Text 30305, 149 rader
Skriven 2009-03-26 11:53:28 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
  Kommentar till text 30283 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: How the US will split
=============================
26 Mar 09 09:06, Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Roy Witt:

 MvdV>>>>> You really believe the OPEC will accept your Texas Dollars?
 RW>>>> They're as good as the gold that backs them.
 MvdV>>> So you say. I think they would prefer the gold.

 RW>> Everyone would rather have the gold, but gold doesn't lend itself
 RW>> to electronic transfer very well. Unlike currency, it is more
 RW>> stable, which is why currency is backed by gold.

 MvdV> Electronic transfers are no more than the electronic equivalent of
 MvdV> issuing IOU's. A system that heavely depends on trust. Trust that
 MvdV> when push comes to shove the debt will be honoured.

Exactly. I made one of those transfers just last week. I bought property
along the shores of Lake Michigan and wired the payment thru my bank to
theirs. I got something tangible, while they got an IOU. ;o)

 MvdV> You say that when Texas splits off from the US, it will give the
 MvdV> middle finger to those who want Texas to pay their share of the US
 MvdV> national debt. Now how trustworthy is a country that just weaseled
 MvdV> itself out from under their fair share of a 1000 billion Dollar
 MvdV> debt?

Weaseled? They take no part of the billions of tax dollars given away by a
government that has tripled the national debt. A debt that my great
grandchildren will be paying for, if Texas doesn't seceed.

 MvdV> Don't be surprised if those you trade with, refuse your IOUs and
 MvdV> insist on the gold.

Actually, they will be less inclined to deal with a government who is in
debt to China for the next century, than they will with a government who
knows it's financial limitations and has an actual 9 billion dollar
reserve.

 RW>> I know you don't eat in fancy restaurants,

 MvdV> Not any more. There was a time when I could not avoid it, but that
 MvdV> was a long time ago. Now I don't have to I stay away from fancy
 MvdV> restaurants, they don't give value for money.

I understand where you're coming from. But, those restaurants exist
because it is a service for their clientel. A rich clientel at that.

 RW>> but you'll find that the higher echalon European restaurants do
 RW>> serve US beef.

 MvdV> Could be that there is a niche market for US beaf.

In fact there is. Because US beef is much better than it's counterpart
from other countries. The marbeling from the fat makes the beef tender and
very tasty, while South American beef if not so tender and not so tasty. I
ate an Argentine steak dinner in an Argentine styled restaurant once. Once
was enough.

 MvdV> If so, the European fancy restaurants will survive without US beef.
 MvdV> If not...well Europe will survive without fancy restaurants. No
 MvdV> skin of my back.

That's what they said about taverns and bars too, when they outlawed the
sale of liquor. It didn't turn out that way.

 RW>>>> Your beef may be Argentinian, or it could be Texican shipped via
 RW>>>> Aregentina.

 MvdV>>> That would show on the record. As it is.. no US beaf on the
 MvdV>>> shelve here.

 RW>> It's usually kept in the cooler.

 MvdV> Yep, om the shelves in the cooler.

Meanwhile, they keep corned beef on the shelves with the other canned
foods.

 MvdV>>> I like grape fruit.

 RW>> Then you'd probably like Texas Pink grapefruit.

 MvdV> I might. But as I have never tasted it and probaby never will, I
 MvdV> can't say.

 RW>> I'm told it's the best there is.

 MvdV> "Best" is largely a matter if taste. Often an acquired taste. So
 MvdV> statements like that do not mean very much.

The snowbirds seem to think so, as they buy it before any other in the
supermarkets here. Being from the northern states where winter is still
raging, they have a better idea of the variety.

 MvdV> When I moved from th Netherlands to Soth Africa, one of the things
 MvdV> I missed was the Dutch coffee. Compared to that what was sold in
 MvdV> South Africa was terrible.

That's what I thought about beer when I went east of the Mississippi river
to visit relatives. The best they had to offer was Pabst Blue Ribbon, a
Milwaukee, Wisconsin brew. Along the way I'd stop and pickup a case or two
of Coors (yuck) for my BIL. In turn, he'd buy me some Carling Black Label
beer, a local brew that wasn't found west of the Mississippi. Now I can't
get what was my favorite beer brewed in the northwest because it's a west
coast exclusive. So, I no longer drink beer.

 MvdV> So when one of my friends from The Netharlands came to visit me, I
 MvdV> asked them to bring some Dutch coffee. And you know what... it was
 MvdV> a bummer.  It tasets like nothing. apparently may taste had
 MvdV> adapted.  Coffee is an acquired taste and acquired taste can be
 MvdV> lost.

But it can also be re-aquired.

 RW>>>> Just one? Texas has 24...

 MvdV>>> Pernis is just the closest, not the only one...

 RW>> Texas not only supplies us with refined oil products, but the entire
 RW>> eastern seaboard via pipeline. As far as New York. I wouldn't be
 RW>> surprised if there's a pipeline that supplies the west coast as
 RW>> well.

 MvdV> Good for you, but there is plenty of refining capacity in Europe.
 MvdV> We won't miss yours.

I doubt there's any US refined oil going to Europe anyway.

 RW>>>>>> Where will your midwestern states get your electricity?

 MvdV>>>>> From France and Sweden.

 RW>>>> Those arn't in the midwest.

 MvdV>>> Well, they aren't in the middle east either, so I'd say they
 MvdV>>> are just in the mids...

 RW>> The midwestern states are those like Texas all the way to Minnesota.
 RW>> Including the Dakotas and even eastern Montana.

 MvdV> It is not my problem where they get their electricity.

It's not mine either, but it's no problem knowing where they get it.

                R\%/itt




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