Hi Maurice, <<With the Japanese government buying Nikkei stocks>> Well, the government is not. The Central Bank says it might, but actually cannot, just another unworkable solution to the wrong problem.
<<in similar fashion to that of the Hong Kong government when the Hang Seng hung low, I smell a bargain somewhere>>
The HK govt has announced that it will drastically cut back on release of buildable land and public housing, screwing the little guys in favor of the landed gentry.
The theory in Japan, HK and Maurice's mind is that wealth can be printed, as practiced by Greensputin. Well, wealth cannot be printed, but will be destroyed by printing. Check out the fate of past empires and dynasties, and note what happens when their currency is destroyed by printing.
<<Savers really are a special subspecies of human who are used to rescue the impecunious, indigent majority who are more tuned to kleptomania than creativity>>
The antidote is obvious. Buy gold, and buy Yapese stone wheels.
Message 17980716
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Today I read about the universe of Yap, located in Micronesia. They have done an admirable job of operating their traditional monetary system, based not on the propaganda-induced trust in fractional reserve madness or fiat dictated insanity, but on absolute faith in solid limestone disks.
These rock disks in question are large, cannot be easily moved, almost perfectly circular in shape, with a hole in the center through which two people can thread a pole to move it from one place to a better place. It just so happens that due the weight of the disks and their function, one place is as good as every other place.
The Yapese uses their rock disk money for large transactions (land) and do not move them even as their ownership changes hand. Every Yapese knows who owns which disk, why, and for what length of time. The Yap islands have no native supply of limestone (they are canoed from Palau), so counterfeit money is non-existent.
I am guessing that these stone disks accrue no interest, surmised from the fact that there are no stone disks of smaller denomination and, I am speculating that they are rarely loaned out.
The supply of the disks is constant. The disks hold their purchasing value well in terms of land purchased, and given increases in population and material affluence (denominated in USD, the daily unit of exchange for common purchases, such as McD burgers), I suppose the disks will appreciate against the USD and every other fiat currency over time.
Oops, I forgot, the stone disks are obviously not gold specie. Stone disks make up a fiat currency system. The happy Yapese are more adept at operating a currency system than dear old Maestro, the man who saw a bubble, couldn’t be sure, didn’t know what to do, and still has the presence of faculty to quibble that it all wasn’t his fault, but we should blame irrational exuberance and infectious greed.
Here are some references to reading materials on the lighter side of what you recommended:0)
econ.utoledo.edu
mantaray.com
maxrules.com
stonemoney.com
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Chugs, Jay |
