DPC Fisher schooners at ‘T’ wharf, Boston 1904 A principle commonly known as Gresham’s law, though it can be dated as far back as Biblical times, not just the 16th century its namesake lived in, states that bad money drives out good money. It was used to address what happens when bits of metal are ‘shaved’ off coins, or alloys with cheaper metal are introduced, or counterfeits: people tend to keep what is perceived as ‘good’, more valuable, and spend
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Dorothea Lange Missouri drought family on U.S. 99 near Tracy, California February 1937 If we get even the simplest things wrong, and we do it on a consistent basis, because we lack the tools to look beyond our noses, then what chance do we have of getting the bigger and harder things right? A point I’ve often belabored, and will again a thousand times because it’s the very essence of what we get wrong, is growth, or rather our myopic
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John Vachon Times Square on a rainy day March 1943 Oh Japan, what are you doing, where are you going? As Japanese consumer prices rose 3.4% in May (and I do wish people would stop calling this inflation, it is not and never will be), consumer spending was down -8.9% (!). That is from a year earlier, so it has nothing to do with the April 1 tax hike! It’s an insane number when you think about it, and it’s
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Dorothea Lange Oklahoma drought refugee family near Lordsburg, New Mexico May 1937 I had seen the reports on Italy and Britain preparing to add heroin and hookers to their GDP, but I had put that down to some kind of desperate quirkiness. Now, though, I heard today that this is actually due to an EU directive, and the number crunchers at Eurostat demand countries obey this newfound accounting magic trick. Even saw someone claim that the reason behind it is
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Harris & Ewing Kids, police motorcycles with sidecars, and streetcar, WashingtonDC 1922 I’m going to step into uncharted territory, a for lack of a better word philosophical theme that I’ve long had on my mind but can’t quite figure out completely yet, and I would like you to tell me how much of it you recognize, or that maybe I’m a total fool for looking at things the way I do. You see, I often have this notion that we
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John Vachon Soft drinks and war bonds truck, Montgomery AL March 1943 The age of financial innnovations found such an exalted high priest in Alan Greenspan that in his days as Fed governor he couldn’t stop talking about the dangers of regulating them, even though that was in his job description, and even though he had far too little detailed knowledge of them. His sidekicks over at the Treasury, Bob Rubin and Larry Summers, made sure their friends at Citi
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Russell Lee Young flood refugee in schoolhouse, Sikeston, Missouri January 1937 Can you see what’s wrong with this picture? Over the weekend, the US released $572 million in ‘military aid’ to Egypt, at the same time that an Egyptian court confirmed the death sentences for 183 Muslim Brotherhood members/supporters, a Canadian and an Australian journalist were sentenced to 7-10 years maximum security prison for a conspiracy “to tarnish Egypt’s reputation and aiding the Muslim Brotherhood”, while 15 others, including two
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Russell Lee Old-timer ‘cornering the market’ in Shawneetown, IL April 1937 Jean-Claude Juncker, a former Luxembourg PM, claims that his EU-wide center right faction, the European People’s Party, “won” last month’s European Parliament elections, but something is not what it seems. They’re the largest faction, that’s true enough, but they had to concede 44 of their seats. In other words, while they claim a win, in reality it was a big loss. Which, in democratic systems, represents a call for
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Tesla Studios Engineering class, Wanganui Technical College, New Zealand Sep 26 1916 Today, we give you another little gem from Nelson Lebo, our dear friend in Wanganui, New Zealand, who equates the inertia in debt (economy) with that of heat (climate), a smart idea that makes a lot of – explanatory – sense. But first, here’s a picture of Nicole and I back in April 2012 (that’s a kitten named Billy T I’m holding in my arms) at the Lebo
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William Rittase Production line at Pioneer Parachute Co., Manchester, CT August 1942 The Financial Times started a series on shadow banking this week, which should be obligatory reading material for everyone who’d like a peek behind the veiled curtain that hides from scrutiny those things financial that would rather not be exposed to daylight, both in the west and – obviously by now – in Asia. Obligatory reading material doesn’t mean everything Financial Times journalists write should be taken for
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