Thanks Tim, and all the contributors here: for sometimes making me think, and always keeping me entertained over the year.
Theophrastus
Merry Christmas one and all! Even to Arnald and DBC Reed, as it is the season of piss and good swill.
Bloke in North Dorset
Merry Christmas all.
Here’s a couple of, probably apocryphal, stories from a sailing forum I use to brighten your day:
Various of us in local Rotary have been playing Santa over the last week or so and here are some of the responses we’ve received:
Santa: Now have you been good?
Boy of 7(emphatically): Yes, I have
Boys mother: Ooh, Darren, you liar. You’ve been a right little sod all week!
Over enthusiastic Santa to a pair of teenagers: Now I want you in bed nice and early on Christmas Eve.
Teenage boy (just out of earshot of girl he was with-bitterly): No F***ing chance.
So Much For Subtlety
Merry Christmas and good will to all men.
Especially Santa. I hope Operation Yewtree hasn’t got him yet.
I mean, it is pretty weird that a man of his years should be collecting lists of all the good boys and girls and giving them presents. Someone might call that grooming, they might.
As for sitting on his lap ……
Roue le Jour
Just taken off the Santa Suit for another year and putting my feet up.
I tell you, it knocks the cynicism right out of you when a bunch of little knee high sprogs go “Ooh, Santa! Santa! Santa’s here!”
Best wishes to all from the Land of Smiles, as the Thai tourist board would have it.
I mean, it is pretty weird that a man of his years should be collecting lists of all the good boys and girls and giving them presents. Someone might call that grooming, they might.
Santa’s surveillance has nothing on the government.
DBC Reed
Happy Christmas everybody. Many thanks for the richly amusing, if far-fetched , satire of conventional minimal state ,minimal welfare government policies.
bilbaoboy
From a truly sunny Bilbao (amazing ain’t it!) a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. (with no exclusions).
Here’s to a 2016 where at least a couple of big problems get solved and those of us who believe that human solidarity is, overall, better than state-enforced charidee are not accused of being fascistic c**ts by people who ought to be able to judge us more carefully.
Because surprise, surprise we want happiness for the entire human population of the world.
PF
Anyone want to speculate on what would happen if this actually got passed…
Felice navidad Bb & a Happy Xmas to the rest of you
Theophrastus
those of us who believe that human solidarity is, overall, better than state-enforced charidee are not accused of being fascistic c**ts by people who ought to be able to judge us more carefully. Because surprise, surprise we want happiness for the entire human population of the world.
Merry Christmas all, and it’s good that some of the Swiss have got the balls to challenge the disastrous banking system we currently have. Us libertarians have been pointing out the tragic problems with Frac Reserve for years.
Of course those who prosper from it insist that it’s necessary and the world will end without it, but then that’s the standard appeal made by State-backed cartels.
jgh
Well, if people want the state to benefit from the profits of commecial banking, all they have to do is get the state to own a commercial bank or two. Or even simpler, levy a tax on the profits of commercial banks. As it would be a tax on the profits of banking corporations maybe call it something like Corporation Tax.
Bloke in North Dorset
There’s nowt so queer as folk ….
We had dinner in the pub because son and girl friend aren’t arriving until tomorrow. Table next to us went all the way through their meal leaving their napkins in the wine glasses.
Ian B
The problem with FR is that as we have seen, you get an economic system dependent on businesses which must not fail, but which are guaranteed at some point to fail, it being a matter of not “if” but “when”. This is why so many involved in finance cling to an absurd delusion that there is a Holy Grail somewhere out there of a way to run this system in such a way as failure is eliminated, when this is impossible. If the State owns FR banks, at some point in time they will fail too, almost certainly at the same time and for the same reasons as the private ones have failed. And because the money supply now (almost) entirely consists of debts rather than money, when they disappear, so does all the money.
It’s not sane to carry on like that.
PF
Thanks Tim, I hadn’t spotted that…
Ian B – I’m not sure why a advanced and free economy would want to “ban” activities such as extending or arranging credit, or otherwise insist that only the state may organise such activities?
Happy that organisations should be able to fail, just like any other activity. And if, as a society, we want the government partially to guarantee those who deposit with some licensed organisations, then perhaps that’s a political decision (and price – through taxation) that an electorate can make, and no I am not trying to express a view on whether such guarantees are good or not?
Bloke in North Dorset
Re your story about onions in India, the USA got there first
Your Forbes column is in my RSS feed, obviously alcohol and age got the better of me today 🙁
Tim Worstall
Well, it is from October….
