printI’ve never known what to make of the financial expert RT has stuck by, Max Keiser of the eponymous Keiser Report.
I had been more of a Peter Schiff gold devotee. Thing is, the devotion was not returned. Most of Schiff’s clients, especially the small fry, fared poorly over time and seldom or never heard from the money maestro (who himself is very wealthy; broker fees and all).
Schiff is still calling “Bitcoin the latest iteration of fool’s gold and anybody buying it [the] ultimate fool.” Keiser, the choice on the business page of RT (Russia Today), is a Bitcoin guy. Bitcoin is holding the value of assets and then some. Gold? It has been fractionalized (spelling?)—fractional reserve banking has bad connotations!—and manipulated by the brokerages.
Speaking of RT (which once published this writer’s weekly column): Republicans, like the Democrats, speak of that TV station as an arm of the Kremlin (presumably nothing like CNN or MSNBC or WaPo which are never an arm of the Democratic Party).
In truth, Trump conservatives never defended President Trump’s conciliatory position toward Russia and Vladimir Putin. Rather, Republican defense of Trump’s correct stance toward Russia consisted of bolstering his alleged anti-Putin credentials, and boasting that he was ACTUALLY tougher on Russia than the Dems. So weak. So dumb.
It’s never about principled argument with Republicans. In their narrow little minds, the American Empire is supposed to war with Russia. That Trump came to power opposing that position was no reason to reexamine their asinine assumptions.
Since they invariably always fall in-line with neocon and neoliberal foreign-policy orthodoxy—Republicans and conservatives only ever tried to nudge Donald Trump toward America’s wrongheaded, Russia monomania.
I appreciate this comment, but it lead me to the post, “MAKING SENSE OF THE RUSSIA MONOMANIA,” which I had not read before; and that one is superb. Keep up the good work
I appreciate this comment, but it lead me to the post, “MAKING SENSE OF THE RUSSIA MONOMANIA,” which I had not read before; and that one is superb. Keep up the good work.
Neither Bitcoin nor gold are the panacea that either parties claims it to be. They are similar in that the issuers are restricted in their ability to issue more currency in response to demand for currency. This helps to restrict issuance for a govt monopoly issuer. This is where the idea goes wrong.
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Far too many people assume that there has to be only one currency and that it should be issued by govt. This is closed thinking. Currency can and should be issued by multiple issuers in a competitive free market. Free, competitive issuers will be rewarded by the markets for managing their currency correctly. Inflation and deflation hurt various users and if the issuer over issues or under issues (both Bitcoin and gold force under issuance and hence deflation) then the value of the currency will suffer.
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Free market, competitive currencies will cause the destruction of fractional issuance. Fractional issuance is where the one, monopoly currency is deposited and then the bank issues loans of the same currency while at the same time keeping the deposited currency on the books. They have their currency and use it, too. In modern countries, the banks do not “own” the currency. The US govt does. When private banks reissue currency, in essence they are passing out IOUs that the federal govt is responsible for, not the bank. The govt gets around this by refusing to redeem them. They are issued but never redeemed.
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In a private market where banks issue proprietary currency (B of A issues “america’s” and Apple Bank issues “apples”) other banks cannot issue currency from other banks in the way that all banks now issue dollars. B of A cannot issue apples out of thin air and Apple Bank cannot issue americas out of thin air, with both retaining the deposited currency on their books.
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Private issuers cannot be restricted in their issuance or redemption. Both of these two hinder Bitcoin and issuance hinders gold. Gold is redeemable, butBitcoin is not.
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Libertarians need to get past the outmoded ideas of banks issuing gold certificates and get back to believing in the free markets. In this case, the free markets of currency issuance.