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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (15281)	1/1/2002 6:16:18 PM
From: 49thMIMOMander	Respond to of 281500

Although some search for the pillars in the phallic symbols scraping the sexy sky, as an engineer, I have actually thought about the pillar of that green paper?? But just like those two towers without even an inch of asbestos, that is nothing most economies would like?? Ilmarinen I feel slightly guilty for using the now Osaman words "just wait, there is more to come", and just like he is alleged to, I thought the first one would topple over as the steel softened in one corener, not knowint the tubular design. But I thought it would have taken the regulated asbestosis time of 1.5 hour for the fire brigade?? Really bad for the fire brigade who probably thought the same, also my local source for the steel dilemma, as well as lift and ventilations shafts, enough width of the escape stairs, no skyscrapers legally possible. CSPAN run some good stuff on the issue of skyscrapers and cost of squarefeet in space, the third dimension, cities and suburbs, without getting into housing and commuting gas costs. Unluckily another 100-bunch of afghanistans were killed again, have not kept count to 2,500 or even 6,000, but the paths going forward are sometimes, often, usually misterious??

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (15281)	1/1/2002 6:19:34 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 281500

Cyberspace is going to come marauding through the lot of them. The fiat currencies have no foundations. Well, that pretty much sums up your position, it would seem. However, I perceive it as markedly false. A Fiat currency represents the "full faith, and credit" of the nation that issues it. If the nation's economic policies have no credibility, neither with the currency. We've tried the "hard currency" route and it was just as prone to disaster as anything Fiat has been accused of. In fact, many global depressions have been caused by the inability of banks to ease credit restrictions out of fear of ingiting a run on gold used to back up their currencies before. I believe Fiat, combined with a liquid and transparent financial system, is the most disciplining of financial systems. Debt is not bad, so long as the resources exist to pay that debt back. It is excessive indebtedness, and the wasteful disregard for providing a return on capital borrowed, that is the problem. If a nation has a greater capacity to expand, but lacks the necessary national gold reserves to back up its currency, it's economic growth is impeded. But this can be contrasted to situations like the Spanish conquest of the Americas, where previously unknown quantities of gold and silver created fantastic short-term wealth, but no economic foundation. This is very similar to what we've seen with the discovery of oil in the middle east, and the lack of fundamental economic development there. At its foundation, a currency's value is only what the global financial network perceives it to be. If US economic policy threatens to undercut potential returns, or its desirability as a storehouse of value, the USD will decline. But on the other hand, so long as competing economies maintain less productive economic policies, the USD will retain its favor as the global economic medium of exchange. And beyond that, we have SDRs, which reflect the average value of a basket of various currencies. After all, the only value of money is for it to act as a proxy for physical barter, and to provide a mutually acceptable standard of exchange value. And whether its gold, silver, or pieces of paper, the stated value is only as sound as the promises and contractual obligations that lie behind it. I could have a $1 million worth of silver certificates. But if I can't find anyone willing to redeem them for the physical metal, then they are worthless. Hawk