Short Quiz

Post Reply
johnkarls
Posts: 2034
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Short Quiz

Post by johnkarls »

.
1. What is “fiat currency”?

2. In addition to not being convertible into anything (for example, the U.S. dollar after President Nixon took it off the Gold Standard and the British Pound Sterling which is no longer convertible into 16 ounces of silver), is “fiat currency” as we have studied in the past, nothing more than a zero-coupon infinite-term debt obligation of the country or countries that issued it?

3. What two super-powers during the last 80 years saw their “fiat currencies” become worthless?

4. On what currencies did the economies of those two super-powers run after their own currencies became worthless?

5. What happened economically to those two countries as they adjusted to running on a foreign currency?

6. What happened sociologically to those two countries during the years that were required to adjust to running on a foreign currency?

7. In addition to everyone starving who couldn’t grow/catch/shoot her/his own food or wasn’t lucky enough to become a successful whore or pimp, is there a permanent problem associated with a country running on a foreign currency?

8. As we have studied in the past, which countries are the “problem children” of the European Union and, for each, how large was the national debt in comparison to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?

9. What is the amount of the U.S. national debt? How does it compare to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?

10. How does President Obama’s most-recently-proposed 10-year budget that was defeated 97-0 by the U.S. Senate earlier this year, compare to the 10-year “Base Line” of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that the CBO uses for measuring whether a legislative proposal is “revenue neutral” or, in the case of deficit-reduction proposals, for measuring the amount of the reduction?

11. What will be the amount of U.S. national debt at the end of the 10 years according to President Obama’s 10-year budget? According to the 10-year “Base Line” used by the CBO?

12. How will the level of U.S. national debt as proposed by President Obama (and the “Base Line” level used by the CBO) compare to GDP?

13. Did the CBO certify President Obama’s new health care program as “revenue neutral” because the bill’s sponsors claimed (A) they would steal $500 billion from Medicare to help pay for it (even though Medicare itself is going bankrupt), (B) they would dump $500 billion of increased Medicaid costs on the states (even though the states each have one foot in Bankruptcy Court and the other foot on a banana peel), and (C) the new long-term-care governmental-insurance feature which the Obama Administration recently abandoned, would rake in premiums during the 10-year period in return for Tsunami-sized payouts after the 10-year focus of the federal budget (and the cynical sponsors of the legislation knew the U.S. government does not use proper insurance accounting that would require setting aside “unearned premiums and reserves” to cover the Tsunami-sized losses)?

14. How will the looming level of U.S. debt over the next 10 years increase if the CBO now recognizes that (A) the $500 billion cannot be stolen from Medicare because it is also going bankrupt, (B) the federal government has to increase state Medicaid support by $500 billion since the states can’t afford the increased Medicaid cost that was dumped on them, and (C) the Obama Administration has abandoned the long-term-care premiums over the next 10 years in order to avoid the Tsunami-sized payouts after the end of the federal budget’s 10-year focus?

15. As we have studied in the past, isn’t a European Nation’s guaranteeing the debt of its banks a fatal mistake?

16. Then why would the European Union in general, and France/Germany in particular, still be judged sane if they either permitted the European Central Bank (ECB) which issues Euros, to guarantee (or purchase) the national bonds issued by Greece, Italy or Spain, or to guarantee the debt of European banks whose holdings of the bonds of those three countries exceed the banks’ net worths?

17. What did “QE2” mean from 1969 to 2008?

18. What has “QE2” meant since 2010?

19. Has the U.K. recently engaged in “Quantitative Easing” (i.e., printing money)?

20. Has the ECB recently engaged in “Quantitative Easing” (i.e., printing money)? Why not?

21. Has the U.S. Federal Reserve recently engaged in an overt THIRD ROUND of “Quantitative Easing” (i.e., printing money) = “QE3”?

22. Has the U.S. Federal Reserve recently engaged in a STEALTH “QE3”?

23. Why did the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (among others) fail to inquire about the particulars of the mid-September STEALTH “QE3” to flood the European Central Bank (ECB) with enough dollars to keep Italy and Spain afloat through the end of the year?

24. In the wake of the refusal of the Federal Reserve to provide any details about its mid-September STEALTH “QE3” (and the failure of the media to ask for such details), what would likely be the “worst case scenario” for how many additional dollars Fed Chairman Bernanke has committed to print by year end and send to the ECB?

25. What is Fed Chairman Bernanke’s authority for “quantitative easing” in general and the STEALTH “QE3” in particular?

26. If one focuses on the other responsibility of the Federal Reserve (preventing inflation), is it helpful to analogize the U.S. economy to a human corpse which normally contains about 10 pints of blood and then consider the effect on inflation of transfusing into the corpse another 10 pints of blood and calling the transfusions “quantitative easing”? What would be the effect when the corpse finally comes back to life of having all that extra blood?

27. Who is Jon Corzine? What is currently meant by the phrase “Pulling a Corzine” (vs. what may also soon be meant by the phrase “Pulling a Corzine")?

28. Has Fed Chairman Bernanke “pulled a Corzine” vis-à-vis the STEALTH “QE3”?

29. Did Fed Chairman Bernanke realize he had “pulled a Corzine” when he dispatched his self-proclaimed “twin,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, to an emergency meeting of Euro-Zone Finance Ministers shortly after the announcement of “QE3” in mid-September to lecture them that they will just have to guarantee the debt of their “problem children” countries and guarantee the debt of their banks in order to save Bernanke (and, though presumably not also mentioned, save Corzine)? Did the Euro-Zone Finance Ministers laugh Geithner out of the room?

30. Of what were House Democratic Leader and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several of her Congressional colleagues, recently accused?

31. Would it also be “insider trading” if it were discovered that Pelosi and the self-proclaimed “twins” (since they claim to work so closely together), Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, had been making short-term windfalls on going long/short on Euros with advance knowledge of the various policies (such as the STEALTH “QE3”) that the “twins” have implemented?

Post Reply

Return to “Participant Comments - Balanced-Budget Amendments & Redeeming National Debt With “Wallpaper” In Both Europe and the U.S. - December 14th”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests