what if the buying power was equal

[StreetCowboy]

One Baht around the turn of the 19th century were 15 grams of pure silver, and there were subdivisions down to 1/6,400 of a Baht. The US$ of the time was 90% silver and had a weight of about 27 grams, both currencies bound by the gold standard. Lets say $1 = 2 Baht a little more than 100 years ago. What happened to cause the divergence since?

[ggold]

Perhaps you fail to see this may come to pass, at least it is a viable possibility.

It also begs the question why it is the way it is and how long will it stay that way?

Your wife / GF would ditch you ?

Dear Kitsune, never intended to join this discussion. We say a fool can ask more questions than a wise can answer.

Be careful with your statements/questions. This particular one implies that all women live with all men for money!

I personally do not have any objections to such a thread. It would be very controversial and stir a lively discussion.

But something tells me you got carried away in this suggestion, so, - be careful.

lets face it every woman has thier price, Its just a question of whether you can afford it!

[David48]

lets face it every woman has thier price, Its just a question of whether you can afford it!

That is a sad statement ... ... lift your game!

.

[boosta]

I personally do not have any objections to such a thread. It would be very controversial and stir a lively discussion.

lets face it every woman has thier price, Its just a question of whether you can afford it!

-

Pretty tiresome when so many threads keep coming back to the same silly topic.

[StreetCowboy]

I personally do not have any objections to such a thread. It would be very controversial and stir a lively discussion.

lets face it every woman has thier price, Its just a question of whether you can afford it!

-

Pretty tiresome when so many threads keep coming back to the same silly topic.

I suppose there is less spleen and bitterness needing to be vented in the topics of currencies and economics, though fortunately with threads such as this we can match them in ignorance and foolishness

It is an interesting and perhaps relevant diversion why the dollar has fared relatively well agains silver, in comparison to the baht, pound or peso

SC

SC

[boosta]

As long as the dollar is

required for international commodity trading especially oil

currency for settlement of government international trade balances

"safe haven" for storing international capital's profits in times of uncertainty, i.e. the Fed and US banksters continue to have the public's trust

Then it will continue to be a very strong store of value.

The actual health of the "main street" US economy is a much less important factor, other than the strength of exports and balance of trade overall

I think #1 will continue to decline, #2 will eventually start to decline, but the big one to watch for is #3, that could collapse like a house of cards if the current "QE" strategies prove to simply be delaying the crash starting in '08 rather than actually fixing anything.

Things seem OK for now, but the ongoing QE has mainly gone into Wall Street, not actually solved underlying problems, and of course Too Big Too Fail is getting worse and worse, major moral hazards have been reinforced not eliminated.

[infinity11]

There is also news of china Russia etc looking away from the dollar to other currencies to trade with.

[infinity11]

As long as the dollar is

required for international commodity trading especially oil

currency for settlement of government international trade balances

"safe haven" for storing international capital's profits in times of uncertainty, i.e. the Fed and US banksters continue to have the public's trust

Then it will continue to be a very strong store of value.

The actual health of the "main street" US economy is a much less important factor, other than the strength of exports and balance of trade overall

I think #1 will continue to decline, #2 will eventually start to decline, but the big one to watch for is #3, that could collapse like a house of cards if the current "QE" strategies prove to simply be delaying the crash starting in '08 rather than actually fixing anything.

Things seem OK for now, but the ongoing QE has mainly gone into Wall Street, not actually solved underlying problems, and of course Too Big Too Fail is getting worse and worse, major moral hazards have been reinforced not eliminated.

#1 #2 #3?

please clarify for us readers

[StreetCowboy]

As long as the dollar is

required for international commodity trading especially oil

currency for settlement of government international trade balances

"safe haven" for storing international capital's profits in times of uncertainty, i.e. the Fed and US banksters continue to have the public's trust

Then it will continue to be a very strong store of value.

The actual health of the "main street" US economy is a much less important factor, other than the strength of exports and balance of trade overall

I think #1 will continue to decline, #2 will eventually start to decline, but the big one to watch for is #3, that could collapse like a house of cards if the current "QE" strategies prove to simply be delaying the crash starting in '08 rather than actually fixing anything.

Things seem OK for now, but the ongoing QE has mainly gone into Wall Street, not actually solved underlying problems, and of course Too Big Too Fail is getting worse and worse, major moral hazards have been reinforced not eliminated.

