The Economics of the Anglo Disease | 48 comments (48 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: I'm not sure I get this right... (4.00 / 2)

The transnats who plan ahead will attempt to capture tangible assets, rather than leave their fortunes in paper money, because when the music stops, the value of paper money will be a matter of political negotiation.

If the music really stops, then even the ownership of tangible assets will be a matter of political negotiations. As Chris likes to point out, property is a relationship, not an object. It ceases to be yours the moment force is no longer applied on your behalf to maintain exclusive rights. For this reason, if I where the Chinese lending money to the US, I would not be all too comfortable owning physical assets in the US either.

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Mon Jan 12th, 2009 at 11:00:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: I'm not sure I get this right... (none / 1)

True. But if the music really stops in a way that makes the US seriously reassess property ownership by the transnats, the world is going to be a quite different place. That would take something not too far short of a revolution. Which means that all political relationships - alliances, geostrategy, distribution of wealth, political power, everything - would be up for grabs to some extent or another.

Trying to grasp what the world will look like on the other side of such a fundamental discontinuity is, I think, more in the realm of tea-leaf reading than political analysis.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Mon Jan 12th, 2009 at 03:00:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

But consider Czarist Russia, the Soviet Union ... (none / 1)

... and modern Russia ... authoritarian strong man governments with local barons behind the scenes putting limits on the reach of the strong man's authority seems to persist through some of the biggest political disruptions imaginable.

Its reasonable to presume that the less dystopian scenarios will involve a rise of regional blocs, since that's what's tended to happen before. It is, after all, not the first time in the world-system that a wave of globalization under the cover of a capitalist hegemony has come to an end, and it seems to be more or less variations on a theme.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Mon Jan 12th, 2009 at 04:07:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The structures survive... (none / 1)

... but not all the strongmen and barons do. And it seems hard to predict which strongmen and barons will come out ahead. Lots of randomness in revolutions, and it's a lot easier to cut a guy's head off than it is to reattach it...

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Mon Jan 12th, 2009 at 04:12:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Precisely, the structure survive, even when ... (4.00 / 2)

... there is almost 100% turnover in the incumbents in the roles and even when the role themselves have dramatically different names and supporting folkviews.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Mon Jan 12th, 2009 at 04:49:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The Economics of the Anglo Disease | 48 comments (48 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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