value." It was in this year that the Coinage Act was passed, which, though since repealed, was in substance re-enacted by the Coinage Act of 1870. According to this Act, the coinage of gold bullion of standard value is executed ih England (nominally) without cost to the owner, and without limit as to amount. In practice, however, it is usual for the owner of gold bullion to take it to the Bank of England, which is bound by law to buy any amount of gold at the rate of £3:17:9 per ounce of standard gold. The bank is authorised to charge £3:17:10½ per ounce to the Mint, the difference (1½d. per ounce) being its remuneration for trouble incurred, while, as the owner of the bullion is thus able to convert it immediately into money, he finds the transaction profitable, as he saves the loss of interest from delay. The charge on coining gold bullion is thus about 1/6th per centum practically. From his Treatise on Money, sixth edition, 1903. Another thought-provoking source is W. H. Hudson's futuristical fantasy A Crystal Age (1887) which portrays a world of the distant future wherein money is unheard-of and gender roles are altered. My view is that thither is where we are headed: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Crystal_Age
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2013 1:39:28 GMT -5
It is certainly true that we are currently heading towards a cashless society, Sydney Grew, as in ' The Crystal Age', but I am not convinced that money itself will necessarily be abolished. It is far too useful for that! A few weeks ago, kleines c and the gang paid a visit to the British Museum. I commend it to everyone reading The Third. Recently, a new gallery has been opened about the history of money. The history of money can be traced back over 4,000 years. During this time, currency has taken many different forms, from coins to banknotes, shells to mobile phones. This gallery (Room 68) displays the history of money around the world. From the earliest evidence, to the latest developments in digital technology, money has been an important part of human societies. Looking at the history of money gives us a way to understand the history of the world. Here is the first paper money, for example, a Ming banknote. www.britishmuseum.org/moneyIn particular, we were struck by the fact that no coins were minted in Britain between 400 and 600 AD (CE), a period commonly known as the Dark Ages, when classical civilisation collapsed in the former Roman colony. Of course, it is also called the Arthurian Age, but without money, I doubt that Camelot could have amounted to much. According to St Paul, they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of 'money is the root of all evil': which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Interestingly, Sir Mervyn King thinks that it is not so much the love of money that is the root of all evil, Sydney Grew. www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/about/transcripts/episode72/Sir Mervyn would like to think that we can trust him, as Governor of the Bank of England, but should we? Personally, I do trust Sir Mervyn, and I hope that we shall all be able to trust Mark Carney, too. Money is the root of all evil; evil is the root of all money. I therefore do not trust money. Nevertheless, let us make of money what we can, Sydney Grew, for the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A14-30&version=KJVCast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, Sydney Grew, for there shall be even more weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2013 4:41:45 GMT -5
Last week a Mr. Dyer wrote in in regard to M. le Goff's book about Money and the Middle Ages. "Should we see the economy of the Middle Ages as a trial run for modernity, which began with serfs, barter and self-sufficiency, but ended with wage earners, the Medici bank, and shops selling loaves of bread?" asks Mr. Dyer. "Or," he continues, "ought we to expect to encounter throughout the years between the fifth and the fifteenth centuries a very unfamiliar world, best understood through analogies with developing countries and the findings of social anthropologists? To be specific, did desirable goods flow by gift-giving through social networks rather than by means of trade, and did religion and patronage have more influence than commodity markets and profit margins? This book advocates the second view: 'the outlook and practices of the men and women of that age were so different from our own.'" Thus Mr. Dyer. It is refreshing is it not to find some one - M. le Goff - who puts trade in its place in the wider scheme.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2013 8:08:25 GMT -5
Of course, Sydney Grew, you could argue that there is no such thing as a free lunch, so for example, if I give you something, even lunch, you owe me something.
So although gifts are not trade, by definition, they are often associated with obligations, whether within familes or between friends.
My own preference, therefore, is not to accept a free lunch, particularly in business, as it tends to create obligations, which are difficult to quantify.
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Post by Gerard on Feb 26, 2013 20:06:01 GMT -5
My own instinct kleines c is to steer clear of "business" altogether. It involves the animal passions does it not?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2013 2:53:52 GMT -5
It does indeed, Gerard. Animal cunning can certainly help in the world of business, too, on occasion! Nevertheless, it is worth remembering, in my opinion, that human beings (Homo sapiens) are also animals, and that we have animal passions, just like any other animal.
