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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: energyplay who wrote (23496)	10/4/2007 9:16:36 PM
From: pogohere	Respond to of 217830

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Chicago, 1900) is a parable about Money Reform and the 1890s Midwestern political movement led by William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925); three times candidate for President of the United States (see his poster at bottom of this page). From 1891-1895 Bryan served in the House of Representatives, where he advocated the coinage of silver at a fixed ratio with gold, in order to break the bankers' monopoly and manipulation of the gold-backed currency. Bryan and his supporters accused Eastern banks and railroads of oppressing farmers and industrial workers. Bryan believed that a switch to silver-backed currency would make money plentiful. Although correct, Money Reformers today would argue that money need not, and should not, be backed by either silver or gold, but only by the people, their skills, and their resources. In 1896 Bryan delivered the following words at the Democratic National Convention: "Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the labouring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their [i.e. the bankers'] demand for a gold standard by saying to them: 'You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.'" Although only 36 years old, this speech resulted in his nomination for the presidency. He contested, and lost to, William McKinley. He stood again for the Democrats in 1900 and 1908, losing both times. Carroll Quigley wrote about the 1896 Presidential election in Tragedy and Hope: A History of The World in Our Time (MacMillan, 1966, p. 74): "Though the forces of high finance and of big business were in a state of near panic, by a mighty effort involving large-scale spending they were successful in electing McKinley." L. Frank Baum was editor of a South Dakota newspaper and he wrote the first of his Oz series on Bryan’s second attempt in 1900. prosperityuk.com 100 Years of Oz Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' as Gilded Age public relations by Tim Ziaukas Published in Public Relations Quarterly, Fall 1998 Abstract: L. Frank Baum's 'The Wizard of Oz' is an excellent example of early public relations writing. The book, written mostly in 1899 and published in 1900, was part of the movement that officially established the field of public relations in the 20th century. It is argued that Oz is a piece of promotional writing and is laden with 'complicated propagandistic intentions.' It was written at at time when American society was consumed by the debate over the 'financial question,' that is, the creation and circulation of money. The burning issue during the latter half of the 1800s was the abandonment of bimetalism, with silver being demoneyed and gold established as the official legal tender. The characters of 'The Wizard of Oz' represented those deeply involved in the debate: the Scarecrow as the farmers, the Tin Woodman as the industrial workers, the Lion as silver advocate William Jennings Bryan and Dorothy as the archetypal American girl. COPYRIGHT 1998 Public Relations Quarterly halcyon.com

To: energyplay who wrote (23496)	10/4/2007 9:25:38 PM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217830

>>side effects of very cheap wheat from the US and Canada<< And depressed farm incomes in Europe drove further mass immigration to the Americas, reinforcing the cycle.

To: energyplay who wrote (23496)	10/5/2007 7:59:15 AM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 217830

