The British face the horror of there own making

[Mega]

The British are bankupt!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...cle5811186.ece
They are now stating to deal with it.
Mike

[Starving Steve]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

I have always been a bit of a globalist or internationalist. I think my coin and stamp collecting made me this way from the time I was a small boy.

When I was a boy, growing up in San Jose, California, I used to keep a tub of British coin in my bedroom. At that time, in the early 1960s, one pound sterling was worth almost $6 U.S; i.e, 6 silver dollars, each silver dollar weighing about 0.86 troy ounces in 900fine silver.

Each pound sterling was broken into 20 shillings, each shilling made of 500fine silver, and each shilling was about the size of one U.S. quarter dollar. Each shilling, in turn, was broken down into 12 pennies, each copper penny larger than a U.S. fifty cent piece. So each pound sterling was 240 pennies.

The pennies that made-up the pound sterling were sometimes over 100 years old, but they circulated in Britain, just the same. And the six pences, shillings, two shillings (florins), and half crowns (2 shillings and a 6 pence) were all made of 500 fine silver. They would date to 1946, and those before 1920 would be made of 925fine silver (sterling silver) and date back to the 19th Century.

How is it possible that Britain could de-value or inflate its currency to such an extent that one pound sterling now is worth $1.25 US, and the US dollar is worth almost nothing--- maybe a head of lettuce, or maybe six blackberries, or maybe a gallon of gas? (The old silver dollar is now long gone, as are all silver coins in the US and Britain.)

How could we be so silly as to ever believe in paper money and trust our governments?

As a boy in San Jose in the early 1960s, I knew that paper money could be trouble because I knew my history. But deep down, I never really imagined that Western nations like Britain or the U.S. would someday debase their currencies and make a joke out of money.... With boyish foolishness, I believed our leaders had responsibility and could be trusted.

[Mega]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

They Did...............Sadly.

But Hay Steve, we got Gold & Silver & other things.........Fuck them.

I am looking forward to 2-3 years from now when those assholes in their Range Rovers/Merc/BMW have an old GM Sad-en......


Mike

[Starving Steve]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

Yes, Mike, I feel the same way: "Folk them." And as the Albertans say, "Let them freeze in the dark.";)

[cjppjc]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

But deep down, I never really imagined that Western nations like Britain or the U.S. would someday debase their currencies and make a joke out of money.... With boyish foolishness, I believed our leaders had responsibility and could be trusted.

Sigh......

[hayekvindicated]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

I have always been a bit of a globalist or internationalist. I think my coin and stamp collecting made me this way from the time I was a small boy.

When I was a boy, growing up in San Jose, California, I used to keep a tub of British coin in my bedroom. At that time, in the early 1960s, one pound sterling was worth almost $6 U.S; i.e, 6 silver dollars, each silver dollar weighing about 0.86 troy ounces in 900fine silver.

Each pound sterling was broken into 20 shillings, each shilling made of 500fine silver, and each shilling was about the size of one U.S. quarter dollar. Each shilling, in turn, was broken down into 12 pennies, each copper penny larger than a U.S. fifty cent piece. So each pound sterling was 240 pennies.

The pennies that made-up the pound sterling were sometimes over 100 years old, but they circulated in Britain, just the same. And the six pences, shillings, two shillings (florins), and half crowns (2 shillings and a 6 pence) were all made of 500 fine silver. They would date back to 1946, and those before 1946 would be made of 925fine silver (sterling silver) and date back to the 19th Century.

How is it possible that Britain could de-value or inflate its currency to such an extent that one pound sterling now is worth $1.25 US, and the US dollar is worth almost nothing--- maybe a head of lettuce, or maybe six blackberries, or maybe a gallon of gas? (The old silver dollar is now long gone, as are all silver coins in the US and Britain.)

How could we be so silly as to ever believe in paper money and trust our governments?

As a boy in San Jose in the early 1960s, I knew that paper money could be trouble because I knew my history. But deep down, I never really imagined that Western nations like Britain or the U.S. would someday debase their currencies and make a joke out of money.... With boyish foolishness, I believed our leaders had responsibility and could be trusted.

Sterling had already been through two crises by the 1960s (with more to come). And the Dollar's decline was not unforeseeable given the sheer scale of the spending programs introduced in the 1960s. EJ hinted at the expansion in government spending in the 1960s which has now acquired horrific dimensions.

The simple fact is: all government programs have to be paid for - either by tax or inflation. Everything else is propaganda.

[fightthepower]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

The USA will soon find itself bankrupt too.

