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Joseph P. Joyce — Current Account Deficits and Safe Assets
Global appetite for US Treasuries as "safe assets." This is a primary function of a reserve currency as a saving vehicle that is regarded as a safe haven.
"This is a primary function of a reserve currency as a saving vehicle that is regarded as a safe haven."
Not sure that is the case.
The primary function of the reserve currency is to put something described as 'hard assets' on the banking system balance sheet that they can discount for the local currency.
Primarily for historical religious reasons. For some reason some other nation's operational fiction is considered better than your own.
USDs have an unnatural appeal to all the foreign nations... these nations operate their entire economies for the primary purpose of acquiring ever increasing USD balances that are available at some level to their elites...
To me I have to point to the artistic expression of zombie-lore to describe how it looks to me.. (I'm not trained in psychology so I have to use the zombie metaphor) these foreign nations look like zombies operating incessantly in pursuit of the USDs they crave... these nations are sick...
AMC's original zombie series 'The Walking Dead' is the number one show on cable here in the US ... the TV viewing public here in the US understands this at some level hence the popularity of this show....
It's like the moron Taibbi who is unqualified in finance and/or systems theory (pretty much unqualified in anything with an arts degree from Bard) creating the metaphor "vampire squid" to explain the GFC....
I don't understand why foreign nations would mindlessly seek the ever increasing balances of another nations currency ... i.e. they're zombies to me... they are totally F'ed up second class humanoids...
If the WTO wasn't corrupted the world would long since have had a variable Tobin Tax on foreign treasury bond purchase not to mention a ban on government monopoly enforced foreign exchange. Ironic that Tobin was one of the architects of China new economic hegemony:-
Matt, it is weren't USD, it would be gold. Just look at where the countries are going that want to divest from the USD.
The USD was a substitute for gold under the Bretton Woods fixed rate convertible monetary system, and USD then became an ersatz substitute when Nixon shut the gold window.
Now that is shift back in favor of gold or another gold substitute for various reasons.
It's like the moron Taibbi who is unqualified in finance and/or systems theory (pretty much unqualified in anything with an arts degree from Bard) creating the metaphor "vampire squid" to explain the GFC....
Why did it go viral?
The "creative people" are more focused on going viral than being accurate. Lots of compensation ( not only monetary) in going viral. Little to none for accuracy.
Think incentives in an environment where wealth, power, and celebrity rule.
We can largely thank Rupert Murdoch for this by successfully introducing the tabloid model of the media.
Taibbi is not original, of course. He is the second generation of gonzo journalism pioneered by people like Paul Krassner and perfected by Hunter S. Thompson.
To understand things technically it takes THOUSANDS of hours if not 10s of thousands of hours of intense training and practice....
Not everybody gets that so it looks like they are instead attracted to the metaphors... it's like a young child that thinks that babies come from "the stork"... same thing... it's a juvenile or very immature level of understanding...
The US political selection process effectively excludes people that are technically competent, and if anyone makes it through the selection process to run, they lose the election if they try to communicate in technical terms.
The US political process is dominated by lawyers rather than nerds.
If you and your family lived on the side of the Alps and your only way to get to school was to ski, which many many outside the Swiss cities do for half the year, your family would be sure you started skiing when you were two or three. By the time you were six you could handle it on your own. Again, this is commonplace in Switzerland. You learn to carve the path in the snow that you take later to walk back up the mountainside with your skis on your shoulder.
Just as the Inuit (Eskimos) reportedly have a 100 names for snow, so do the Swiss for atmospheric conditions in the mountains, all of them metaphors. Your father, uncle, and granddad would have taught them to you. They’re shorthand for highly technical conditions and centuries old. (No different than the metaphorical Chinese names for martial arts movements.)
By the time you were 13, you were a pro at maneuvering winter terrain on two sticks.
But let’s say that at the age of 13, you also want to compete in downhill races in Kitzbühel. Your goal now is to win races (in addition to going to school). So you have to train with an expert. You need to understand the ideal angle of your body against the hill to shave seconds and the timing to alter it.
You need to know the technicalities of traversing moguls, carving turns, and ideal pole plants. What does the hill incline degree tell you about the fall line on this specific hill and your best zipper line? How does racing wax compare with regular wax? What about your boots? A million small details to learn and discern.
