Tag: currency

1,995 words

As a child, I was fascinated by the collection of old English coins my grandfather kept in a box to remind him of better monetary times once the nation had turned to decimal coinage in 1971, as a preparatory measure for joining what was later to become the EU. The old £sd tokens were all much nicer-looking, better designed, and more pleasingly chunky and substantial than their decimal successors, but the way their system actually fitted together was utterly incomprehensible to me. (more…)

A barricade in Townsend Street, Dublin 1916. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

3,056 words

On Easter Monday, 1916, after hundreds of years of living under English rule, the Irish rose up against their oppressor. What became known as the Easter Rising (also the Easter Rebellion) lasted six days, and is still a source of pride to the fighting Irish. It was a bloody affair. Most of the leaders of the rebellion, men such as Thomas Plunkett and James Connolly, were executed, and hundreds of rebels were interned both in Ireland and England. Many died in the conflict, including heavy losses on the English side. Those redcoats learned what a lot of people have learned since; if you are going to fight an Irishman, you had better be good with your fists. (more…)

2,018 words

The effect is like waking a sleeping giant with a slap…The street said what the institutions dare not—that the backstage [the people] does not just exist, but dictates the agenda of the state. And that the people are fed up.
—Kalin Kamenov- Facts.com (Bulgaria News Service) (more…)

1,582 words

There has been increasing talk about the need to build a parallel economy going around lately in the prepper community as a result of high inflation, the rising costs of living, and bank crashes, not to mention the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the cancellation of bank accounts belong to “undesirables,” and, not to mention, the looming threat of World War III.

While the circumstances are radically different, and it is doubtful whether the idea would or would not be allowed to catch on beyond a limited group of consumers and producers, there is historical precedence of communities actually cutting themselves loose to a certain extent from the banking system. (more…)

1,336 words

Modern economics are in large part defined by the premise that infinite growth is both possible and desirable — if not always in theory, then at least in how most major economic actors behave. The green line should always go up — at least in the long term. If one takes a step back, this is unrealistic. Even if we could create ever more producers and consumers and make them ever more efficient, there is a limited amount of resources: food, land, rare metals, oil, and so on. (more…)

2,207 words

The Hippies, 50 Years Later: From “Make Love, Not War” to “Make War, Not Hate”

Full disclosure: This isn’t my war.

I didn’t approve of this war. No one even consulted me about it, which frankly felt like a bit of a snub. And I’m certainly not a pacifist. I’m not against this new war because I hate to see human beings getting killed — quite the opposite, I think more of them need to be killed, and quickly — (more…)