dChan
Anonymous ID: 64ea81 Aug. 16, 2021, 4:26 p.m. No.83369   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>3405 >>3444 >>3455

Maduro to Request U.S. Sanction Talks in Opposition Negotiation

 

President Nicolas Maduro said negotiations with the opposition to break a five-year political impasse in Venezuela “got off to a good start,” and that he will also propose direct talks with the U.S.

 

Maduro said discussing sanctions directly with the U.S. government is a pivotal issue he wants addressed in order to advance negotiations with the country’s opposition, which started in Mexico last week. “The lifting of sanctions is central to us: it’s either that or nothing,” Maduro said, speaking at a press conference.

 

Maduro’s request is not included in the five-point memorandum of understanding signed last week to end years of political stalemate and help the nation to recover economically, which includes respect for political rights and the Constitution, an electoral timetable and guarantees, and an end to both state violence and sanctions. Maduro said the Mexico talks over the weekend were “successful” so far. But in line with public events in the past, where he has demanded the normalization of diplomatic ties with the U.S., he said his delegation will request “direct” talks with the Joe Biden administration at the negotiations mediated by Norway, which will resume Sept. 3-6. Maduro hopes that such face-to-face talks will allow diplomatic representatives of both countries to return to their posts, and that partial agreements can be reached soon before the process ends, which could take months. So far the White House has been reluctant to engage with the authoritarian leader.

 

Over the weekend the U.S., Canada and the European Union welcomed the announcement of the memorandum of understanding in a joint statement and said they’re ready “to review sanctions policies if the regime makes meaningful progress” in the talks.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/maduro-to-request-u-s-sanction-talks-in-opposition-negotiation-1.1640894

Anonymous ID: 64ea81 Aug. 16, 2021, 5:03 p.m. No.83390   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>3391 >>3405 >>3444 >>3455

Closing the Gold Window — Fifty Years On

 

Fifty years ago, President Richard Nixon closed the gold window, thereby preventing foreign governments from converting U.S. dollars into gold.

 

This action was initially billed as a temporary measure. “I have directed Secretary Connally to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold or other reserve assets,” Nixon told a television audience. Indeed, he vowed to “press for the necessary reforms to set up an urgently needed new international monetary system” in “full cooperation with the International Monetary Fund and those who trade with us.” It soon became clear, however, that convertibility would not be reestablished. The U.S. would not work with other nations to establish a new international monetary system. Instead, the now-irredeemable dollar would continue to serve as the global reserve currency.

 

Nixon understood the role of gold in anchoring the price level and naturally worried that his unanticipated announcement would raise concerns about inflation. “Let me lay to rest the bugaboo of what is called devaluation,” he said at the time. If you want to buy a foreign car or take a trip abroad, market conditions may cause your dollar to buy slightly less. But if you are among the overwhelming majority of Americans who buy American-made products in America, your dollar will be worth just as much tomorrow as it is today. The effect of this action, in other words, will be to stabilize the dollar. Monetary policy, in other words, would ensure the domestic price level remained stable. As with his commitment to set up a new international monetary system, Nixon’s promise of domestic price-level stability would not be kept. Inflation, which had averaged just 2.85 percent from Q3-1961 to Q3-1967, increased to 7.12 percent over the decade that followed. It was also quite volatile. Inflation soared to 12.30 percent in Q4-1974, fell to 4.10 percent in Q2-1976, and climbed back up to 10.96 percent in Q1-1981. Inflation has slowed in the years that followed, averaging nearly 3.25 percent since Nixon closed the gold window. Nonetheless, monetary policy has generally failed to produce the long-run purchasing-power stability of a genuine gold-backed money.

 

The Bretton Woods system, which Nixon unilaterally ended, was itself a far cry from a genuine gold standard. Anticipating the conclusion of World War II, 730 delegates from 44 Allied nations gathered in the White Mountain resort town of Bretton Woods, N.H., in July 1944 to discuss the future of the international monetary system. The system they came up with — a gold-exchange standard — fixed the exchange rates of each participating country’s money to the U.S dollar, with the dollar convertible to gold. The dollar’s convertibility was limited, however. U.S. citizens were not permitted to redeem their dollars for gold, as they had been prior to 1933. And foreign governments redeemed dollars for gold only intermittently. By limiting redemption, the Bretton Woods system significantly curtailed the historical check on over-issuing paper money.

