söndag 13, november 2011. Posted at 16:01
Two currencies in Greece?
It seems that there is a third alternative for Greece, not having to choose between the euro and a new drachma - but having both!
I am surprised that this option has not been discussed more, not scarcely mentioned.
The state of Greece can, when there are no euros to pay its employees and old people, pay them instead in a new currency, working parallel with the existing euro.
The Central Bank of Greece can even promise to pay a specific sum in euro for one unit of this new Drachma, e g 10 years from now. In the meantime, the market can establish the exchange rate.
The immediate threat is that the system of payment breaks down in Greece. This could be avoided without the help of the EU, by editing a new currency.
The next threat is still higher unemployment and austerity in investments and exports. A parallel currency would also help against this.
The State of Greece would of course accept this new currency also when it is taxing its citizens.
Competing currencies was discussed 20 years ago, when the ecu was the forerunner to the eu-monopolistic euro.
This is a less revolutionary idea than a return to the gold standard, not to mention a denationalisation of money, which I remember listening to in a lecture in Amsterdam in 1977 by F A Hayek. The Institute of Economic Affairs in London later published Hayek's address to the regional Mont Pelerin meeting there.
lördag 12, november 2011. Posted at 15:51
Förstår eliten att den gjort bort sig?
Frågan ställs i månadens krönika (se Articles november 2011). Herbert Tingstens standardverk från 1933 "Demokratins seger och kris" bildar en dov bakgrund.
1981 var jag med om att organisera ett seminarium i Ratios regi (i Åbo) under ledning av Torgny T Segerstedt på temat "Politikens seger och kris", där underlaget finns publicerat i en bok med samma titel och med samme redaktör. Det temat var inspirerat av Tingstens boktitel.
Sedan dess har Sovjetunionen och världskommunismen som hot försvunnit. Sverige har utvecklats till det bättre. Men samtidigt tornar molnen från 1930-talet åter upp sig.
Aningslöshet är granne med historielöshet - det är min slutsats i den lilla krönikan.