Friday, August 27, 2010

International Economics, part 1, international money transfers

I have been looking, and thinking, about economics recently, and have written a lot out.
Most people invest their money in some way or another. Most do it by buying bonds from a government, buying stock from a company, or putting their money in a bank in their own country. These are good ways of investing. There is one way though that can be better than all three given the right economic environment. That would be investing in foreign banks. By investing in a foreign bank you get the following benefits.
  1. When you go to that country, you have a guaranteed amount of money to draw upon that doesn't have to be exchanged which gives you a precise amount whenever you go there.
  2. Assuming that the country you put your money in protects bank accounts, it is guaranteed to be protected.
  3. By investing in a developing nation their economy can be expected to grow which means there will be more demand for their currency which will cause their currency to go up in value compared to other currencies. This means that by investing in these countries you are able to while getting interest have your money's value in your home's currency go up at least 100-300% which is far more secure than stocks, which when you take the money home means that the value of your home's currency will then appreciate in value, making everyone better off and better to travel. This would make the entire world eventually become more even if the currencies were allowed to balance.
This is illegal in many countries because the leaders fear that the money won't come back to their country there are several arguments against this however.
  1. The person investing will eventually bring the money back home which will make their home country more wealthy.
  2. The amount of money transferred comes back which is completely different from outsourcing manufacturing to countries like China and southeast Asia. The money that is sent to these countries has been shown to not come back which is part of the reason why the American/Canadian/European/Australian economies have become potentially unstable recently is because of the loss of money. This is far worse than investing in foreign banks which makes the argument against overseas investment mute.
Basically, regulating international banking is pointless, except that it is often used to move to countries to fund drugs or terrorists. Then their should be an alliance of countries that allow money to be transferred within their borders as long as:
  1. The money is kept away from drug and terrorist organizations and if moved outside the union will be inspected.
Countries I would look at joining are: the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, the Eurozone, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway, UK, and several others that have shown their intentions to fight drugs and terrorism.

    Why we need to crack down on the drug trade

    We need to crack down on the drug trade in our schools. They ruin thousands of people's lives year after year and makes it so that we lose valuable workers of our economy. It wastes America's money year after year and sends money to drug dealers so they can send more drugs up here. This hurts us deeply and it is becoming obvious something has to be done. I think that prohibition on the less dangerous drugs should be revoked. This is why:
    1. Prohibition made illegal consumption of alcohol skyrocket and we spent millions trying to stop it. Consumption didn't stop.
    2. Smoking. We have smoking legal if you are over 21 and you can only do it in certain places. If smoking were illegal than a lot more people would smoke because there would be no regulation and it would add to the cartel's profits. By making it illegal it makes it so teenagers have a harder time getting it. If it was illegal, that would not be true.
    3. If we allow authorized sellers to sell the drugs and taxed them the taxes could go immediately to rehab. People would be paying for their rehabilitation when they use it which would benefit all Americans. They are taking the drugs anyways, so if they were made legal and regulated consumption will drop. It will lose popularity with people who use them to be bad, and our prisons would have fewer people. That will benefit everybody. The drug cartels will lose power and the violence in Mexico will subside saving millions of lives.
      1. Proof: Canada has legalized marijuana and other less harmful drugs bringing the illegal drug trade there down. Unfortunately, they don't have enough people to make a big enough dent on the world market. We do and we must.
    The drug I would look at deregulating is
    • Cannabis, which is useful in medicine.
    Another thing, besides that the way we need to do it is by fighting the use in high schools, because that is probably their biggest market. That could save thousands of lives and keep billions from the cartels. That needs to be regulated to save lives.

    Free Trade Part 1: Overview and NAFTA

    Free Trade. Say this to different people and you will get both acclaims of praise and disgust. I personally am in favor for free trade. Here are the reasons:
    1. It allows people in different countries to have their wealth level out over time. If there is more trade between countries, the currencies will level out. this will happen because the demand for different currencies will equalize. This is why the American and Canadian dollars are always close to each other.

    2. It allows people to get the best deal on goods. If you want apples in the winter in America, you need them from the southern hemisphere and vice verse. German beer, Russian Vodka, Indian carpets (leaving child labor out of the question), these are all produced at certain times of the year at one place or another, and to not get them is silly, because it limits citizen's choices on what they want to buy. It will mean that people will have access to the best materials throughout the world.

    3. If people are able to go other places to get work than the money in the super rich countries will start to level out to the really poor countries. Look at it this way. The American dollar is inflated because there are too many dollars floating around. If you made trade with the rest of the world go up, the dollars will go to other countries and prices that are extremely high right now will shrink because the value of the dollar will rise. The other bonus is that countries that are havens for crime and drugs right now will become more wealthy and be able to crack down on criminal acts, be it trafficking of persons or drugs. Everyone will benefit.

    Wednesday, August 18, 2010

    Oh America, hear my plea

    For 30 years we have been complaining how the government is so corrupt, never listens, always bribing, and cutting essential programs. Lobbyists from Wall Street bribe politicians, steering clear of the occasional representative.

    We get depressed, wondering if it will ever end and we listen to our spin and our party's propaganda. Yet, we never analyze and listen to two sides of the argument.

    We listen to hate radio, spewing false information, "America is doomed," never quoting, always lying.

    We don't vote responsible, yet we complain. How can we solve our problems without doing such an easy duty. How can you say "I love America" without ever spending time to read the news? We read the tabloids, yet we never read the news.

    How do we fix the problem? We make an honest effort to read a reliable realistic news source. If they talk how we are doomed, they are selling. If the airtime is not equally divided during and election, the "news" channel is propaganda. We find the channel  that gives both sides and keep the commentators and comedians in a different time slot from the news, otherwise, they are propaganda.

    When we trust the theory of democracy and participate.... Then we are free. Only then can America survive.

    Thursday, August 5, 2010

    Things I want to see.

    I want to see the Right-wing talking heads respond to three propositions
    1. Mississippi has just outlawed marriage between black and white people.
    2. Protesters march on building of Church in Atheist community.
    3. Tax officers in Beverly hills are stopping white people for hopes of getting the money they lost.
    Wouldn't that just be entertaining or what? Terrible, yes, entertaining, definitely.