#1 #2 #3?

please clarify for us readers

I think he meant:

#1 required for international commodity trading especially oil

#2 currency for settlement of government international trade balances

#3 "safe haven" for storing international capital's profits in times of uncertainty, i.e. the Fed and US banksters continue to have the public's trust

SC

Edited June 14, 2013 by StreetCowboy

[boosta]

#1 #2 #3?

please clarify for us readers

-

Sorry

As long as the dollar is

1. required for international commodity trading especially oil
2. currency for settlement of government international trade balances
3. "safe haven" for storing international capital's profits in times of uncertainty, i.e. the Fed and US banksters continue to have the public's trust

Then it will continue to be a very strong store of value.

The actual health of the "main street" US economy is a much less important factor, other than the strength of exports and balance of trade overall

I think #1 will continue to decline, #2 will eventually start to decline, but the big one to watch for is #3, that could collapse like a house of cards if the current "QE" strategies prove to simply be delaying the crash starting in '08 rather than actually fixing anything.

Things seem OK for now, but the ongoing QE has mainly gone into Wall Street, not actually solved underlying problems, and of course Too Big Too Fail is getting worse and worse, major moral hazards have been reinforced not eliminated.

-

Does that help?

-

-

There is also news of china Russia etc looking away from the dollar to other currencies to trade with.

-

That's number two.

Lots of countries talking about this, only a few in a position to actually do anything about it.

Such a scenario is so threatening to US power - we'd actually have to pay interest on the trillions we're borrowing rather than the world lending them to us for nothing, would greatly accelerate the decline and fall of that particular empire - that some speculate such moves were the real reasons behind some of our more recent wars.

-

Another issue I didn't mention is that if the Euro or pound were in better shape that would certainly provide at least some alternative to the USD for these purposes, so their concurrent demise has prolonged the status quo, at least for now.

[infinity11]

#1 #2 #3?

please clarify for us readers

-

Sorry

As long as the dollar is

1. required for international commodity trading especially oil
2. currency for settlement of government international trade balances
3. "safe haven" for storing international capital's profits in times of uncertainty, i.e. the Fed and US banksters continue to have the public's trust

Then it will continue to be a very strong store of value.

The actual health of the "main street" US economy is a much less important factor, other than the strength of exports and balance of trade overall

I think #1 will continue to decline, #2 will eventually start to decline, but the big one to watch for is #3, that could collapse like a house of cards if the current "QE" strategies prove to simply be delaying the crash starting in '08 rather than actually fixing anything.

Things seem OK for now, but the ongoing QE has mainly gone into Wall Street, not actually solved underlying problems, and of course Too Big Too Fail is getting worse and worse, major moral hazards have been reinforced not eliminated.

-

Does that help?

-

-

There is also news of china Russia etc looking away from the dollar to other currencies to trade with.

-

That's number two.

Lots of countries talking about this, only a few in a position to actually do anything about it.

Such a scenario is so threatening to US power - we'd actually have to pay interest on the trillions we're borrowing rather than the world lending them to us for nothing, would greatly accelerate the decline and fall of that particular empire - that some speculate such moves were the real reasons behind some of our more recent wars.

-

Another issue I didn't mention is that if the Euro or pound were in better shape that would certainly provide at least some alternative to the USD for these purposes, so their concurrent demise has prolonged the status quo, at least for now.

Thanks.

i read this numerous times but still could not get a clear picture:

Such a scenario is so threatening to US power - we'd actually have to

pay interest on the trillions we're borrowing rather than the world

lending them to us for nothing, would greatly accelerate the decline and

fall of that particular empire - that some speculate such moves were

the real reasons behind some of our more recent wars.

though i think i know what you mean, maybe

[boosta]

The US is financing it's ongoing accumulation of debt to pay for the Iraq and Afganistan wars and other causes of the government spending deficits by borrowing money. This is done by selling Treasury Bills.

Because the international market sees the US dollar and T-bills as a safe haven for storing value, they buy these bonds at such a high price the effective interest rate has been close to zero (in some cases actually dipped to negative, people paying the US gov to borrow its money!).

If the dollar were less attractive the bond prices would go down, forcing interest rates up, and the US gov would then have to pay a huge proportion of its tax income just to pay this interest on its debts. Right now they're getting a pretty much free ride based on the factors I outlined above.

The rising price of gold greatly threatened the price of the dollar, in effect another "trusted currency" to store value for other countries central banks and large private capital pools, which is why the Fed a few months ago manipulated the market by short-sellingon an unprecedented scale, artificially driving down the gold price on commodity trading markets.

