tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post7006818808119857688..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Short TakesBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-67346025116448525392017-03-24T08:50:49.181-05:002017-03-24T08:50:49.181-05:00Yes, I'm Canadian. Have a look at my bio on th...Yes, I'm Canadian. Have a look at my bio on the right hand side for the gory details!<br /><br />I confess that while I have read in economics and have a lot of practical experience in the market, my understanding of international high-level economics is pretty meagre. But oh how I wish it were true that "debt" were an anachronistic illusion!Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-37245317954514386752017-03-23T15:45:15.178-05:002017-03-23T15:45:15.178-05:00Bryan I seem to recall you mentioning both that yo...Bryan I seem to recall you mentioning both that you are Canadian and that you reside in Mexico, at least when not in Spain. Of course, sometimes I can't tell the difference between my memory and my imagination, so I imagine I may not remember correctly.<br /><br />Nonetheless, I've been thinking of you as Canadian and gradually becoming more bothered that my replies to your thoughtful cultural commentaries are myopically American, though at least I am aware of my ignorance of Canadian history and culture. Perhaps it shows how little I know to list my familiarities with Canadian culture: Bachmann-Turner-Overdrive was one of my favorite rock bands in the early 1970s (when I was in Catholic grade school in Illinois), and later I came to love the music of Neil Young (who I saw twice in concert) and Rush (who I saw once in concert). Also I have a friend who was born in Canada (Montreal I think) and who graduated McGill before going to Oxford University. But I don't even know how to place him, seems to spend most of his time in USA, yet despises our culture (and our food), has deep criticisms of globalization, and seems "loyal" above all to Israel. But a great friend, however hard to "place", and I still think of him as Canadian.<br /><br />Regarding "fractional reserve banking," I don't find it as disturbing as you seem to, especially when applied to good use, such as new home construction. In fact, despite my disgust with "Modern Monetary Theory" (MMT) because it disregards the loss of a nation's productive capacity and instead praises trade deficits as "getting something for nothing," still I find persuasive and potentially liberating the central idea that a monetarily sovereign nation that has exited the gold standard (such as the USA) truly does create money by fiat and needs tax not to pay its bills but rather only to remove spending power from the economy to avoid inflation. That leaves the potential to do a lot of good or bad (or both) with the government spending of that fiat currency, and makes the "debt" an illusion, an anachronistic yet powerful holdover concept (illusion) from the days of bullion money. I realize "fractional reserve banking" of bank-created money is not quite exactly the same thing, yet the parallels and implications seem pretty similar, with only differences of scale and, in theory at least, of democratic accountability in government (another illusion).Will Wilkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01997868915978439364noreply@blogger.com