I mentioned this in the previous note. But re. the English Act of 1844, here's an interesting anecdote:
http://chestofbooks.com/finance/economics/Commerce-and-Finance/English-Banking-Bank-Of-England-Peel-s-Act-1844-One-Rese.html "But the panics of 1847, 1857 and 1866 were not prevented by the stability of the currency, and in fact the panic of 1866 was only allayed by the announcement that the Bank of England had authority from the government to issue notes in excess of the redemption fund on hand. On the worst day of the panic, May 11, 1866, called "Black Friday," the bank found its reserve in the Banking Department reduced to nearly £3,000,000 at the close of business. That evening the chancellor of the exchequer recommended that the bank act be suspended, and this was promptly done by the government. The announcement on the following morning that the Bank of England had authority to issue notes beyond the limit to whatever extent was necessary, quieted the fears of the people, and affairs returned to their normal condition." So, the Act of 1844 was aimed at currency "stability." The more the law was enforced, the more fearful people became of the economy collapsing, and the more they rushed to metal. By the Bank of England easing credit, expectations shifted. Or, as Marx puts it, the "faith" in the continuous reproduction of capitalism, weakened by the law, recovered. As people expected the economy to recover sooner, they felt more comfortable retaining or taking non-liquid assets. The big task is to help working people realize that, when crises erupts, their first instinct shouldn't be towards switching their retirement accounts into Treasuries or gold, because in their current state of consciousness they appear as incarnations of social power in its more fluid or "liquid" form (they are not, they're freaking paper and metal), but turning to their own unity, organization, and taking over the world, because that's where the social productive powers truly lie. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
