In a place called Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, the Allies met in 1944 to plan what the world would look like once WWII was over. Victory was not assured, but it was clear that the cost of defeating Hitler would be devastating at best. The goal of this conference was to devise how everyone would work together to prevent what everyone saw as the root problem of relentless war in Europe – economic Depression accelerated by national competition. The system of currency exchanges was only partially successful, but the conference identified the need for the Marshall Plan, the IMF, and the World Bank. Our modern financial world dates to this time.
Monthly Archives: October 2008
Works Progress
A lot of us fear turning the clock back about 70 years to another Depression. While it would have been a good idea to avoid it, people like me who spread the alarm were largely ignored because too many people made too much easy money off of nothing. In a certain sense, it was all inevitable given the fact that no one was willing to do anything else. What makes it all good in a certain sense is that we have, in fact, been through this before and know what we have to do. The government is acting quickly, the Federal Reserve is firing up the presses, and the Democratic candidate for president is proposing a return of the WPA.
Generations: Played Out
The party platform is 35,000 words long, addressing just about every aspect of government and how it desperately needs an overhaul. It opens with a strong statement of purpose:
America is adrift. Our country moves agonizingly, aimlessly, almost helplessly into one of the most dangerous and disorderly periods in history. At home, our economy careens, whiplashed from one extreme to another. Earlier this year, inflation skyrocketed to its highest levels in more than a century; weeks later, the economy plummeted, suffering its steepest slide on record.
Marketism
Many people describe the USofA as a “Capitalist” nation. The presumption is that whoever has the money gets to determine how things operate and has a share of relevant power in proportion to their wealth. This is simply wrong. The USofA has always been the first and foremost “Marketist” nation, a term that is gaining favor because the old term, “Liberal Democrat”, has become horribly misunderstood. The difference is not one of semantics, but one of history and culture that we had damned well better understand as we move into a period of massive government intervention and change.
Something From Nothing
Many years ago, in a faraway land, a small band of us became friends in the financial chatboards devoted to amazon.com. Those of us who got together were of many minds, some perma-bears and a few devoted technical stock analysis mavens. But the majority of us were only there to see if this “New Economy” thang was somehow real. We parted ways once it became clear that the Tech Bubble was bursting and we were right to be at least suspicious. But how should we commemorate this event that rolled over the stock market and all of the US? The only thing I could come up with was: a musical.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 