Bloke in Germany
Believe it or not, Germany invented Christmas*. So merry Christmas to you all.
*: Actually, Chuck Norris invented Christmas, while on tour in Germany in 1837.
John Price
Just remind us, why do they call you “Tiny”, Tim?
bloke in spain
” I’m not sure why a advanced and free economy would want to “ban” activities such as extending or arranging credit,”
Because the credit’s secured against assets who’s value depend on the availability of credit. There’s no need for laws to ban credit. Just remove being able to pursue a defaulting debtorfor anything other than the market value of the asset.
Liberal Yank
That socialist India is looking at a government run solution should be no shock to anyone.
Does anyone have a handy link that tells whether Siegel and Kosuga faced any repercussion to the market manipulations they engineered?
My take is that from the datum we have a futures market leads to stabilized prices. The stability can be disastrously disrupted by individuals whose whole focus is maximizing profits. This leads me to the conclusion that the best solution to India’s problem is a commodities market with regulations in place to prevent the worst profiteering from collapsing the system.
Bloke in Germany
@bis,
It’s precisely because you can only, practically, get a defaulter’s assets out of him that you have dead and zombie banks. You don’t need to legislate for laws of nature.
Yes libertardians, let’s all ban credit. Your customers must pay per minute in solid gold. Turns out that is a more costly (mainly because less productive) than allowing people to have debtors and creditors on their balance sheet (which is all “fractional reserve banking” is – a glorified version of that).
And sure, rescuing Germany’s banks cost €50 billion, according to the papers earlier this week. Funnily enough, no one mentioned what the cost of not rescuing them would have been.
Thus you only have moral hazard to solve. How about the firing squad for all a bank’s shareholders if it becomes insolvent?
Theophrastus
IanB
it’s good that some of the Swiss have got the balls to challenge the disastrous banking system we currently have. Us libertarians have been pointing out the tragic problems with Frac Reserve for years.
So you must be at one with the “ill-informed loons” that our libertarian host refers to in his piece on Forbes?
DBC Reed
Well said Ian B ! The most interesting libertarian on Fractional Reserve Banking is Murray Rothbard: does the definitive demolition job.So he must be an” ill-informed loon” according to banking expert Tim who said on here “No banks don’t create money”(14.vii.12) then “The short explanation is that banks do indeed create money out of thin air”(19.iii.14).
Merry Christmas! 🙂
God bless us, everyone. Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
Thanks Tim, and all the contributors here: for sometimes making me think, and always keeping me entertained over the year.
Merry Christmas one and all! Even to Arnald and DBC Reed, as it is the season of piss and good swill.
Merry Christmas all.
Here’s a couple of, probably apocryphal, stories from a sailing forum I use to brighten your day:
Merry Christmas and good will to all men.
Especially Santa. I hope Operation Yewtree hasn’t got him yet.
I mean, it is pretty weird that a man of his years should be collecting lists of all the good boys and girls and giving them presents. Someone might call that grooming, they might.
As for sitting on his lap ……
Just taken off the Santa Suit for another year and putting my feet up.
I tell you, it knocks the cynicism right out of you when a bunch of little knee high sprogs go “Ooh, Santa! Santa! Santa’s here!”
Best wishes to all from the Land of Smiles, as the Thai tourist board would have it.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRIr9MNmCwU
Merry Christmas to everyone on here!
If conversation is running short round the table and you haven’t debated it, a good proposition to discuss is:
“Are “Gremlins” and “Die Hard” ‘Christmas films’ (because the events happen at Christmas time)?”
I mean, it is pretty weird that a man of his years should be collecting lists of all the good boys and girls and giving them presents. Someone might call that grooming, they might.
Santa’s surveillance has nothing on the government.
Happy Christmas everybody. Many thanks for the richly amusing, if far-fetched , satire of conventional minimal state ,minimal welfare government policies.
From a truly sunny Bilbao (amazing ain’t it!) a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. (with no exclusions).
Here’s to a 2016 where at least a couple of big problems get solved and those of us who believe that human solidarity is, overall, better than state-enforced charidee are not accused of being fascistic c**ts by people who ought to be able to judge us more carefully.
Because surprise, surprise we want happiness for the entire human population of the world.
Anyone want to speculate on what would happen if this actually got passed…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11999966/Switzerland-to-vote-on-banning-banks-from-creating-money.html
oh yes, and merry humbug.
Felice navidad Bb & a Happy Xmas to the rest of you
those of us who believe that human solidarity is, overall, better than state-enforced charidee are not accused of being fascistic c**ts by people who ought to be able to judge us more carefully. Because surprise, surprise we want happiness for the entire human population of the world.
