Showing posts with label bread and Circus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bread and Circus. Show all posts

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Is PHL into bread and circus.?

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution







Certain roads were closed in the Eastern portion of the province at noon time There was reported street dancing (at noon time) involving several municipalities  

Is this part of  bread and circus program that is being emulated from the Roman empire.  Rome gave daiy ration of flour to its populace = regular spectacle from the  coliseum   Bread and circus was a form of appeasement to the populace.   The other spectacle are sports events  -  basketball volleyball  or softball and other religious events.  



That the government spending on these is constitutional is dubious   Senate press release on aid

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Inflation - debasement of currency and fall of empires and civilization

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution





Fall of Empires - Rome and US

This post is going beyond the scope of the page - entrepreneurship   But it is wise to watch this video and learn from this.  Paraphrasing Churchill, we say that going deep into history makes us fully understand and much more so the future   We gain more insight into the currency management, money and credit and how they affect local business.   Even the military, and strong local and central govts.

The Roman empire

This Maloney compares the Roman empire and the current US situation.  There are parallels and we must be aware of the perils we are facing so that we can avoid the mistakes of the  past civiization that has collapsed  What must we do as individuals and entrepreneurs to avoid the doom and steer clear of the challenges posed by the debased monetary policy

1.  Rome started with stable monetary policy, stable currency that was backed by pure gold

2. But the Punic wars (war with Hannibal) and massive military structure all over the empire and massive infrastructure  caused the central govt (the Republic) caused to engage in deficit spending

3.  This led to the debasement of the currency, like removal of edges of the coin, melting them and minting new coins or simply inflating the value of the coins

4.  To appease the masses, the top brass of Rome, the emperors led in Circus and Bread programs.   Circus - the  regular spectacle at the coliseum featuring gladiators and the Bread - a welfare program where about 20% of the population get wheat ration daily.   Where did Rome get the money for these

5.  This lead to strong govt  to collect taxes, made the central govt corrupt - due to cronyism.  To curry favors from the emperor and the senate   

6   Led to the strong influence of the military over the govt

These led to disorder chaos and eventual falll of the Roman empire  It was not the war with Vandals that  brought that Rome, the monetary system did and imploded the empire

Similarity with the US

1.  The US started on a similar footing with Rome with stable currency/money in the beginning
 The US Constitution prescribed only Gold and silver as the  legal tender in the settlement of debt
  and other obigations

    
  
  • Clause 1 Proscribed Powers
  • No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

Because of this the  US dollar became merely a certificate of deposit of gold or silver   The US dollar or silver can be redeemed through the US dollar

2.  US has to engage in deficit spending due to its involvement in two World Wars

3.  In 1944, just as the world war II was coming to an end, there was this Bretton Woods agreement that led to abandoning of the gold standard (perhaps to speed up war recovery through printing of loca currency and deficit spending by countries) and instead making the dollar the  world currency pegged 
(reserve) pegged at $35 dollars per ounce.  This led to the establishment of the IMF and IBRD


So how then the value of currency determined - by comparing the value of currency against a basket of currrency that keeps fluctuating on a daily basis

4  Due to the deficit and massive spending due to Vietnam war Nixon on August 15, 19711 declared at least temporarily that redemption convertibility of US dollar to gold was to be no longer allowed.  And strict price control  for 90 days.  It is to be noted that inflation or price of goods going up is not the product of manipulation by traders who are just out to make a living but because of wrong monetary policy and is merely a result of debasement of currency brought about by lack of a gold standard, and/or rise in money supply.  Nixon is not only famous for Watergate scandal and or Vietnam war, but for the disruption/debasement of the US monetary system