Debt Rattle February 7 2015
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NPC Minker Motor Co, 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 1922 • Currency Devaluations Are an Undeclared War (Bloomberg) • The PBOC – How To Fail In Busines
[See the full post at: Debt Rattle February 7 2015]That story isn’t getting a lot of notice, interestingly.
If I were doing it- I would immediately issue a press release: “Greece Downgrades Standard & Poors.” Seriously; not kidding. It would be a great news feature- “Greece has determined that the quality of financial advice and expertise from S&P has deteriorated dramatically. We now rate them at C- when we are seeking valid and useful information.”
The press release could go on about recent legal decisions, and a “growing corporate culture of depression, leading them to simply accept any low grade analysis, if it will get them into the news.”
And- exactly why shouldn’t governments rate the rating agencies?
In the previous thread there was a debate about the merits of Henry George’s ideas about the land value tax and all the benefits to the economy and society that would bring. His ideas remind me of what was learned about raw material economics and the parity pricing laws that were put into effect in this country (USA) in the first half of the twentieth century, especially during World War 2. A couple books the readers of this blog might be interested in checking out which expound on all that are “Raw Materials Economics” by Charles Walters Jr. and “Unforgiven…the American Economic System Sold for Debt and War” by the same Charles Walters. These books opened my eyes to the realities of economics–something you don’t learn in school.
In the thread of posts, it was pointed out that the rentier that we should fear is the one who has a monopoly on fiat currency. As was correctly suggested, this group in power does not want there to be a balance in the economy, so that the need for debt would be greatly diminished. The point is well taken that they do everything in their power to maintain the imbalance, as was even suggested by Henry George in his realization that the “hired gun” economists did a masterful job in discrediting and marginalizing his ideas.
Raw materials economics has shown that if raw materials are priced at parity with the rest of the economy, there is enough income created for the consumers to consume the production. The supply, when priced properly, creates the demand. If the balance is maintained, the need for debt is diminished. Just as the powers-that-be squashed the ideas of Henry George because they were seen as a threat, the same elite squashed the parity laws and raw materials economics, most notably by the passage of the Aiken Bill in 1948. Ever since then the debt of the USA has been climbing and climbing. Just check the record. It also seems that this kind of debt if fashionable in all parts of the world, even in “enlightened” communist China.
@ Chris M, reply #19010
Henry George made a place for himself in economics is true, but it was a cul-de-sac in historical economics, a flash-in-the-pan, a once-off and unrepeatable, fit only for the conditions as they existed at that moment in political history. Many of H. Georges ideas were incorporated into state constitutions throughout the region those populists maintained political suzerainty, many times now disabling state and local governments to address economic ills otherwise within their capacity to resolve. Most of the problems in (The Lord of the Fly)-over regions can be traced back to H. George’s theorems and the limitations inherent. To illustrate examples requires there be not only a functioning idea about economics but also a common language having agreed definitions and understandings, for example ‘wealth’, what is wealth? How does that relate to ‘rich’? What is the source of ‘wealth’? What about ‘land’, ‘labour’, ‘capital’ or ‘entrepreneur’? I doubt there would be any two readers here that have or would agree on anything in common about any of those questions. Hell, I will not agree to respond to or dialogue ‘Youtube’ in lieu of a sentient person, I refuse to even consider watching such second hand, found opinions of recorded images that some unoriginal soul thinks they agree with and uses to speak for themselves.
As you can see, whatever may be suggested as a response is effectively useless until some form of commonality of theory and lingual usage is established. Under that condition, one of the significant warnings of economic irrelevance as proposed by Geo-whatever was land being sole source needed to base tax revenues on. That is a most preposterous proposition to take. Nothing else there holds up well either, but it is a bright glistery thing found by a sophomoric mind, a pedlar of tattered theories pressed and folded to look as new. Caveat emptor.
@ Chris m
Charles Walters was the man behind Acres magazine, a force for organic agriculture and resource preservation, for more than 30 years. I always enjoyed his monthly essays as well as his other writings. He understood true resource and human value vs the present day ethos of global bank and hedge fund “harvesters”
He understood the value of land, agriculture, resource management and human value for both the greater economic value as well as what has now become known as sustainability… of culture, health and basic living options.
Some view his ideas as quaint relics of an agricultural economy of another era which has no merit or place in the global economy. I do not and believe that we need to keep his ideas in mind as the US and EU economies crumble.
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