As a species, Homo sapiens evolved in Africa almost two hundred thousand years ago. My own ancestors probably crossed the Red Sea into Western Asia over a hundred thousand years ago. Recent research shows that they had sexual intercourse with Neanderthals, probably in Israel, and ten thousand years ago, headed into Europe, at the end of the last Ice Age. So I have about 2.5% Neanderthal DNA, and red hair! Some of my ancestors migrated northwards into Scandinavia, whereas others probably crossed the land bridge which then existed to what is now the British Isles.
So my direct ancestors can claim to be amongst the original inhabitants of north-western Europe, although some of them probably came to Britain as Anglo-Saxons and Vikings a little over a thousand years ago. Over the past three hundred years, members of my family have emigrated all over the world, so I have first, second, third and even more distant cousins I know in America, Australia and beyond. So we are cousins, Gerard, however distant! Our species, the human family, has been around, in evolutionary terms, for a remarkably short period of time (100,000 years), and how we have changed the world. As for the future, who knows?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2013 2:27:08 GMT -5
Good morning to you all! ' The Times' leads today with some editorial comment that Tina is wrong: there is an alternative to the Government’s economic strategy but not to its plan to reduce the deficit. In an echo of Margaret Thatcher’s famous declaration, David Cameron said yesterday there is no alternative to the coalition’s deficit reduction strategy. Rebutting critics on both sides, the Prime Minister scoffed at claims that the way to tackle the debt crisis is to take on more borrowing. Mr Cameron is right, but only in part. ' The Thunderer' thunders thus: Meanwhile, Stephanie Flanders reports that Vince Cable's plan B is a "matter of judgment". Should the British government try to boost growth with higher public investment - even if it means higher borrowing? Quite a lot of economists in the City, in economic think-tanks, and in institutions such as the IMF have been pondering that question for some time. Most of those economists, like Vince Cable, tend to think it's a matter of judgment whether it would do more good for the economy than harm. I would say most would also agree with Mr Cable that the arguments in favour of investing and borrowing more have grown significantly over the past 18 months. But, none of these economic ponderers are the Business Secretary - in a government which even today insisted that the coalition needed to hold the line on borrowing. That makes his comments significant, as Mr Cable himself knows very well. Even if his careful and well-argued essay for this week's ' New Statesman' ultimately declines to come down firmly on the side of higher borrowing. Stephanie concludes thus: Plan A (Austerity) or Plan B (Balls), Sydney Grew? Definitely plan c: [/i] Wikipedia = Global public goodI commend such an approach to everyone reading The Third today!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2013 2:24:19 GMT -5
Good morning to you all! Writing in ' FT Weekend', Gillian Tett reports on where austerity really hits home: the next time that a market analyst blithely demands yet more austerity, they should visit the backstreets of a northern town. A couple of weeks ago, Gillian was chatting with some friends in their house in a deprived area of Liverpool when they showed her a haunting crayon picture. Drawn by a local child, it featured a large, empty plate with wobbly letters stating baldly: “Do you see any food?” “There’s a lot of little kids going hungry round here,” explained one friend, who works in a local community centre. Indeed, just the other day she had spoken to a family where the child had been chewing wallpaper at night. “He didn’t want to tell his mum because he knew she didn’t have the money for supper,” she explained. “We hear more and more stories like this.” What should we make of this? To many readers of ' The Financial Times', such tales may seem hard to believe. After all, if you live in the more pleasant parts of southern and central England today, the idea of children chewing wallpaper seems far-fetched. To be sure, the “squeezed [English] middle” is howling about government austerity, inflation and stagnant wages – but life feels bearable for most Home Counties dwellers. And for the jet-setting international cadre in central London, austerity is just a theoretical word. But go a few hours north towards Blackpool, Manchester or Newcastle – or even just Birmingham or Hackney – and that “A” word assumes a very different hue. Liverpool is just one case in point. As it happens, I have been watching one corner of that city well for more than two decades (in the interests of disclosure, I support a community project there). In that time I have seen several mood swings. In the 1980s, for example, there was an atmosphere of defiant, militant protest, as the city reeled from austerity imposed by Margaret Thatcher. Then, in the 1990s, recovery took hold: street lamps were fixed and some people even found jobs, as Liverpool benefited from a wider UK boom, an influx of European Union aid and state largesse