+ 1
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/12/25/swiss-monetary-reform-referendum-is-sadly-driven-by-ill-informed-loons/
Merry Christmas all, and it’s good that some of the Swiss have got the balls to challenge the disastrous banking system we currently have. Us libertarians have been pointing out the tragic problems with Frac Reserve for years.
Of course those who prosper from it insist that it’s necessary and the world will end without it, but then that’s the standard appeal made by State-backed cartels.
Well, if people want the state to benefit from the profits of commecial banking, all they have to do is get the state to own a commercial bank or two. Or even simpler, levy a tax on the profits of commercial banks. As it would be a tax on the profits of banking corporations maybe call it something like Corporation Tax.
There’s nowt so queer as folk ….
We had dinner in the pub because son and girl friend aren’t arriving until tomorrow. Table next to us went all the way through their meal leaving their napkins in the wine glasses.
The problem with FR is that as we have seen, you get an economic system dependent on businesses which must not fail, but which are guaranteed at some point to fail, it being a matter of not “if” but “when”. This is why so many involved in finance cling to an absurd delusion that there is a Holy Grail somewhere out there of a way to run this system in such a way as failure is eliminated, when this is impossible. If the State owns FR banks, at some point in time they will fail too, almost certainly at the same time and for the same reasons as the private ones have failed. And because the money supply now (almost) entirely consists of debts rather than money, when they disappear, so does all the money.
It’s not sane to carry on like that.
Thanks Tim, I hadn’t spotted that…
Ian B – I’m not sure why a advanced and free economy would want to “ban” activities such as extending or arranging credit, or otherwise insist that only the state may organise such activities?
Happy that organisations should be able to fail, just like any other activity. And if, as a society, we want the government partially to guarantee those who deposit with some licensed organisations, then perhaps that’s a political decision (and price – through taxation) that an electorate can make, and no I am not trying to express a view on whether such guarantees are good or not?
Re your story about onions in India, the USA got there first
http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/10/14/448718171/episode-657-the-tale-of-the-onion-king
synopsis on wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_Futures_Act
Ahem:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/10/17/india-should-have-an-onion-futures-market/
Your Forbes column is in my RSS feed, obviously alcohol and age got the better of me today 🙁
Well, it is from October….
Believe it or not, Germany invented Christmas*. So merry Christmas to you all.
*: Actually, Chuck Norris invented Christmas, while on tour in Germany in 1837.
Just remind us, why do they call you “Tiny”, Tim?
” I’m not sure why a advanced and free economy would want to “ban” activities such as extending or arranging credit,”
Because the credit’s secured against assets who’s value depend on the availability of credit. There’s no need for laws to ban credit. Just remove being able to pursue a defaulting debtorfor anything other than the market value of the asset.
That socialist India is looking at a government run solution should be no shock to anyone.
Does anyone have a handy link that tells whether Siegel and Kosuga faced any repercussion to the market manipulations they engineered?
My take is that from the datum we have a futures market leads to stabilized prices. The stability can be disastrously disrupted by individuals whose whole focus is maximizing profits. This leads me to the conclusion that the best solution to India’s problem is a commodities market with regulations in place to prevent the worst profiteering from collapsing the system.
@bis,
It’s precisely because you can only, practically, get a defaulter’s assets out of him that you have dead and zombie banks. You don’t need to legislate for laws of nature.
Yes libertardians, let’s all ban credit. Your customers must pay per minute in solid gold. Turns out that is a more costly (mainly because less productive) than allowing people to have debtors and creditors on their balance sheet (which is all “fractional reserve banking” is – a glorified version of that).
And sure, rescuing Germany’s banks cost €50 billion, according to the papers earlier this week. Funnily enough, no one mentioned what the cost of not rescuing them would have been.
Thus you only have moral hazard to solve. How about the firing squad for all a bank’s shareholders if it becomes insolvent?
IanB
it’s good that some of the Swiss have got the balls to challenge the disastrous banking system we currently have. Us libertarians have been pointing out the tragic problems with Frac Reserve for years.
So you must be at one with the “ill-informed loons” that our libertarian host refers to in his piece on Forbes?
Well said Ian B ! The most interesting libertarian on Fractional Reserve Banking is Murray Rothbard: does the definitive demolition job.So he must be an” ill-informed loon” according to banking expert Tim who said on here “No banks don’t create money”(14.vii.12) then “The short explanation is that banks do indeed create money out of thin air”(19.iii.14).