. I think some gang8 members are driving themselves into a semantic dead-end here. It is certainly the right task of economists to point out the social ...
16023
Dr. Richard Werner
rawjapan2005
Jul 7, 2011 7:59 pm
Dear All, It just occurred to me that our old point about foreign currency reserves not being (directly) usable at home, is actually quite obvious when looking...
16024
Hugh Whinfrey
wurther
Jul 7, 2011 8:41 pm
I quite agree, Richard. This was actually part of the point that got me in into my final argument on the old Post Keynsian Economics mailing list a decade or...
16025
D.J.Bezemer
d.j.bezemer@...
Jul 7, 2011 9:41 pm
Good point, Richard. A further way to bolster that case is to draw attention to the parallel with PRIVATE 'reserves' (i.e. investments). These are claimsd...
16026
Gunnar Tomasson
gunnar.tomasson
Jul 7, 2011 9:47 pm
Richard and Hugh. Here is the standard IMF way of looking at the relationship between the external and domestic aspects of monetary changes. In the accounts of...
16027
Dr. Richard Werner
rawjapan2005
Jul 7, 2011 9:58 pm
Hugh, Quite so. And the Chinese are getting very little in return for their exports - a promise on a promise. Regards, Richard _____ From:...
16028
Michael Hudson
peshinesmith
Jul 8, 2011 1:46 pm
Dear Geoffrey, Re some thoughts you earlier had from reading the US press, here¹s a corrective. Michael McClatchy Washington Bureau Posted on Sun, Oct. 12,...
16029
Ercouncil@...
econrescouncil
Jul 9, 2011 1:10 pm
. Hugh and Richard: Do be careful. All this stuff of yours about 'trade surpluses;'' and "foreign exchange reserves" is far too commonsensical to risk in...
16030
Ercouncil@...
econrescouncil
Jul 9, 2011 6:30 pm
. Michael: Point well made. There is nothing quite so dangerous in our world of economics as being possessed of a good memory. It can sometimes make you ...
16031
Michael Hudson
peshinesmith
Jul 9, 2011 7:17 pm
Yes, Chris. The first thing you did when I visited London around 1997, I guess, was to show me your file of correspondence. Your points are indeed confirmed. ...
16032
Dr. Richard Werner
rawjapan2005
Jul 9, 2011 11:15 pm
Chris, I can see that you might possible be able to make an exception for screwed up incentive structures in the post office, but generally I would say: With...
16033
Michael Hudson
peshinesmith
Jul 10, 2011 12:30 am
Richard, the MAIN reason for privatization is to break the public-sector labor unions, and outsource to non-union labor. Second, to make HUGE underwriting...
16034
Ercouncil@...
econrescouncil
Jul 10, 2011 2:05 am
. So far as privatised British Steel, British Airways, British Railways, British Gas, British Telecom, British Electricity and others are concerned, I'm afraid...
16035
Ercouncil@...
econrescouncil
Jul 10, 2011 2:08 am
. Clearly you have little first-hand experience of UK privatisation, Michael, although I do agree one of the early motives was to break the stranglehold of...
16036
Michael Hudson
peshinesmith
Jul 10, 2011 1:44 pm
How about Railtrack? But this really is NOT the choice, Chris. Of course Britain¹s public agencies were failing apart from incompetence. (When my friend...
16037
D.J.Bezemer
d.j.bezemer@...
Jul 10, 2011 7:52 pm
Michael, lest you be accused of ivory tower wisdom, let me venture some doubt as to whether Britons will want to be told that they should follow Sumerian...
16038
Michael Hudson
peshinesmith
Jul 10, 2011 8:20 pm
Well, the Babylonians did what Athens did when it leased out its Laurion silver mines: it put its enterprises up for private management, from ³ale women¹s...
16039
Ercouncil@...
econrescouncil
Jul 10, 2011 10:59 pm
. Michael: Don't be too hard on the UK. Just remember it was the USA which came within days of a total government default earlier this year - not this country....
16040
Michael Hudson
peshinesmith
Jul 10, 2011 11:27 pm
I believe your stories, Chris. That¹s the problem with Britain. Incompetent industry giving assets over to incompetent government giving things over to...
16041
Michael Hudson
peshinesmith
Jul 11, 2011 12:54 am
Geoffrey often has described how Basel II wrecked the Japanese banking system by imposing higher reserve requirements. But Yves Smith says that it helped wreck...
16042
Ercouncil@...
econrescouncil
Jul 11, 2011 3:36 am
. Not stories, Mike, history. You are simply wrong about Britain's railways; do try on occasion to look round your indelible left-wing ideology, rather than...
16043
Ercouncil@...
econrescouncil
Jul 11, 2011 3:43 am
, "To make matters worse, the Basel II accords, as they were called, permitted banks to evaluate their assets with their own internal risk models." So the...
16044
Ercouncil@...
econrescouncil
Jul 11, 2011 4:18 am
. So now Italy is moving into the firing line, joining the PIGS - Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain. They are, conspicuously, the non-Protestant ...
16045
D.J.Bezemer
d.j.bezemer@...
Jul 11, 2011 8:01 am
Good question, Chris, and your not the first to ask it - there's a vast litearure on the supposed link between religion and economic performance. Although I...
16046
Hugh Whinfrey
wurther
Jul 11, 2011 12:47 pm
I would suggest that some cultures have traditions of hiding their dirty laundry, whereas others don't think anything of hanging it across the road for all to...
16047
Michael Hudson
peshinesmith
Jul 11, 2011 2:03 pm
Dear Chris, First, sorry for my Americanism. I didn¹t mean ³story² as in ³telling stories² (falsehoods), but in your narrative. As I said, you showed me...
16048
D.J.Bezemer
d.j.bezemer@...
Jul 11, 2011 10:14 pm
(more) econometric support - for those who like that sort of thing - for a point already well made by Richard. All little bits help. Dirk Gefang, D. (2011),...
16049
Ercouncil@...
econrescouncil
Jul 11, 2011 11:11 pm
, To quote Mike: About Adam Smith — I don’t remember him criticizing stock exchanges quite in the way you do. Could you give me a reference? The whole...
16050
Michael Hudson
peshinesmith
Jul 12, 2011 1:03 am
Chris, I¹m not questioning your veracity, nor do I find your claim unlikely at all. I¹d just like the reference to DEFEND the point you¹re making. Good ...
16051
Ercouncil@...
econrescouncil
Jul 12, 2011 9:11 am
. Agreed on that, Mike. The difficult bit is now to find you that reference in a sufficiently watertight form. Chris --oo0oo-- In a message dated 12/07/2011...
