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"Debt: The First 5,000 Years" by David Graeber shows how debt is a unique tool in its ability to control people and, in this case, countries. I'm excited to he

"Debt: The First 5,000 Years" by David Graeber shows how debt is a unique tool in its ability to control people and, in this case, countries. I'm excited to hear that Brazil and Argentina are working on a common currency, and I hope by getting away from the IMF and partnering instead with BRICS countries they can have a brighter future.

eatonphil 4y ago
Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty was another great one for me. IIRC only like four countries have ever not defaulted on debt, ever.
ch4s3 4y ago
BRICS is kind a myth cooked up by IMF and Davos types. India and China hate each other, Russia is a mess, Brazil is totally unlike the others, and no one knows why South Africa is even included. I mean best of luck to Brazil and Argentina but I hope Brazil knows what they're getting themselves into.
- eatonphil 4y ago
  Yeah it's weird to see BRICS still being referred today. It was sensible in the mid-2000s when Russia actually had some growth and potential and India was more democratic (or at least not so clearly hostile to critics in business and politics). South Africa's main political party wasn't so clearly incapable of long-term planning. (All of this based on my understanding anyway.) Today it makes more sense to me to think about Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Vietnam, maybe Thailand and Philippines as the brightest emerging economies.
  - thwoawayyowser 4y ago
    I would add Turkey to that too
- cpursley 4y ago
  Russia is a mess? Nabiullina deserves a Nobel Prize in economics regardless of people’s options on the war and Putin. Even the Russians themselves are surprised by how well the Ruble and Russian economy has performed in the last year. The Ruble is trading for 1:70 with the dollar today which is about the same as the end of 2021.
  - ch4s3 4y ago
    Yea structurally they are a huge mess and we’re before the war.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - cpursley 4y ago
      According to whom? Western “Russian Experts” with liberal arts degrees who can’t even speak Russian and have spent little to no time in that country? Not to mention have been wrong about nearly everything on both the economic and military fronts? If there’s any take-away from current events, it’s how wrong so many “experts” have been on this topic. The easiest way to tell is by looking up the credentials of these journalists and other “experts”.
      - ch4s3 4y ago
        Matt Taibi, who speaks Russian and lived there for many years has a lot to say about it. I also work with and talk to Russians living in Russia, we’ll they’ve mostly left the country but I’m not sure that matters in this context. It’s also straightforward to just look at data the Russian government publishes. Unemployment is chronically high, economic mobility is declining, life expectancy is declining, the economy is too reliant on oil, corruption is rampant. What isn’t a mess?
        cpursley 4y ago
        See, you’re just repeating western memes about Russia. This is exactly the problem that I keep bringing up. Not only are you wrong, you’re way off. Russia not only has a consistently low unemployment rate, they are one of the top countries for migrants workers. In fact, there’s a chronic labor shortage there which is actually a problem for the war effort. And both life expectancy and the population rate have stabilized if not reversed due to well thought out efforts at the federal level (ignoring the current wartime situation). I hate to break it to you but it’s no longer 1998 in Russia. Sources: - https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/unemployment-rate https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/unemployment-rate - https://citizenpath.com/countries-with-the-most-immigrants/ https://citizenpath.com/countries-with-the-most-immigrants/ - https://youtu.be/oK5kLBlphsI https://youtu.be/oK5kLBlphsI (if you don’t speak Russian, turn on auto translate) - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10680-017-9451-3 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10680-017-9451-3 - https://archive.ph/th2tK https://archive.ph/th2tK
- atdrummond 4y ago
  It’s a literal organization. They (BRIC at the time) formed at the UN’s 61st General Assembly and later had their first summit in 2009. South Africa is hosting their summit this year.
  - ch4s3 4y ago
    We’ll it’s like any one of those random international forums but they don’t do anything or really even have strong ties otherwise.
    - weatherlight 4y ago
      Not exactly. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3209003/who-benefits-most-china-russia-south-africa-military-drills https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3209003/who...
- erentz 4y ago
  It was a term invented by a Wall Street analyst that had no meaning except to identify some emerging market countries. That it somehow got turned into a weird idea of a political block for a set of countries which have very little in common politically or socially and survives to this day is kind of hilarious.
winter_blue 4y ago
I actually bought _Debt: The First 5,000 Years_ recently, but it's a really big book, and I'm not sure I'm going to get the time to read it through. I'd love to read just the best parts. What chapters would you recommend for me to read – i.e. which chapters gave you the most insight into how the world economic system works both presently and historically?
- abdullahkhalids 4y ago
  It's well worth reading the whole thing. I don't think it's really possible to start reading from the middle. You should just start from the beginning where some of the main themes are outlined.
nradov 4y ago
Brazil and Argentina are not working on a common currency. https://www.dw.com/en/the-sur-argentina-brazil-walk-back-their-plan-for-a-common-currency/a-64501423 https://www.dw.com/en/the-sur-argentina-brazil-walk-back-the...

