How much fluctuation can a currency absorb without destroying it's own economy? We need another Germany pre-WWII? Do we?
Before World War I Germany (click here) was a prosperous country, with a gold-backed currency, expanding industry, and world leadership in optics, chemicals, and machinery. The German Mark, the British shilling, the French franc, and the Italian lira all had about equal value, and all were exchanged four or five to the dollar. That was in 1914. In 1923, at the most fevered moment of the German hyperinflation, the exchange rate between the dollar and the Mark was one trillion Marks to one dollar, and a wheelbarrow full of money would not even buy a newspaper. Most Germans were taken by surprise by the financial tornado....
Is this what the Ukraine needs? A valueless currency? This is the legacy now of Yanukovych. His violent reaction against the people of the Ukraine has resulted in a fiscal insult to the nation. This is what ideology gets a nation. Ideology leaves a nation exactly where it belongs, in history.
7:55 PM Tuesday Mar 4, 2014
The price of crude oil (click here) dropped Tuesday after a big jump a day earlier over jitters that Russia's military advance into Ukraine could result in economic sanctions against one of the world's major energy suppliers.
Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery was down 47 cents to $104.45 a barrel at 0620 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.33 to close at $104.on Monda. Brent crude, used to set prices for international varieties of crude, was down 73 cents at $110.47 a barrel.
Oil prices spiked Monday over the prospect of violent upheaval in the heart of Europe.
Russian troops controlled all Ukrainian border posts on the strategic peninsula of Crimea. Fears grew that the Kremlin might carry out more land grabs in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine, adding urgency to Western efforts to defuse the crisis.
Still, the West appeared to have limited options. The clearest weapon at the disposal of the EU and U.S. appeared to be economic sanctions that would freeze Russian assets and scrap multi-billion dollar deals with Russia....
Before World War I Germany (click here) was a prosperous country, with a gold-backed currency, expanding industry, and world leadership in optics, chemicals, and machinery. The German Mark, the British shilling, the French franc, and the Italian lira all had about equal value, and all were exchanged four or five to the dollar. That was in 1914. In 1923, at the most fevered moment of the German hyperinflation, the exchange rate between the dollar and the Mark was one trillion Marks to one dollar, and a wheelbarrow full of money would not even buy a newspaper. Most Germans were taken by surprise by the financial tornado....
Is this what the Ukraine needs? A valueless currency? This is the legacy now of Yanukovych. His violent reaction against the people of the Ukraine has resulted in a fiscal insult to the nation. This is what ideology gets a nation. Ideology leaves a nation exactly where it belongs, in history.
7:55 PM Tuesday Mar 4, 2014
The price of crude oil (click here) dropped Tuesday after a big jump a day earlier over jitters that Russia's military advance into Ukraine could result in economic sanctions against one of the world's major energy suppliers.
Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery was down 47 cents to $104.45 a barrel at 0620 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.33 to close at $104.on Monda. Brent crude, used to set prices for international varieties of crude, was down 73 cents at $110.47 a barrel.
Oil prices spiked Monday over the prospect of violent upheaval in the heart of Europe.
Russian troops controlled all Ukrainian border posts on the strategic peninsula of Crimea. Fears grew that the Kremlin might carry out more land grabs in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine, adding urgency to Western efforts to defuse the crisis.
Still, the West appeared to have limited options. The clearest weapon at the disposal of the EU and U.S. appeared to be economic sanctions that would freeze Russian assets and scrap multi-billion dollar deals with Russia....
