96
Trojan Horse
4
terms
2
notes
97
[...] The gold standard was underpinned by the idea of depoliticizing money by linking its quantity to the amount of gold--a metal that politicians could not conjure up from thin air since it was provided exogenously by nature. Today the same fantasy of apolitical money can be foudn not just in the construction of a European central bank that is answerable to no parliament [...] but also in newfound digital currencies like Bitcoin, whose selling point is the absence of political authority over them. Margaret Thatcher's precious point was that controlling interest rates and the supply of money is a quintessentially political activity which, if removed from the purview of a democratically elected parliament, would occasion a steady descent into authoritarianism.
[...] The gold standard was underpinned by the idea of depoliticizing money by linking its quantity to the amount of gold--a metal that politicians could not conjure up from thin air since it was provided exogenously by nature. Today the same fantasy of apolitical money can be foudn not just in the construction of a European central bank that is answerable to no parliament [...] but also in newfound digital currencies like Bitcoin, whose selling point is the absence of political authority over them. Margaret Thatcher's precious point was that controlling interest rates and the supply of money is a quintessentially political activity which, if removed from the purview of a democratically elected parliament, would occasion a steady descent into authoritarianism.
libretto
(en)
(noun) the text of a work (as an opera) for the musical theater / (noun) the book containing a libretto (from Italian)
111
the libretto of France's defeat had been written back in 1983
confirm
7 years, 4 months ago
the libretto of France's defeat had been written back in 1983
confirm
7 years, 4 months ago
Teutonic
(en)
(noun) germanic
114
convince German voters that monetary union was Germanizing France and exporting Teutonic discipline to Latin Europe, turning grasshoppers into ants rather than importing French sloth into Germany
notable
7 years, 4 months ago
convince German voters that monetary union was Germanizing France and exporting Teutonic discipline to Latin Europe, turning grasshoppers into ants rather than importing French sloth into Germany
notable
7 years, 4 months ago
Plaza Accord
(en)
(or, Plaza Agreement) between France, West Germany, Japan, the US, and the UK, to depreciate the U.S. dollar in relation to the Japanese yen and German Deutsche Mark by intervening in currency markets, in 1985
116
By the Plaza Accord, struck in 1985, Tokyo was forced to appreciate the yen substantially in relation to the dollar, with the Deutsche Mark compelled to follow suit.
notable
7 years, 4 months ago
By the Plaza Accord, struck in 1985, Tokyo was forced to appreciate the yen substantially in relation to the dollar, with the Deutsche Mark compelled to follow suit.
notable
7 years, 4 months ago
Louvre Accord
(en)
an agreement, signed on February 22, 1987 in Paris, that aimed to stabilize the international currency markets and halt the continued decline of the US Dollar caused by the Plaza Accord; signed by France, West Germany, Japan, Canada, the US and the UK
116
By 1987 the dollar had devalued to levels that were jeopardizing Wall Street . in the same year a G7 meeting was held in Paris at which American officials pushed the opposite way, towards a strengthening of the dollar. At that meeting, which is now known as the Louvre Accord, Washington bullied the Europeans into accepting coordinated efforts to strengthen the dollar.
notable
7 years, 4 months ago
By 1987 the dollar had devalued to levels that were jeopardizing Wall Street . in the same year a G7 meeting was held in Paris at which American officials pushed the opposite way, towards a strengthening of the dollar. At that meeting, which is now known as the Louvre Accord, Washington bullied the Europeans into accepting coordinated efforts to strengthen the dollar.
notable
7 years, 4 months ago
117
[...] France's treasury director at the time, a certain Jean-Claude Trichet, expressed the French authorities' hubris admirably. In a bid to refute the plain truth that the Deutsche Mark was the anchor keeping the EMS-ERM system grounded, he denied the dominance of the German currency with the extraordinary statement that 'the anchor of the [EMS] system is the system itself'.
Incapable of grasping the finer aspects of French postmodern sophistry, Bundesbank officials were aghast. [...]
this is actually so funny
[...] France's treasury director at the time, a certain Jean-Claude Trichet, expressed the French authorities' hubris admirably. In a bid to refute the plain truth that the Deutsche Mark was the anchor keeping the EMS-ERM system grounded, he denied the dominance of the German currency with the extraordinary statement that 'the anchor of the [EMS] system is the system itself'.
Incapable of grasping the finer aspects of French postmodern sophistry, Bundesbank officials were aghast. [...]
this is actually so funny