[Uno]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

Here is a video on Britian's future:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4CVZ...eature=related

[Starving Steve]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

The U.S. is bankrupt, and it started to go bankrupt when it stuck its nose into Vietnam in the early '60s. Then came the Reagan spending in the Reagan revolution of 1980. Then came the ultimate morons: Alan Greenspan and George Bush with their low interest rates and "free markets self-correct" ideas and their "deficits don't count" ideas complete with the housing bubble and the bubble economy.

History has not quite been written yet, but something really went wrong with the appointment of Helicopter Ben to the Fed and the almost immediate call by the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. Fed for emergency funding for the T.A.R.P. programme. Naturally, Congress had to approve the funding after hearing of the dire consequences of not approving the funding. And then things really went to hell in late 2008. They still may have not have hit bottom yet this winter. But the turning-point in the crisis appears to have been around August or September when the emergency funding request was in the process of going to Congress.

I still don't understand the crisis, but early autumn was the turning-point and maybe the point of no-return. The positive is that we got Obama in the White House and change is coming. But the negative is that we may be entering a dollar crisis soon and a complete collapse.

Happily, no sign of the dollar crisis yet, and no sign of a bond market crisis either. But the negative is that the U.S. is bankrupt, and the entire world has put its faith in the U.S. dollar and U.S. debt.... The canoe is over-loaded.

Meanwhile, the carpenters are tapping away building my garage next to my house in East Sooke, B.C.--- because I can see the last chapter in this story and so can you. My roof gets replaced after the garage gets built. Perhaps a shake-out in the gold market, and I may increase my gold hoard--- anything to get out of this canoe and unload the paper money.

They say that socialism was the downfall of Britain. But cowboy capitalism, endless wars, Alan Greenspan, Helicopter Ben Bernanke, and George Bush were the downfall of America. And trust in the U.S. dollar will be the downfall of the entire world, including Canada with its beaver buck.

[Mega]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

Here is a video on Britian's future:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4CVZ...eature=related

There are plenty of people in the Labour party whom like a "Boy going cheap".

Mike

[tombat1913]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

I still don't understand the crisis, but early autumn was the turning-point and maybe the point of no-return. The positive is that we got Obama in the White House and change is coming.

Watch the Michael Hudson interview on the main page. Obama is not going to change anything in terms of the economy.

I really hope this country can de-brainwash itself from this massive banker funded "Hope" propaganda campaign before it's too late.

[whitetower]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

They say that socialism was the downfall of Britain. But cowboy capitalism, endless wars, Alan Greenspan, Helicopter Ben Bernanke, and George Bush were the downfall of America.

Socialism will be more than partly responsible be the downfall of the US as well -- although Vietnam and Iraq were wastefully expensive, nothing, nothing compares to the size and expanse of the welfare state in the US.

Defense spending over time in the US has been greatly reduced as a percent of GDP -- in Kennedy's adminstration defense spending was over 9% of GDP. Under Eisenhower it rose to 13%. Today is stands at barely 3%.

Meanwhile in terms of social welfare spending three federal programs alone -- Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid -- total a projected $1.3 trillion dollars for 2009-2010. Other welfare "entitlements" (food stamps, housing, etc.) ultimately result in $2 trillion in social welfare spending, totalling nearly 18% of GDP.

(Note that this excludes state & local social welfare spending.)

And it doesn't seem to matter who is elected, Democrat or Republican. Bush II and the GOP Congress, for example, increased social welfare spending more than any other president since LBJ.

No, I'm afraid the US is headed in the direction of Europe -- bankrupt, with large percentages of the population wating for their gubmint check in the mail.

[strittmatter]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

The British are bankupt!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...cle5811186.ece
They are now stating to deal with it.
Mike

All it takes is one snowball then it's WWIII...........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6YB5...eature=related

Those zombie law officers sure know how to keep it under control

[flintlock]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

All it takes is one snowball then it's WWIII...........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6YB5...eature=related

Those zombie law officers sure know how to keep it under control

Isn't that how the Boston Massacre started?

Good thing this wasn't 15 year old girls throwing snowballs and in the US.

[tsetsefly]

Re: The British face the horror of there own making

the comments section of that news offers some excellent analysis:

I am not that worried - I live in Canada. Sound banks; sound government; loadsa oil.

However, we too are going through a "stimulation" orgy. At some point in the future, all these governmetns will need to finance this "stimulus" and lo! the price of money will increase due to the increased demand
Robert Wood, Ottawa, Canada

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