11–20 of 123 posts
if there was a time the ruling classes would argue for lies in the national interest, its war time.
I cannot imagine a government embarking on war who would say "well.. we asked you to fund it, but alas, the city said we're losing so the bond wasn't there and we've decided to cancel the war"
Another aspect of the british war debt, is that it was carried for hundreds of years. Rolling the specific consols into a unified public debt and then eradicating it wiped out the history of people sitting on long-tail bond payments from wreakage of the South Sea Bubble onwards. Basically, until they rolled them up you could have a stable (if low rate of return) income denominated in Napoleonic war debt, if you wante…
Another aspect of the british war debt, is that it was carried for hundreds of years. Rolling the specific consols into a unified public debt and then eradicating it wiped out the history of people sitting on long-tail bond payments from wreakage of the South Sea Bubble onwards. Basically, until they rolled them up you could have a stable (if low rate of return) income denominated in Napoleonic war debt, if you wante…
- Tsar-era government debt had understandingly been repudiated by the communist government and mostly traded as a collector's item, with individual bonds framed or used as bathroom wallpaper or just chucked out. But enough of it was still in peoples' hands that the USSR had to pay it off before they could get access to to debt markets in the 80s.
- IG Farben shares continued to be listed and traded into the 21st century. I remember in the 80s a few crass English friends of mine who worked in the City bought and sold some shares, mainly amused that a Reichsmark-Sterling exchange rate was still available and in fact fluctuated, entirely for the trading of this one "asset".
Finance can be weird, yet hard nosed sometimes.
underwriting happens. sometimes its banks. sometimes its the (state) bank. if there was a time the ruling classes would argue for lies in the national interest, its war time. I cannot imagine a government embarking on war who would say "well.. we asked you to fund it, but alas, the city said we're losing so the bond wasn't there and we've decided to cancel the war"
I wonder why they bothered going through with the fake bond purchase, rather than simply manipulate the published numbers of bonds sold? Unless the Bank was also keeping it a secret from central government?
It was a real bond purchase. The money just came from the Bank of England reserves, and the BoE was private at the time (although had very strong links to the Government). Eg: The episode marked an important step on the Bank’s transformation from private institution to a central bank.. A decade after the Armistice, the altered role of the Bank prompted creation of a Parliamentary commission to examine its functions,…
I believe that's what was meant by "fake". In other words, inauthentic.
As far as the transformation from "private institution" to central bank, are you suggesting that this was a form of Open Market Operations?
(2017) should probably be added to the title. Really enjoyed this and noticed the published date after I read it.
Another aspect of the british war debt, is that it was carried for hundreds of years. Rolling the specific consols into a unified public debt and then eradicating it wiped out the history of people sitting on long-tail bond payments from wreakage of the South Sea Bubble onwards. Basically, until they rolled them up you could have a stable (if low rate of return) income denominated in Napoleonic war debt, if you wante…
Somehow this reminds me of the people trying to get money for 100+ year old Tsarist Russian bonds https://www.rbth.com/lifestyle/327261-french-still-waiting-f...
> Dr John Snow: This well-known physician died at noon, on the 16th instant, at his house in Sackville Street, from an attack of apoplexy. His researches on chloroform and other anaesthetics were appreciated by the profession.
versus the 2013 one:
> The journal accepts that some readers may wrongly have inferred that The Lancet failed to recognise Dr Snow's remarkable achievements in the field of epidemiology and, in particular, his visionary work in deducing the mode of transmission of epidemic cholera.
* https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...
* https://www.newsweek.com/lancet-corrects-john-snows-1858-obi...
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Snow
Better late than never I guess.