EP, will this pig fly? Or is it another beautiful lie from Stratfor? Global Market Brief: The First Sino-U.S. Financial Firm HuaMei Capital Co., the first Sino-U.S. financial company, was launched Oct. 2. The company provides risk management and private-equity investment services primarily to U.S. and Chinese midsized investors. The firm's structure is the image of equality. Headquartered in both Chicago and Beijing, the company is split 50-50 between Chinese and U.S. investors (and is the first trans-Pacific 50-50 partnership). One co-chairman is Adlai E. Stevenson III, former U.S. senator from Illinois, and the other is Shaolin Gong, current chairman of major Chinese state-owned securities firm China Merchants Securities Co. Ltd. HuaMei has much to offer U.S. investors and China's increasingly adventurous -- and able, due to loosening government restrictions -- investors, but from a geopolitical perspective, the Chinese government is gaining more than just a U.S. investment opportunity from this deal. First, through HuaMei, the Chinese government is effectively buying political insurance against itself, just as Japanese investors insured themselves against economic instability in the 1980s by snapping up U.S. assets. Beijing has ramped up its spending spree on American financial players noticeably in recent months, such as Beijing's purchase of a $3 billion stake in U.S. private-equity player Blackstone Group, an entity that subsequently brokered the China Development Bank's stake in British bank Barclays. These deals helped spread China's eggs beyond the home market basket. If Beijing invested only in Chinese assets and the Chinese economy faltered for any reason, then all would be lost. By pushing Chinese investment funds into U.S. assets (which on average earn higher returns than Chinese bank accounts or U.S. T-Bills), Beijing insures its nation's investment funds against the uncertainty of domestic political instability. Second, Beijing is increasing its political leverage in the United States. As a more diverse array of U.S. businesses invest in Chinese assets and support China's continued economic growth, Beijing benefits. Countless foreign businesses already have a direct investment stake in Chinese industries, but many of these businesses are large financial conglomerates with high investment risk appetites. Many midsized investors (e.g., wealthy, high net worth individuals or companies with staff pension funds to invest) interested in China-based investments have insufficient risk appetite or collateral to directly enter Chinese industry themselves. One of HuaMei's primary targets is this subset of smaller U.S. investors that China has yet to tap; if more of these investors h old China-based investment, the pro-China business lobby in the United States will be larger. China also hopes to get support from the Midwestern political lobby through HuaMei (whose co-chair, Stevenson, is from the Midwest). From China's perspective, the Midwest could be considered the last frontier. The U.S. East Coast boasts investment and financial houses already invested neck-deep in China. The West Coast is home to large ethnic Chinese populations and to shipping and transportation centers whose existence is based on receiving Chinese imports. The Midwest, however, has a concentration of the United States' remaining agricultural and manufacturing workers who see China as the source of all their unemployment worries. Furthermore, one of the leading Republican senators heading the coalition to pressure China to appreciate its currency is Sen. Charles Grassley from Iowa -- another Midwesterner. Having Stevenson as an ambassador for Sino-American cross-investment is not only advantageous because it allows a Midwesterner to explain the benefits of Chinese cooperation to worried workers, it also makes Stevenson a counter to Sen. Grassley. On a local level, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is actively using HuaMei to attract foreign money into his city and market Chicago as an entry point into the United States for prospective Chinese investors. If Chinese investors take the bait and this trend catches on, maintaining positive relations with China's financial regulators will become increasingly appealing to local government fund-raisers. Third, with HuaMei ownership split evenly between China and the United States, Beijing has more say over where Chinese funds are spent in the United States. China is about to offload billions of dollars in foreign exchange reserves outside its borders, and U.S. equity assets are a key target. Much as U.S. consumer spending is funded by Beijing's purchases of U.S. Treasury bills, private and state C hinese investment inflows to the United States (funneled through Sino-U.S. companies like HuaMei) represent another source of Chinese credit for the U.S. economy. Except this time, the Chinese government will have relatively more influence, since a Chinese state-owned company is involved in overseeing how and where that money goes. Last but not least, HuaMei appears ready to open up an additional "fast track" source of foreign capital and technological know-how for Chinese state companies. It has only been four months since the Chinese government bought a stake in Blackstone, but the firm is already close to acquiring two Chinese state-owned enterprises (chemicals producer China National BlueStar Corp. and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co.). This is significantly faster and easier than the experience other foreign investors have had in targeting Chinese companies; for example, after 18 months of trying, The Carlyle Group missed a July deadline to form a joint venture. < BR> Striking a $3 billion deal with the new Chinese sovereign fund opened up doors at multiple levels to Blackstone. The American firm is now seen as a low-risk business partner (or at least a less costly one, from a bureaucratic perspective) for any local state-owned enterprise considering its first deal with a foreign investor. This is due to the implicit central government approval signaled by Blackstone's link to the Chinese State Council. By smoothing Blackstone's -- and now HuaMei's -- access to the Chinese assets market, Beijing is speeding up its vetting process of foreign funds for Chinese state-owned companies. In less than six months, China has jumped from holding a 9.7 percent stake in Blackstone and a 5 percent stake in Barclays to owning 50 percent of HuaMei. Expect Beijing to secure itself a controlling stake in a major U.S. financial player in the not-too-distant future.

To: energyplay who wrote (23496)	10/5/2007 2:36:23 PM
From: Slagle	Respond to of 217830

Energyplay, Yes, even the silver coinage was a form of currency manipulation, I suppose. In those days they coined a heck of a lot of silver dollars. Once slavery was out of the way, farm productivity really increased. Maybe the main thing was chemical fertilizer, first with guano right after the war and soon afterwards with Florida phosphate. Take Georgia. In 1865 maybe only a third or a quarter of the state was suitable for cotton cultivation. By 1870, with guano and phosphate dang near the whole state was producing cotton. And mechanical methods rapidly improved too. I think there was another factor too, maybe the MOST important element, and something way beyond economics: Face it, back in those days life on the farm was good and city life, for the most part, was a horror. 100 years ago it was not even safe to live in a city, for health reasons. In the warm season you had plagues that swept every city. Yellow fever, smallpox, cholera, diphtheria, all much worse in the city than the countryside. City folks who could afford it sent the wife and kids to the country in the summer to avoid this risk. And in very few cities was the water safe to drink. In the countryside, it almost always was safe. On the farm there was plentiful fresh food year round, in the city much less so. In other words, most folks who lived in the country wanted to stay there and of course this increased the number of people engaged in agriculture. By the 1920's city life was becoming somewhat less harsh and unhealthy but it took penicillin and widespread use of modern water treatment to close the health gap with the countryside. There were other factors too. The country social environment was very good. And the notion that country folks were backwards and uneducated is misplaced. My grandmother grew up on a Georgia farm and was college educated, as were two of her sisters. This was not unusual. Eleanor Roosevelt, a contemporary city gal who regarded herself as an expert on all subjects (but not by grandmother, who met her a time or two and was not impressed) was not really educated and never attended a college. Slagle