However they weren't as successful driving down the price of physical gold, because as the theoretical price dropped, the Chinese and Indian (and much smaller Thai) markets for the actual metal tried to actually buy at that price, causing shortages of the physical metal and increasing the premium between the paper price and that of the metal.

Only the US banksters can get away with this stuff because of their ability to in effect print money (by buying T-bills on unlimited credit they can create out of thin air), but if/when the rest of the world catches on that the whole house of cards of the US and international banking system and currencies are a house of cards, it's quite possible a major day of reckoning will come.

So far they keep getting away with it, but many think it's just delaying tactics, and the same people are allowed to keep making the same fundamental mistakes, and the "main street" parts of the normal economy just aren't recovering enough to support the financial market prices inflated by the incredible amounts of free credit the Fed's been pumping in for four years now and seems to be set on continuing for the time being.

Gold can't be allowed to keep rising, middle eastern oil producers and the BRICS central bank settlements of balance of trade payments can't be allowed to use Euros or other currencies, the huge banks and brokerages can't be allowed to fail, these trends are IMO inevitable but just like the music publishing industry and online downloading, their heavy-handed tactics seem to be successfully delaying the day of reckoning at least for now.

[infinity11]

Thanks again.

You obviously have given much thought and research.

Once you again you lost me, only at the very end with a reference to the music industry.

Got this in my email today:

(It is for sure a plug but not hype me thinks.)

...As I read this paragraph of Bob Prechter's just-published June issue of The Elliott Wave Theorist, the first word that comes to mind is "riveting." And those are just a few sentences.

In a financial environment that includes:

1. Bonds crashing,
2. Life insurance companies facing devastating collapse,
3. The Japanese Nikkei down 21% since May 23, and
4. The U.S. stock market well off its May 22 top (as the mainstream experts cheerfully assure investors that "stocks are just on sale") ...

... the global markets may never have reached a more critical juncture than where they stand today. Your portfolio may be about to take the ride of its life. Whether that's good or bad for you depends on how well you are prepared....

PM me if you want the whole thing.

[boosta]

The music publishing industry has known for nearly 20 years that their business model is obsolete and they will eventually go the way of the dinosaur. They spend huge amounts on lawyers and lobbyists to delay that day as long as they can and have so far been successful at doing so.

IMO same with the Fed and the fiscal crisis of 2008 - none of the underlying problems were fixed, the foxes were put in even greater charge of the henhouse, they're all allowed to make the same mistakes all over again, the "solution" of continuously pumping created-out-of-thin-air money into the banking/brokerage sectors still continues and is all that's propping up the economy, mostly into propping up financial investments rather than into "main street" industry that creates jobs (real wealth). So far they've staved off the real "correction" but IMO it's inevitable, just a question of when.

[MrWorldwide]

Perhaps you fail to see this may come to pass, at least it is a viable possibility.

It also begs the question why it is the way it is and how long will it stay that way?

Please provide me with a ballpark figure on a vasectomy in your neck of the woods - I'm keen to ensure that your genes aren't passed on to another generation.

Edited June 15, 2013 by MrWorldwide

[boosta]

Gee that's not nice, just for the crime of not expressing ideas clearly?

[infinity11]

The music publishing industry has known for nearly 20 years that their business model is obsolete and they will eventually go the way of the dinosaur. They spend huge amounts on lawyers and lobbyists to delay that day as long as they can and have so far been successful at doing so.

IMO same with the Fed and the fiscal crisis of 2008 - none of the underlying problems were fixed, the foxes were put in even greater charge of the henhouse, they're all allowed to make the same mistakes all over again, the "solution" of continuously pumping created-out-of-thin-air money into the banking/brokerage sectors still continues and is all that's propping up the economy, mostly into propping up financial investments rather than into "main street" industry that creates jobs (real wealth). So far they've staved off the real "correction" but IMO it's inevitable, just a question of when.

How could it NOT happen?

Thanks for the clarification.

Pretcher forecasts deflation when the credit available will shrink, and then inflation, who knows for sure?

Are we not all at the mercy of (private) central banks?

[boosta]

Well those that control pools of capital in the largest quantities will certainly try to find ways to preserve the value of that capital if the dollar heads south.

Flight to other better-managed currencies will cause deflation in those countries.

Bottom line globally is too much liquid paper-wealth chasing too little real value.

The currently-minor currencies just aren't large enough to take up the slack worldwide, so then commodities - not least gold and real estate - will have to substitute. So major inflationary forces there, mostly hitting the poorly-managed currencies.