eatonphil 4y ago

Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty was another great one for me. IIRC only like four countries have ever not defaulted on debt, ever.

ch4s3 4y ago

BRICS is kind a myth cooked up by IMF and Davos types. India and China hate each other, Russia is a mess, Brazil is totally unlike the others, and no one knows why South Africa is even included. I mean best of luck to Brazil and Argentina but I hope Brazil knows what they're getting themselves into.

eatonphil 4y ago
Yeah it's weird to see BRICS still being referred today. It was sensible in the mid-2000s when Russia actually had some growth and potential and India was more democratic (or at least not so clearly hostile to critics in business and politics). South Africa's main political party wasn't so clearly incapable of long-term planning. (All of this based on my understanding anyway.) Today it makes more sense to me to think about Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Vietnam, maybe Thailand and Philippines as the brightest emerging economies.
- thwoawayyowser 4y ago
  I would add Turkey to that too
cpursley 4y ago
Russia is a mess? Nabiullina deserves a Nobel Prize in economics regardless of people’s options on the war and Putin. Even the Russians themselves are surprised by how well the Ruble and Russian economy has performed in the last year. The Ruble is trading for 1:70 with the dollar today which is about the same as the end of 2021.
- ch4s3 4y ago
  Yea structurally they are a huge mess and we’re before the war.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - cpursley 4y ago
    According to whom? Western “Russian Experts” with liberal arts degrees who can’t even speak Russian and have spent little to no time in that country? Not to mention have been wrong about nearly everything on both the economic and military fronts? If there’s any take-away from current events, it’s how wrong so many “experts” have been on this topic. The easiest way to tell is by looking up the credentials of these journalists and other “experts”.
    - ch4s3 4y ago
      Matt Taibi, who speaks Russian and lived there for many years has a lot to say about it. I also work with and talk to Russians living in Russia, we’ll they’ve mostly left the country but I’m not sure that matters in this context. It’s also straightforward to just look at data the Russian government publishes. Unemployment is chronically high, economic mobility is declining, life expectancy is declining, the economy is too reliant on oil, corruption is rampant. What isn’t a mess?
      - cpursley 4y ago
        See, you’re just repeating western memes about Russia. This is exactly the problem that I keep bringing up. Not only are you wrong, you’re way off. Russia not only has a consistently low unemployment rate, they are one of the top countries for migrants workers. In fact, there’s a chronic labor shortage there which is actually a problem for the war effort. And both life expectancy and the population rate have stabilized if not reversed due to well thought out efforts at the federal level (ignoring the current wartime situation). I hate to break it to you but it’s no longer 1998 in Russia. Sources: - https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/unemployment-rate https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/unemployment-rate - https://citizenpath.com/countries-with-the-most-immigrants/ https://citizenpath.com/countries-with-the-most-immigrants/ - https://youtu.be/oK5kLBlphsI https://youtu.be/oK5kLBlphsI (if you don’t speak Russian, turn on auto translate) - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10680-017-9451-3 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10680-017-9451-3 - https://archive.ph/th2tK https://archive.ph/th2tK
atdrummond 4y ago
It’s a literal organization. They (BRIC at the time) formed at the UN’s 61st General Assembly and later had their first summit in 2009. South Africa is hosting their summit this year.
- ch4s3 4y ago
  We’ll it’s like any one of those random international forums but they don’t do anything or really even have strong ties otherwise.
  - weatherlight 4y ago
    Not exactly. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3209003/who-benefits-most-china-russia-south-africa-military-drills https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3209003/who...
erentz 4y ago
It was a term invented by a Wall Street analyst that had no meaning except to identify some emerging market countries. That it somehow got turned into a weird idea of a political block for a set of countries which have very little in common politically or socially and survives to this day is kind of hilarious.

winter_blue 4y ago

I actually bought _Debt: The First 5,000 Years_ recently, but it's a really big book, and I'm not sure I'm going to get the time to read it through. I'd love to read just the best parts. What chapters would you recommend for me to read – i.e. which chapters gave you the most insight into how the world economic system works both presently and historically?

abdullahkhalids 4y ago
It's well worth reading the whole thing. I don't think it's really possible to start reading from the middle. You should just start from the beginning where some of the main themes are outlined.

nradov 4y ago

Brazil and Argentina are not working on a common currency. https://www.dw.com/en/the-sur-argentina-brazil-walk-back-their-plan-for-a-common-currency/a-64501423 https://www.dw.com/en/the-sur-argentina-brazil-walk-back-the...