Why don’t we all just stop using dollars domestically? Boycott and blacklist.

Why don’t we just spend every dime in an effort to cause inflation on purpose so people will care they have to eat dogfood?

Why don’t we sell all our gold because half of its value is the risk of time that Congress will Emminant Domain it, again.

Why don’t we take nickel and copper out of circulation (and make tanks, planes and bullets for our defense at home?)

Really, Why not just fuck the whole think dead and hang the bastards off the Brooklyn bridge or out the windows of their congressional offices?

Could it be, We are the problem; just like them–apathetic over-entitled loud mouth, neer-do-well know-nothing slime?

Happy Guy Fawkes Day: I’m moving to Mexico–the last place a white man can find freedom.

So joritonew, a sovereign state organizing its place in a currency regime is a mid- to long-term advantage in macroeconomic strategy; it makes other things possible. Commodities, by contrast, are a short term play—how much can you store, really? They are a moving target in terms of price. And attempted commodity corners would provoke retaliatory hoarding by other global market participants, as well as incurring tremendous ill-will. It is far better to cultivate _relationships_ with suppliers; the Chinese understand grasp this exceptionally well. For example, if China used some of its reserves to fund the year-end rollover of Russia’s dollar-denominated debt if the US/IMF won’t go there that would be a much better use of the cred. Russia has the pipelines and oil that China has worked so hard to bring into strategic alignment with their own interests: that is the long term investment to protect. $50B invested in _that_ partnership would be money well spent if it comes to that. The Chinese know this; the Bushies piddle about with commando trainers and vacant homilies in Georgia—while stiffing Brazil, Argentina, and Korea on dollar swaps who are in a real tight spot. *oof*

So Matt D. re: the IMF, agreed. It is the best available institution to do immediate crisis intervention, especially if it suspends punitive conditions. It has at least the appearance of neutrality, which bilateral swaps do not. But the IMF is much underfunded for such a role, yes. Presently, ‘the System’ is failing Korea, Argentina, Brazil, to a lesser extent Russia. They played the game within available conditions, and are not broke, but the huge yen-dollar deleveraging is swamping their reserves: If they default, it is in fact the global currency regime which has failed, not them. Other countries such as Iceland, Turkey, Hungary, Ukraine, or Pakistan are more typical IMB candidate-supplicants, with reckless debt and rinky-dink domestic financial regulation and management. Some of these are going to go bust, I don’t have answers for all situations, or even opinions. : ) It is unacceptable, though, for US-EU swaps to be guaranteed while others are left to freeze in the dark. The Europeans get this; I’m not sure how many others do, even in East Asia.

On the issue of Taiwan, though it is assuredly China’s major geopolitical concern, linking movement there to the financial crisis _in any way_ would be a MAJOR mistake. Something like a direct quid pro quo, behind doors or not, would almost certainly make any US Executive balk, and produce highly negative reactions in Europe and other places where China is trying to cultivate allies, if not make friends. I think the Chinese grasp the fine balance of tension on Taiwan too well to make such a gross blunder, and will avoid any direct linkage as their price. I am also with commentor CCT above in that the demonstrations of which you speak are neither new, exceptional, nor I must say especially relevant, not to demean anyone’s aspirations. Much of the ethnic Chinese on Taiwan are already deeply involved in the Mainland, and steadily moving toward relations closer, for example the Kuomintang. The ethnic Taiwanese (non-Chinese) and a minority of the ethnic Chinese want to stay independent, but they have already lost long-term on this issue. This is really a domestic Taiwanese political row. Yes, the latter have have several big demonstrations; they have won some elections, though they nakedly stole the last one they ‘won’, and will be out of power for some time for related reasons. One can only sympathize with them given that the the treatment of ethnic minorities by the Mainland government is extremely poor, even odious. At the same time, China _will_ reincorporate Taiwan in time, so it’s better to negotiate fairly good and fairly solid terms, and make the best of it. Easy for me to say, I know . . . Geopolitics is not a place for self-serving fantasy or ideology, it’s a place for understanding what power is and how it works, and making sure people have as much of it as possible, and governments as little as is functionally feasible. The smart move for the Mainland, now, would be more on the order of insisting that any bars between Mainland and Taiwanese _investments and population movements_ be lifted; infiltration, in a word. We’ll see.

So thomas j, snark isn’t argumentation, rather the reverse. BTW cowboy fantasies of military saber-rattling or flyby adventures will provide but trivial leverage in the coming currency and global economic reconfiguration. Really.

So S.: “Amateurs study tactics; professionals study logistics.” That is a _great_ quote, and directly relevant to the issues in thread from Yves’ post. Looking at logistics in the global macroeconomy is by far the most revealing perspective since these shape the space within which decisions are and are feasible or unfeasible, functional or dysfunctional. I’ll have to go back and find the source ont that one.

