As I recall, Russia's worst economic problem in the mid-1990s was that the ruble's convertibility was as bad internally as externally.
I've just finished reading Liaquat Ahamed's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World" (Benjamin Strong, Montagu Norman, Emile Moreau & Hjalmar Schacht). Fascinating read on the years just prior to WW1, the consequences of Versailles, the mirage of the Gold Standard and the go-go years leading to the Great Depression. Interestingly enough, Germany just made its final Great War reparation payment last month. Scott On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 3:34 PM, glen e. p. ropella <g...@agent-based-modeling.com> wrote: > > Excellent point. For whatever reason, I hadn't explicitly formed that > minor premise: "somebody has to credit the debt". That seems like a > pretty big minor premise to the syllogism to me. Of course, there are > lots of reasons you might loan to someone who has little chance of > paying you back _if_ you've got the extra cash to do so. Control/power > is the obvious reason. > > Thanks. > > ERIC P. CHARLES wrote circa 10-10-07 12:50 PM: > > Glen, > > He is correct, with one unspoken addition: You can't go broke if you can > > print > > your own money AND the creditor will accept it. > > > > If you have a bookie who accepts RopellaBucks and pays in green backs, you > > will > > be good forever! If Greece can borrow dollars and pay in their own currency, > > same deal. > > > > I'm not sure how international borrowing works, but eventually someone will > > stop accepting your currency if it has devalued too much. At some point > > after > > that, other people will stop trading for it too, so you won't even be able > > to > > convert your RopellaBucks into usable currency. Then, in the long run, you > > might be even more screwed than the semi-screwed you are in the short run > > from > > being stuck on the Euro, with no ability to escalate printing. > > > -- > glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://agent-based-modeling.com > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
