Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

I've recently read and reviewed a book from Princeton University Press entitled HOW GLOBAL CURRENCIES WORK, by Barry Eichengreen, Arnaud Mehlm and Livia Chitu. Two of those authors are affiliated with the European Central Bank. I won't discuss here the main thesis of the book, which I summarized with my usual panache in my review for AllAboutAlpha. Instead, I'll take up a subsidiary point: the role of the Japanese yen on the world scene. There was a time when Japan was seen as the rising economic superpower. If through the 1970s and 1980s, a random individual of average intelligence and just slightly above average interest in following the world's financial news had been asked, "Is the US dollar going to remain the world's central currency for a long time yet and, if not, what might be its replacement?" that person's answer might well have been, "no it won't, and the yen will replace it." But the yen didn't. Nowadays it is ...

The back-and-forth over whether Greece (1) wants to stay in the Eurozone, or (2) if it doesn't, whether it will be able to leave, and (3) if it does, whether it will be able to stay, continues, and indeed intensifies. Back in April I wrote here: The problem seems to be that there is no 'clean' way for Greece to leave the Eurozone. Bringing back the drachma would require at the least an extremely complicated period of transition, one with which the rest of Europe would have no incentive to co-operate. So the Eurozone is like the roach motel of yore. Roaches check in, but they can't check out. Yet there is no a priori reason to believe that the single monetary policy maintained by the European Central Bank and related authorities is best for all the countries involved. So one might naturally hope that thought will be given to an orderly exit mechanism. -------------------- I still believe that statement, though brief and simplistic, is roughly speaking a soun...

Bitcoin, in itself and as a paradigm for other crypto-currencies on the same model, is a powerful alternative to state-controlled monetary systems. Politicians have refused over decades to harden money, in essence because they are in bed with the central bankers who control the fiat system. In this circumstance, markets are seeking a work-around, a way of hardening their own currencies, and that is what bitcoin means as a historical development. The free range non-proprietray nature of the system is a large part of its appeal. Thus, the news that JP Morgan is trying to put up fences in this very range is distressing. Yet Ian Allison reported on exactly that back in August.  http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/barbarians-gate-jp-morgan-bitcoin-driven-payment-revolution-1460765

Greece is dominating financial news just now.  I'll keep my thought for today quite brief, though the subject is complicated. The problem seems to be that there is no 'clean' way for Greece to leave the Eurozone. Bringing back the drachma would require at the least an extremely complicated period of transition, one with which the rest of Europe would have no incentive to co-operate. So the Eurozone is like the roach motel of yore. Roaches check in, but they can't check out. Yet there is no a priori reason to believe that the single monetary policy maintained by the Europen Central Bank and related authorities is best for all the countries involved. So one might naturally hope that thought will be given to an orderly exit mechanism.