So Anon of 5:44 PM, I didn’t comment on any blog by that name, so I don’t know who is posting there, or who might have clipped something I put up somewhere else in comments. Myself, I see no inherent conflict between doing the conceptual work and basic research on these issues on the one hand, and seeing the needs and constraints of everyday life on the other. This isn’t an either/or. I’ve lived most of my adult life as poor as the woman you mention on the bus, and dwelt in more than one ghetto. I ride the bus now, in fact, and have a union service job. My spending power has _declined_ over ten years, while my rent has doubled, and all other costs have gone up: I live one neighborhood over from the folks you describe. If, however, the working poor have put their faith in illusions pasted up on TV for them by the overclass, those illusions need to go, to be blunt. Working folks need faith; they also need information, and a personal strategy, or else they will always be the marks for slimebags pushing high rate, high limit plastic, or El Stupido ARM mortgages. The biggest single problem this country has had through thirty years is that a large section of the country has wanted to hear lies with money attached rather than probable truths with solvable problems attached. I’m not saying that to accuse anyone; frankly, the working poor are far more realistic about these things than the self-serving middle class has been. Hope for the future is a function of knowing what the game is and seeing that the other players play fair, dammit. I work on the one; let’s both work on the other.

I have no sympathy with anti-intellectualism, but by the same token I don’t expect anyone else to think as I do about the problems we all confront. I do history and sociopolitical modeling, so I chop wood and carry water in the woodlot I know, that is all. Working folks need to have and follow through on _high_ expectations for the incoming lot in Congress. Single payer health care reform and genuine funding for education would do much to both cut their costs and grow their options: that is reality. Taxing the plutocracy and stitching them up in a regulatory regime that works for ALL Americans is essential; there can be no compromise on that. Local intitiatives are good, too, and often pay better faster. NYC has been run by and for the suits for two decades: Whatta yah gonna do ’bout it? Wait for them to kiss you and mail you a check, or something a little more . . . active?? Want hope? Get tough. We’ve had unabashed class war here for a generation, a war on the poor. Gonna have to bang on some tables and doors, and stay with the issues, _and understand the issues_ to change that. I hope the family with the six-year-old on the register is making sure she attends school and has enough mental space to learn while she’s there; if not, their priorities need a rethink. Peace to you, my brother.

original quoter was writing to Richard Kline…”…come out of the library and get a life, see how people live, interact with them, and only then pass on your judgements.”

I know I’m taking the above quote out of context, but I’ll give you kids a little insight into “the little folks” out there trying to make a living in the USA.

In my ‘hood, kids as young as 13 are working at coffee shops, delis, bodegas and pizzarias, actually a young girl of about 6 rang up my soda the other day, her mother instructing her from behind. She took a break from her drawing to do so, may I add…

At a local fine restaurant, a chef lamented about the price of food, noting that he wanted to make fish soup, but made potato soup instead. “Until people get their faith in the system back, I have to do what I need to keep this place running.”

Just this morning, people were lined up for a food pantry at 9am, waiting for the doors to open at 10am, they were loud, and anxious.

A woman with a small child boarded a bus, paid her fare, then dug up change for her own…came up short. The busdriver noted, at least you’re trying, put what you have in, and have a nice day…

A day in the life…China? People on the street aren’t even thinking about China. They want the faith to be restored…

Brooklyn, NY october 2008

After the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. on Sept. 15 triggered a $700 billion bailout package by the U.S. government, gold traded as high as $936.30 on Oct. 10 as investors sought a haven. The metal also touched $681 today as investors sold futures to cover losses in other markets.

“The market wants to liquidate everything, everywhere,'' said Dennis Gartman, an economist and editor of the Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter.

Also see news article:
http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=59744 Which suggests the Bank of International Settlements will be a good vehicle to implement a non-gold based international organization to fix currencies.

Key comment: “The ramifications are deep especially if we are faced with an attempt to introduce Bretton Woods type currency controls. However, I doubt the new Bretton Woods will use gold as its anchor for valuing a reserve currency. More likely is an implicit pan-national guarantee of a non-sovereign, trade weighted measure. An expanded and strengthened version of the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) springs to mind.”

I think the short version of all this talk of Bretton woods is that we need more discipline from sovereign CBs, but when gold is brought up everybody says “Whoa! not that much discipline”!

I won’t give Bush much credit as president, but over the last 4 years, he’s done a very statesman job in managing Taiwan/mainland China relations. It’s fair to say that the three capitols are closer to a consensus today than they have ever been at any point in history. Barring drastic change (and the “protests” in Taiwan aren’t a drastic change, just a continuation of polarized opinion on the island), Beijing will absolutely not contribute to the destabilization of the current consensus established by George Bush.

These meetings will be an exercise in futility with the US dragging around a ball and chain with ‘debt’ stamped on the ball.

It is fascinating how the US goes around advising for foundational banking via the IMF and then leaves to watch the implosions from a distance returning to read from the card, “By the way, it only works when you have the reserve currency.”

Helps if you can grow (nutritional) wheat in your backyard and your gun is 1000 times bigger than your wheat field.

This is actually the best future income anyone could hope for since it is guaranteed.

http://www.owsweather.com/contrailreport.html

But, please remember that the CIA pilot (a WWII POW VET, etc.) that flew for Evergreen Air (CIA in Oregon PARTNERS WITH CHINA TO BRING IN THEIR MILITARY), this Huey Helicopter pilot told the government “man” to stop “messing with the weather” after WWII, however, he was obviously ignored, too.