I don't know about the Soviet Union. However, there has been much discussion
lately from economic reform groups about the merits of borrowing from the
Bank of Canada rather than from private lenders.
As I understand it, the Bank of Canada would charge the government interest
comparable to a private bank. However, since the B of C is an agency of the
government, all that it earned in interest would go into the general
revenues of the government, minus a small administration fee.
Walter Stewart mentions this in a book published a few years ago (the title
of which escapes me), but for some reason our government seems to prefer
enriching private or even foreign bankers.
Victor Milne
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "futurework" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 9:13 AM
Subject: Fw: Musings on the FTAA
>
> Visit my rebuilt website at:
> http://members.eisa.com/~ec086636/
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ed Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "john courtneidge" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 9:11 AM
> Subject: Re: Musings on the FTAA
>
>
> >
> > > An appeal for information (not riding a hobby horse: honest)
> > >
> > > Does anyone know if the former USSR had a National Debt at the time of
> its
> > > collapse: was this a factor?
> > >
> > > hugs
> > >
> > > john
> > >
> > > ******************
> >
> > A very interesting question. Personally, I don't think they looked at
> > things that way. Since everything belonged to the state, the state was
> > simply appropriating its own resources for various public purposes, and
> > therefore didn't owe anybody anything for the use of those resources.
> >
> > A national debt implies that a government owes someone something. In a
> > democracy, the state must appropriate income from private individuals in
> > order to operate. If it cannot appropriate enough through taxes, etc.,
it
> > has to borrow (from individuals or banks or whatever) and therefore
> > accumulates a debt.
> >
> > It is probable that the USSR had to borrow abroad for some purposes, and
> may
> > thus have accumulated a foreign debt, but I must admit I really don't
know
> > enough about it.
> >
> > Ed Weick
> >
> > Visit my rebuilt website at:
> > http://members.eisa.com/~ec086636/
> >
> >
> >
>