[Kitsune]

Well those that control pools of capital in the largest quantities will certainly try to find ways to preserve the value of that capital if the dollar heads south.

Flight to other better-managed currencies will cause deflation in those countries.

Bottom line globally is too much liquid paper-wealth chasing too little real value.

The currently-minor currencies just aren't large enough to take up the slack worldwide, so then commodities - not least gold and real estate - will have to substitute. So major inflationary forces there, mostly hitting the poorly-managed currencies.

+1

[boosta]

+1

-

Dear Kettle,

I'm not sure why you're responding to it seems absolutely every thread from the past three weeks.

You may have noticed there is a little green box with a check mark labeled "Like This".

That does the same thing as your "+1" without causing the thread to jump to the top and making everyone think that someone has contributed something of value to the thread.

Yours truly,

Pot

[Kitsune]

+1

-

Dear Kettle,

I'm not sure why you're responding to it seems absolutely every thread from the past three weeks.

You may have noticed there is a little green box with a check mark labeled "Like This".

That does the same thing as your "+1" without causing the thread to jump to the top and making everyone think that someone has contributed something of value to the thread.

Yours truly,

Pot

Oh I am so silly next time I will use the magic button thanks!

Yours truly

Pet

[David48]

^^ Kitsune ... I helped you with a 'like' above.

I must be awfully thick ... I've read the OP a few times, yet still to comprehend any logic in fiscal terms the sensibility of what the OP is about.

It just keeps reading to me that if the Baht and the Pound or Dollar or Euro were at parity levels, the Thai would be uber rich?

How might it be different ... ???

The UK Pensions thread would explode ...

.

[Kitsune]

^^ Kitsune ... I helped you with a 'like' above.

I must be awfully thick ... I've read the OP a few times, yet still to comprehend any logic in fiscal terms the sensibility of what the OP is about.

It just keeps reading to me that if the Baht and the Pound or Dollar or Euro were at parity levels, the Thai would be uber rich?

How might it be different ... ???

The UK Pensions thread would explode ...

.

Just call me Kettle

[boosta]

Yes the question never got clarified

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/645962-what-if-the-buying-power-was-equal/?p=6503692

[Kitsune]

its the buying power not the exchange rate

[David48]

^^ Kitsune ... I helped you with a 'like' above.

I must be awfully thick ... I've read the OP a few times, yet still to comprehend any logic in fiscal terms the sensibility of what the OP is about.

It just keeps reading to me that if the Baht and the Pound or Dollar or Euro were at parity levels, the Thai would be uber rich?

How might it be different ... ???

The UK Pensions thread would explode ...

.

Just call me Kettle

In relation to me ... you just don't know how close you are with the truth in that ole' expression.

PS ... you still owe me a PM reply from about a week ago ... ... just a gentle nudge ...

.

Edited June 15, 2013 by David48

[Kitsune]

^^ Kitsune ... I helped you with a 'like' above.

I must be awfully thick ... I've read the OP a few times, yet still to comprehend any logic in fiscal terms the sensibility of what the OP is about.

It just keeps reading to me that if the Baht and the Pound or Dollar or Euro were at parity levels, the Thai would be uber rich?

How might it be different ... ???

The UK Pensions thread would explode ...

.

Just call me Kettle

In relation to me ... you just don't know how close you are with the truth in that ole' expression.

PS ... you still owe me a PM reply from about a week ago ... ... just a gentle nudge ...

.

and I guess I will never know ...

[ABCer]

Gee that's not nice, just for the crime of not expressing ideas clearly?

Boosta, Infinity and S.Cowboy, please continue with your arguments and excuse my interruption.

May I recommend: Paul Erdman. "The Panic of '89" Fascinating reading, you will not regret losing time... And it isn't Sci-Fi.

[boosta]

May I recommend: Paul Erdman. "The Panic of '89" Fascinating reading, you will not regret losing time... And it isn't Sci-Fi.

-

As far as literary merit goes, meh, I suppose reasonably sketched characters for a thriller, but their motivations didn't seem fleshed out completely, and failed to capture the total disregard for public interest by the foxes guarding the henhouses.

But you're right from an economics POV he was pretty spot on in general terms, just put the blame on third world debt rather than in internal bubble.

IMO a good example of a writer maybe inadvertantly tapping into the collective unconscious enough to predict the future, William Gibson was another that way regarding tech - and a MUCH better writer.

Edited June 17, 2013 by boosta