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If you don't mind, let me try doing it with a question... Imagine your ideal world where there are no banks and we're on the gold standard. Suppose that you're a wealthy apple grower, while I am a struggling manufacturer of widgets. If I come to you to borrow some money for 3 years to build...

Even if your premise were correct to start with (it's nowhere near), it's your conclusion I find the most astonishing. I never thought you were such a socialist, achilles! More extreme than the French, even! Amazing!

Don't you worry about poor ole me, I'll be just fine... And yeah, it's been a little more boring and quiet recently than normal, but certainly not to the point where I'd be sidelined. There's always opportunities if you're willing to do the necessary work.

If the Buk SAM system was used to down the plane, those are known to be very much operational. The ones sold by Ukraine to Georgia were successfully used against Russian aircraft in 2008.

I hope so too, but I very much doubt it... The Ukrainians still haven't fully admitted their guilt in the downing of a passenger plane in 2001. I doubt that either side in the current conflict is any better.

Allegedly, if this was done by the rebels, they could have used the hardware taken from the Ukrainian army. This would have nothing to do with Putin.

There are unconfirmed reports that there were 23 American passengers on that flight. Still nobody cares?

My local congressman? I ain't got one, I'm afraid. What I have got is my local MP, so I don't think this is really gonna work...

I have already talked about the approach that I personally prefer. It all starts and ends with certain political decisions, unfortunately, which makes me very pessimistic.

I am not making this anything, since I didn't start using the "left/right" terminology. I used it in response. In general, I sorta agree with this, although I think if you keep track of what people say, you should be able to tell whether they're consistent. Yes, I agree with this...

Nah, you got me all wrong, mon ami... I am a royalist, you see. God Save the Queen, "off with their heads" and all that jazz, y'know?

Ha, I ain't celebrating nuthink, mon ami, on the account of me not being of the French persuasion...

Ah, so Rush Limbaugh is a bleedin' heart socialist as well? Good to know...

Before (not sure whether I will, tbh) I proceed trying to discuss the specific points raised, let me mention a bigger conceptual issue (and a bit of a proof by contradiction, to boot)... Pls note that below is just a conceptual exercise and has nothing to do with reality. Suppose, for...

1) Pay 5y rates outright (pay fixed rate on a swap, expecting rates to go up) 2) This is a steepener, where you recv fixed on a 2y swap vs paying fixed on a 5y swap, same DV01, expecting the difference between the two rates to go up. 3) This a cross currency spread trade, where you pay fixed...

I don't have a vacation home in southern Spain, but thank you for the idea. And of course, the mkt is perfectly capable of setting the price of money. However, there's plenty of theoretical and empirical evidence to suggest that the mkt AND a central bank together do a better job at setting...

Let me defer to the late great Milton Friedman on this subject, since he, undoubtedly, is much more of an authority on this than I. You can find his essay "The Role of Monetary Policy" on the web, if you like. There's an awful lot of assumptions and personal judgement here, but you certainly...

Thx for coming and I hope it was as good for you as it was for me (puns intended)...

I am really confused here... When did I ever say that I am in the dynastic wealth category? I didn't and I ain't, not by a long shot... Well, if we're talking about billionaires, then I wasn't aware of it. I certainly wasn't confining the discussion to billionaires. And, again, you may...

Yep, I know what you're saying, Mav, as evidenced by my prior comments. Now, personally, I am a lot less skeptical than you are about it and here's undoubtedly the main reason why. I have been lucky enough throughout my career; to the point where I have accumulated sufficient family wealth to...