You don’t need to be taught the basics of expert skiing. You’ve been doing it ‘in your sleep’ since you were three. You grew up knowing the different kinds of snow and powder the weather produces, what happens when the spring slush freezes, and when to sense avalanche danger. You understand ruts. You know what the wind will do to your speed and the effect when the wind direction changes suddenly. It’s in your DNA.
But let’s say you come from Cave Creek, AZ. You grew up in the desert. Ski? Where? Other than on ‘bumps’ in Flagstaff. Or ski camp in Colorado.
But you, too, want to race in Kitzbühel. You’re 18, buff, athletic, and have the ski bug. So you move to Kitzbühel (or wherever the top trainers are perched), get a job at night, and train like crazy during the day. The adage about it taking 10,000 hours of doing something just for starters was never truer for you.
You’re not interested in fucking metaphors. You want to win the goddam race. You need to know the technicalities the “THOUSANDS of hours if not 10s of thousands of hours of intense training and practice” will teach you what the Swiss 13-year-old had mastered by the time he was 15 with his early heuristic training honed by older family members over years of just doing the work, then refining it with technique.
I don’t know if you’ve studied martial arts, but the names for postures (Tai Chi, for example) are nothing but metaphors: * White Crane Spreads Wings * Grasp The Bird's Tail * Pat Horse on High with Thrusting Palm
If you’ve mastered them, knowing these names means you don’t have to bore anyone with your technical explanation of your “10s of thousands of hours of training and practice.” Experts can see you have.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and that’s what a metaphor is.
I don’t know if you’ve studied martial arts, but the names for postures (Tai Chi, for example) are nothing but metaphors:
Not just the Chinese martial art. The whole Chinese language. It's how Chinese people communicate and it's a huge reason why becoming relatively fluent in Chinese is so difficult. Chinese communication is poetic and if you don't know the metaphors you will be lost even though you understand the literal meaning of the words.
BTW, to be considered an accomplished person in China, you have to be a decent poet and calligrapher. These are two sides of the same coin.
You're right, Tom. When I was being taught rudimentary Chinese when I was in Asia, the older teacher I had cracked me up. He could break down every pictogram into what it was showing/diagramming. NEVER forgot them, and learned so much in a jiffy.
For example, Sun. In the I Ching it means eldest daughter (among many many other things). The symbol for it is literally of a girl squatting with her skirt raised and legs apart. That was because the eldest daughter in poor families was often sent out to whore for the family income.
Ezra Pound maintained that every poet should learn Chinese. He called it the most poetic language in the world.
"Vampire squid" wasn't an explanation for the financial crash. It was an insult to Goldman Sachs calculated to put an image both funny and horrifying into the minds of readers.
"It's like the moron Taibbi who is unqualified in finance and/or systems theory. . ."
How many people commenting on this thread have produced "qualifications" in finance and systems theory? What should those qualifications look like? Which schools should one have attended to obtain said qualification? What kind of CV is required? A qualification is an actual thing you can point to and say "I got that."
The Goldman conspiracy theory is almost on the level of the Rothschild one.
But there is some truth to many conspiracy theories, too.
The problem with conspiracy theorist is that they run away with it. But if there were no truth at all, many conspiracy theories would not exists. However, it is also the case some conspiracy theories are based on hoaxes, and the conspiracy theories continue to exist long after the hoaxes are exposed. Some resurface after long periods of dormancy, zombie-like.
On the other hand, there is little doubt that the influence of Big Finance is a powerful one that works largely behind the scenes. Sometimes it comes to notice when alumni proliferate in publicly visible position of power, and not only in the US. Goldman stands out in this regard. Presently, three presidents of Federal Reserve banks and the US Treasury secretary are GS alumni, in addition to several prominent officials in Europe, notably ECB president Mario Draghi. That raises eyebrows, as does three generals in chief positions in the US government, giving the appearance of a military junta.
20 comments:
USD Zombie food....
Why? I never heard your original reasons because I wasn't around. What do you mean? What is USD Zombie food?
"This is a primary function of a reserve currency as a saving vehicle that is regarded as a safe haven."
Not sure that is the case.
The primary function of the reserve currency is to put something described as 'hard assets' on the banking system balance sheet that they can discount for the local currency.
Primarily for historical religious reasons. For some reason some other nation's operational fiction is considered better than your own.
