At 12:57 PM -0400 06/10/2001, Samuel Mc Kee wrote:
>> e-gold
>> is like gold. It's apolitical stuff, just a currency!
>
>I respectfully disagree.
>
>Currency is about as political as one can get. Manipulating the currency
>system is a purely political process, every move made for political, not
>economic, reasons.
>
>An apolitical currency is kind of like an "apolitical" judge. I love to
>complain about judges legislating from the bench, rewriting the law to suit
>their own political bent. The judges who don't do that, who rule on the
>basis of what the law says instead of what they want it to say, are often
>described as being above politics, but in fact, by insisting that the law
>means what it actually says, they are taking a very political position (and
>a very good one, I might add).
>
Well said.
>It's the same with gold. That a gold-backed currency can't be manipulated
>like the politically-controlled fiat currencies does not make gold
>apolitical; it simply makes it the opposition. It's just not possible to be
>apolitical about gold.
>
I see your point (and feel the same way, don't even get me started
on the Ninth Amendment -- and my low level of respect for lawyers
who choose to ignore it rather than trying to repeal it!). Au is certainly
the most emotional spot on the periodic table of elements, and we
all know that politics is much more about emotion than logic. Money
is certainly an emotional, if not political, thing -- and the distinction
between politics and emotion here can be vanishingly small.
OTOH, e-gold Ltd. doesn't seem to deliberately tweak governments'
noses like my friend Boggs does. They'd never think of plastering
"Red Gold We Trust" on their page in the midst of a Chinese-money
political scandal, for example. http://jrw.sphinx.org/gifs/boggs.gif has
a pic of what USED to, and may someday again, be my Boggs $50.
(I can't believe I bought it -- and then sold it -- for so cheap! Drat!)
e-gold Ltd. seems to try to be as apolitical as possible. They have a
few advantages over nation-states, too. No armies to arm and feed,
no welfare-state to feed (and try to keep DIS-armed), a well-written
contract and disinterested third parties looking over their shoulders,
a limited purpose, a willingness to be short-term unpopular where
politicians would not, etc. Finally, nation states may find that e-gold
offers advantages that other methods of gold-storage don't, but I'm
not going to talk about that (even though it's true!) because none of
the world's nation-states have gotten that particular clue (yet!).
>
>On the "on-topic" front, I'd like to make a suggestion. How about an
>Of-Interest-to-E-Golders list for topics that may or may not be E-Gold
>related but that would be of interest to the "typical" (as if there's any
>such thing!) subscriber to this list. There are plenty of free listservers
>out there, so it would be a snap to set up.
I guess so, but there are already lists like that out there, so doing
that might be reinventing the wheel. Another option might be to
make more use of http://www.free-market.net/forums/e-gold0009/
where libertarian (and other) opinions are welcome.
The problem there is the antiquated software used. What's needed,
and what I've offered a reward for, is Slashdot-type software but with
a way to BUY MODERATOR POINTS WITH e-gold!! I discuss this at
length at: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=01/06/09/0232232&cid=113
and I figure if I keep ranting about wanting to buy mod-points some
competent programmer will write the code and get the 10 grams, if
only to finally shut me up! ;)
JMR
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