 

1 of 2

Anonymous ID: 64ea81 Aug. 16, 2021, 5:04 p.m. No.83391   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>3405 >>3444 >>3455

>>83390

2 of 2

 

Prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve system, private state-chartered and then national-chartered banks issued redeemable banknotes. These banks were contractually and legally obliged to pay the bearer on demand. Under this system, an over-issuing bank would see its notes spent and then deposited in other banks. These other banks, in turn, would bring the notes back to the over-issuing bank or common clearinghouse for redemption. As a result, the over-issuing bank would suffer adverse clearings and, hence, lose gold reserves to other banks. Lest it soon find itself without reserves, the over-issuing bank would be forced to correct. And, recognizing the consequences of over-issuing in advance, banks would try to avoid the prospect altogether.

 

Lacking an effective redemption mechanism, the Bretton Woods system permitted the U.S. to issue more notes than it could reasonably be expected to redeem. And the U.S. did just that. Increased expenditures during the Vietnam War and President Johnson’s Great Society programs saw the U.S. create more and more dollars and, correspondingly, find it more and more difficult to honor its commitments under the Bretton Woods system. Nixon cited growing inflation and instability as reasons to end the gold-exchange standard. But the fateful decision was to move toward a fiat monetary system rather than return to a genuine gold standard. The designers of the Bretton Woods system understood the importance of fixed exchange rates for promoting international trade and the historical role gold had played in stabilizing the price level. But the system they ultimately adopted was not a genuine gold standard, governed by market discipline. It was a gold-exchange standard, dependent on government technocrats. Despite the best of intentions, therefore, the Bretton Woods system was fatally flawed.

 

There is little hope of tying the dollar to gold today. Politicians prefer the loose constraint of fiat money, which serves as a steady source of revenue in normal times and a convenient tool to reduce the real value of government debt outstanding in extraordinary times. Nonetheless, we would do well to remember what seemed so clear to those at Bretton Woods — and take steps not to repeat their mistakes in our own efforts to improve the monetary system.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/08/closing-the-gold-window-fifty-years-on/

Anonymous ID: 64ea81 Aug. 16, 2021, 5:45 p.m. No.83402   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>3405 >>3444 >>3455

Coinbase Inc. sold by Marc Andreessen: $188.59m-Aug 12

 

Coinbase Global, Inc. is a financial technology company that provides end-to-end financial infrastructure and technology. It is primarily focused in building cryptoeconomy, a transparent financial system enabled by crypto that leverages crypto assets, a digital asset that is built using blockchain technology. Its platform enables approximately 43 million retail users, 7,000 institutions, and 115,000 ecosystem partners in over 100 countries to participate in the cryptoeconomy. For retail users it offers primary financial account to invest, store, spend, earn and use crypto assets. It provides one-stop shop for hedge funds, money managers and corporations for accessing crypto markets through advanced trading and custody technology. The Company provides developers, merchants and asset issuers a platform with technology and services that enables them to build applications that leverage crypto protocols, participate in crypto networks and securely accept cryptocurrencies as a payment. Number of employees : 1 249 people.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/COINBASE-GLOBAL-INC-121300010/company/

 

Marc Andreessen is a cofounder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is an innovator and creator, one of the few to pioneer a software category used by more than a billion people and one of the few to establish multiple billion-dollar companies. Marc co-created the highly influential Mosaic internet browser and co-founded Netscape, which later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. He also co-founded Loudcloud, which as Opsware, sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He later served on the board of Hewlett-Packard from 2008 to 2018. Marc holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Marc serves on the board of the following Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies: Applied Intuition, Carta, Dialpad, Honor, OpenGov, and Samsara. He is also on the board of Facebook.

https://a16z.com/author/marc-andreessen/

https://finviz.com/insidertrading.ashx?oc=1160077&tc=7&b=2