MRW,
USDs have an unnatural appeal to all the foreign nations... these nations operate their entire economies for the primary purpose of acquiring ever increasing USD balances that are available at some level to their elites...
To me I have to point to the artistic expression of zombie-lore to describe how it looks to me.. (I'm not trained in psychology so I have to use the zombie metaphor) these foreign nations look like zombies operating incessantly in pursuit of the USDs they crave... these nations are sick...
AMC's original zombie series 'The Walking Dead' is the number one show on cable here in the US ... the TV viewing public here in the US understands this at some level hence the popularity of this show....
https://www.google.com/amp/tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/more-tv-news/heres-just-how-huge-the-walking-dead-has-been-in-the-ratings/amp/
"the show will likely still be the top-rated series on cable, and the top scripted show across all of TV. And it probably won’t be close."
Art imitates life...
It can appear that all of these foreigners are sleepless zombies mindlessly seeking the US; the USD... they are sick bastards one way or another...
It's like the moron Taibbi who is unqualified in finance and/or systems theory (pretty much unqualified in anything with an arts degree from Bard) creating the metaphor "vampire squid" to explain the GFC....
I don't understand why foreign nations would mindlessly seek the ever increasing balances of another nations currency ... i.e. they're zombies to me... they are totally F'ed up second class humanoids...
If the WTO wasn't corrupted the world would long since have had a variable Tobin Tax on foreign treasury bond purchase not to mention a ban on government monopoly enforced foreign exchange. Ironic that Tobin was one of the architects of China new economic hegemony:-
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/cruise-changed-china
"It can appear that all of these foreigners are sleepless zombies mindlessly seeking the US; the USD... they are sick bastards one way or another..."
Don't do reciprocity very well just primeval self-protection instinct. No one with enforceable leverage/clout to grade them morally delinquent!
Matt, it is weren't USD, it would be gold. Just look at where the countries are going that want to divest from the USD.
The USD was a substitute for gold under the Bretton Woods fixed rate convertible monetary system, and USD then became an ersatz substitute when Nixon shut the gold window.
Now that is shift back in favor of gold or another gold substitute for various reasons.
It's like the moron Taibbi who is unqualified in finance and/or systems theory (pretty much unqualified in anything with an arts degree from Bard) creating the metaphor "vampire squid" to explain the GFC....
Why did it go viral?
The "creative people" are more focused on going viral than being accurate. Lots of compensation ( not only monetary) in going viral. Little to none for accuracy.
Think incentives in an environment where wealth, power, and celebrity rule.
We can largely thank Rupert Murdoch for this by successfully introducing the tabloid model of the media.
Taibbi is not original, of course. He is the second generation of gonzo journalism pioneered by people like Paul Krassner and perfected by Hunter S. Thompson.
Why is 'The Walking Dead' going 'viral'? It's the same thing...
People who don't understand something are attracted to the metaphor in place of a technical understanding...
Book marketers know that book sales decline with the amount of math presented as symbols rather than in words.
In a market-based environment, technical specificity doesn't pay. There's almost no market for it.
To understand things technically it takes THOUSANDS of hours if not 10s of thousands of hours of intense training and practice....
Not everybody gets that so it looks like they are instead attracted to the metaphors... it's like a young child that thinks that babies come from "the stork"... same thing... it's a juvenile or very immature level of understanding...
The US political selection process effectively excludes people that are technically competent, and if anyone makes it through the selection process to run, they lose the election if they try to communicate in technical terms.
The US political process is dominated by lawyers rather than nerds.
"dominated by lawyers rather than nerds."
Hard to argue with that...
Matt,
If you and your family lived on the side of the Alps and your only way to get to school was to ski, which many many outside the Swiss cities do for half the year, your family would be sure you started skiing when you were two or three. By the time you were six you could handle it on your own. Again, this is commonplace in Switzerland. You learn to carve the path in the snow that you take later to walk back up the mountainside with your skis on your shoulder.
Just as the Inuit (Eskimos) reportedly have a 100 names for snow, so do the Swiss for atmospheric conditions in the mountains, all of them metaphors. Your father, uncle, and granddad would have taught them to you. They’re shorthand for highly technical conditions and centuries old. (No different than the metaphorical Chinese names for martial arts movements.)
By the time you were 13, you were a pro at maneuvering winter terrain on two sticks.