from the Labour-controlled central government. Gillian concludes thus: There could be more austerity cuts in the United Kingdom (UK), although confident predictions about the future are amongst the most disreputable forms of public utterance. As for the global economy, we are living through the biggest construction project in human history, with over seven billion people wanting new and better accommodation. In 2008, more than half the world's population had moved to cities, in 1800, it was closer to 3%, and over the course of the twenty-first century, new and bigger megacities will continue to grow, particularly in Asia. Our children will largely live in small if high technology city flats. Writing in ' FT Weekend', Robin Lane Fox reports on Tasmanian revels: a loyalist to English style has given a derelict Australian villa a great garden. To the north of Gretna Green and the west of Melton Mowbray, Robin has just had one of the great garden visits of his life. No, he was not drunk or reading the map upside down. Gretna Green and Melton Mowbray are doubles in the central highlands of Tasmania, about as far from Britain’s A1 road as can be plotted on a map. At the height of its foxhunting fame the night air over Britain’s Melton Mowbray was said to hang heavy with the sighs of adultery. I heard no audible sighs in modern Tasmania’s Melton, a township of a few bungalows. There is no prospect, either, of a shotgun marriage in Tasmania’s Gretna Green. Instead there is kangaroo meat in some of the nearby burgers. Robin concludes thus: As long as the roots are not severed, all is well, and all will be well in the garden.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2013 4:07:40 GMT -5
At the height of its foxhunting fame the night air over Britain’s Melton Mowbray was said to hang heavy with the sighs of adultery. Melton Mowbray (Leicestershire), a market town for more than a thousand years, is for me memorable for two reasons. 1) It is the only place in England which - to my astonishment - treats Good Friday just like any other week-day (or at least it did some years ago). I have just now sought some explanation on the inter-web, but in vain. Indeed more recently a full-blown Passion Play was put on in the streets of Melton Mowbray on a Good Friday; the explanation of my own experience remains shrouded in mystery. At en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday we read "In England and Wales, Good Friday is an official Bank Holiday. All schools are closed and most businesses treat it as a holiday for staff; however, many retail stores now remain open." That is what I expected but it was not like that at all there. 2) It was in Melton Mowbray that the last barber to press his person against my thigh did that. This must be a moment of significance in one's life - a real turning point - must it not? And of course at the time one does not know that it will be the last - the real significance arises only retrospectively. Meanings and memory evolve. Things that one thinks are something are everlastingly turning out to be something else. Here are St. Mary's Church and the Crown, one or both of which may appeal to our members. Melton Mowbray is the birth-place both of the musical conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent and of the homo-sexualistically inclined comedian Graham Chapman.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2013 6:24:58 GMT -5
1) Mr. Fox the English tourist: "As I approached I admired the blue and white agapanthus whose stately heads of flower line her garden’s frontage." 2) The Tasmanian government's "weeds gallery": www.gardensforwildlife.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/gfw.nsf/weedsAgapanthus (Agapanthus praecox ssp. orientalis) Description: A hardy summer-flowering lily with thick, strap-like leaves and blue or white flowers in clusters on long (1.2m), upright stems. Dispersal: Seed spread by gravity and water, possibly ants; can also spread by tuber fragments and garden waste dumping. Impact: Spreads into native bushland where it competes with native species. Also chokes gutters. All parts of the plant are poisonous. Control: Remove flower heads before seed-set. Either dig out plants, taking care to remove all of the tuberous root system, or apply herbicide to the exposed tubers using the cut-and-paint method.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2013 6:25:16 GMT -5
I should perhaps confess that I am not particularly familiar with Leicestershire, Sydney Grew, although I have passed through the county many times on my journeys northwards from London. According to Wikipedia, Melton Mowbray is perhaps best known for its culinary specialities, being the home of the eponymous pork pie and one of the six homes of Stilton cheese. Wikipedia - Melton MowbrayI do like a good pork pie and Stilton cheese, however, and next time I am in the area, I shall pay the Crown a visit, Sydney Grew! Beer In The Evening - Crown Inn, Melton MowbrayI propose some toast: to Melton Mowbray! Three cheers from kleines c and the gang (morning coffee)! PS I am even less familiar with Tasmania, but my own understanding, Sydney Grew, is that it is the only green part of Australia?
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