But let’s say that at the age of 13, you also want to compete in downhill races in Kitzbühel. Your goal now is to win races (in addition to going to school). So you have to train with an expert. You need to understand the ideal angle of your body against the hill to shave seconds and the timing to alter it.
You need to know the technicalities of traversing moguls, carving turns, and ideal pole plants. What does the hill incline degree tell you about the fall line on this specific hill and your best zipper line? How does racing wax compare with regular wax? What about your boots? A million small details to learn and discern.
You don’t need to be taught the basics of expert skiing. You’ve been doing it ‘in your sleep’ since you were three. You grew up knowing the different kinds of snow and powder the weather produces, what happens when the spring slush freezes, and when to sense avalanche danger. You understand ruts. You know what the wind will do to your speed and the effect when the wind direction changes suddenly. It’s in your DNA.
But let’s say you come from Cave Creek, AZ. You grew up in the desert. Ski? Where? Other than on ‘bumps’ in Flagstaff. Or ski camp in Colorado.
But you, too, want to race in Kitzbühel. You’re 18, buff, athletic, and have the ski bug. So you move to Kitzbühel (or wherever the top trainers are perched), get a job at night, and train like crazy during the day. The adage about it taking 10,000 hours of doing something just for starters was never truer for you.
You’re not interested in fucking metaphors. You want to win the goddam race. You need to know the technicalities the “THOUSANDS of hours if not 10s of thousands of hours of intense training and practice” will teach you what the Swiss 13-year-old had mastered by the time he was 15 with his early heuristic training honed by older family members over years of just doing the work, then refining it with technique.
I don’t know if you’ve studied martial arts, but the names for postures (Tai Chi, for example) are nothing but metaphors:
* White Crane Spreads Wings
* Grasp The Bird's Tail
* Pat Horse on High with Thrusting Palm
If you’ve mastered them, knowing these names means you don’t have to bore anyone with your technical explanation of your “10s of thousands of hours of training and practice.” Experts can see you have.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and that’s what a metaphor is.
I don’t know if you’ve studied martial arts, but the names for postures (Tai Chi, for example) are nothing but metaphors:
Not just the Chinese martial art. The whole Chinese language. It's how Chinese people communicate and it's a huge reason why becoming relatively fluent in Chinese is so difficult. Chinese communication is poetic and if you don't know the metaphors you will be lost even though you understand the literal meaning of the words.
BTW, to be considered an accomplished person in China, you have to be a decent poet and calligrapher. These are two sides of the same coin.
You're right, Tom. When I was being taught rudimentary Chinese when I was in Asia, the older teacher I had cracked me up. He could break down every pictogram into what it was showing/diagramming. NEVER forgot them, and learned so much in a jiffy.
For example, Sun. In the I Ching it means eldest daughter (among many many other things). The symbol for it is literally of a girl squatting with her skirt raised and legs apart. That was because the eldest daughter in poor families was often sent out to whore for the family income.
Ezra Pound maintained that every poet should learn Chinese. He called it the most poetic language in the world.
"Vampire squid" wasn't an explanation for the financial crash. It was an insult to Goldman Sachs calculated to put an image both funny and horrifying into the minds of readers.
"It's like the moron Taibbi who is unqualified in finance and/or systems theory. . ."
How many people commenting on this thread have produced "qualifications" in finance and systems theory? What should those qualifications look like? Which schools should one have attended to obtain said qualification? What kind of CV is required? A qualification is an actual thing you can point to and say "I got that."
The Goldman conspiracy theory is almost on the level of the Rothschild one.
But there is some truth to many conspiracy theories, too.
The problem with conspiracy theorist is that they run away with it. But if there were no truth at all, many conspiracy theories would not exists. However, it is also the case some conspiracy theories are based on hoaxes, and the conspiracy theories continue to exist long after the hoaxes are exposed. Some resurface after long periods of dormancy, zombie-like.
On the other hand, there is little doubt that the influence of Big Finance is a powerful one that works largely behind the scenes. Sometimes it comes to notice when alumni proliferate in publicly visible position of power, and not only in the US. Goldman stands out in this regard. Presently, three presidents of Federal Reserve banks and the US Treasury secretary are GS alumni, in addition to several prominent officials in Europe, notably ECB president Mario Draghi. That raises eyebrows, as does three generals in chief positions in the US government, giving the appearance of a military junta.
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