Baltic Dry Index. 3171 +56 Brent Crude 71.30
Spot Gold 1781
Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,100
Coronavirus Cases 06/12/21 World 266,127,241
Deaths 5,270,938
“Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and, while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some. The sight of this arbitrary rearrangement of riches strikes not only at security but [also] at confidence in the equity of the existing distribution of wealth.
John Maynard Keynes.
Another week and an interesting week ahead.
Will today be the day that China Evergrande collapses?
What is going on in cryptocurrency fantasy land?
By the end of the week, we should start getting some firm data on the Covid-19 threat posed by the omicron variant.
By the end of the week too, we should know if the bulls or the bears hold the winning hand in the crude oil price.
In the global stock casinos, will there be a Santa Claus rally this year, or will a newly hawkish Fed Chairman Powell and a faster US bond taper next year trigger a massive round of profit taking and tax loss selling?
Keep an eye on that flattening US Treasury yield curve too. Is it just a year end blip or an early sign of a stagflation recession ahead?
In politics, Presidents Biden and Putin are set to hold a video conference. Will it be war or peace over Ukraine? With NATO’s tanks parked in Estonia just 80 miles from St Petersburg, there’s little room for error on either side.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng drops 1% as tech shares fall; investors monitor bitcoin volatility
SINGAPORE — Stocks in Hong Kong dropped on Monday, while investors monitored bitcoin prices after they fell sharply over the weekend. Oil prices jumped during Asia trade.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.26%, as tech stocks fell. JD dropped more than 3% and Tencent was down 2.68%.
Alibaba shares in Hong Kong fell nearly 8% in early trade, but later recovered slightly to decline 5.36%. The company announced Toby Xu, its deputy chief financial officer, will succeed Maggie Wu as chief financial officer. That change will be effective Apr. 1.
That followed Friday’s losses in shares of Chinese firms listed in the U.S., as they dropped on concerns about stricter regulatory scrutiny after Didi announced it would delist from the New York Stock Exchange.
Four new stocks — including Chinese technology giants JD and Netease — were added to the benchmark Hang Seng index. The latest update increases the number of stocks in the main index to 64, from the current 60 stocks.
----Mainland Chinese stocks, however, rose. The Shanghai composite rose 0.37% while the Shenzhen component was up 0.16%.
Other Asia-Pacific markets mixed
Japan’s Nikkei 225 pared earlier losses, falling 0.39%, while the Topix was down 0.42%. South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.20%, turning around from a decline of 1% earlier.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.14%, also recovering from slight losses earlier.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.45%.
Stocks across the region and globally have seen turbulent trading since last week on fears surrounding the new omicron variant.
“This week would be crucial as we would likely get a better read of the Omicron’s severity,” DBS wrote in a Monday note. “During the Delta variant surge in August, tech stocks held up better. That did not happen this time, with the Nasdaq correcting more than the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones index.”
“The mix of Omicron fears, upcoming tighter Fed policy and weak equities sentiment is proving difficult to digest, sparking demand for safety in longer-term US Treasuries,” it added.
Bitcoin volatility
Investors will continue to monitor crypto after bitcoin prices were volatile throughout the weekend, dropping sharply Saturday afternoon during Asia hours. Bitcoin initially lost about 17%, or $10,000 — falling to a low near $43,000.
Bitcoin was at $49,303 as of Monday afternoon during Asia hours. Still, the cryptocurrency has lost over 10% since Friday.
More
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/06/japan-markets-set-to-dip-investors-monitor-bitcoin-volatility.html
Oil rebounds more than $1/bbl after Saudi price hike
December 6, 2021 5:06 AM GMT
SINGAPORE, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Monday after top exporter Saudi Arabia raised prices for its crude sold to Asia and the United States, and as indirect U.S.-Iran talks on reviving a nuclear deal appeared to hit an impasse.
Brent crude futures for February gained $1.39, or 2%, to $71.27 a barrel by 0458 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for January were at $67.66 a barrel, up $1.40, or 2.1%.
On Sunday, Saudi Arabia raised January official selling prices for all crude grades sold to Asia and the United States by up to 80 cents from the previous month. read more
The price hikes were implemented despite a decision last week by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, to continue increasing supplies by 400,000 barrels per day in January. read more
Prices were also buoyed by diminishing prospects of a rise in Iranian oil exports after indirect U.S.-Iranian talks on saving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal broke off last week. European officials voiced dismay on Friday at sweeping demands by Iran's new, hardline government. The talks are expected to resume middle of this week. read more
More
Goldman Sachs cuts U.S. GDP growth forecast for 2022 over Omicron fears
December 4, 2021 11:45 PM GMT
Dec 4 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs on Saturday cut its outlook for U.S. economic growth to 3.8% for 2022, citing risks and uncertainty around the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Goldman economist Joseph Briggs said in a note that the Omicron variant could slow economic reopening, but the firm expects "only a modest drag" on service spending.
The firm now sees 2022 gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 3.8%, down from 4.2% previously on a full year basis, and Q4/Q4 growth of 2.9%, down from 3.3% before, Briggs said.
"While many questions remain unanswered, we now think a moderate downside scenario where the virus spreads more quickly but immunity against severe disease is only slightly weakened is most likely," he said.
Worker shortages could last longer if people do not feel comfortable returning to work due to the variant, according to the note.
Goldman pointed the spread of the virus could worsen supply shortages should other countries implement tighter restrictions, but increase in vaccination rates among foreign trade partners would prevent severe disruptions.
Goldman Sachs' U.S. forecast comes after the International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday that the lender was likely to lower its global economic growth estimates due to the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus. read more
In other news, is cryptocurrency good for anything except to criminals?
Hackers take $196 million from crypto exchange Bitmart, security firm says
Hackers have taken $196 million from crypto trading platform Bitmart, a security firm said Saturday.
Bitmart confirmed the hack in an official statement Saturday night, calling it “a large-scale security breach” and writing that hackers withdrew about $150 million in assets. However, blockchain security and data analytics firm Peckshield estimates that the loss is closer to $200 million.
Bitmart added in a statement that all withdrawals had been temporarily suspended until further notice and said a thorough security review was underway.
Peckshield was the first to notice the breach on Saturday, noting that one of Bitmart’s addresses showed a steady outflow of tens of millions of dollars to an address which Etherscan referred to as the “Bitmart Hacker.”
Peckshield estimated that Bitmart lost around $100 million in various cryptocurrencies on the ethereum blockchain and another $96 million from coins on the binance smart chain. The hackers made off with a mix of more than 20 tokens, including binance coin, safemoon, and shiba inu.
Bitmart says that the affected ethereum and binance smart chain “hot wallets” carried only a “small percentage” of the exchange’s assets. The statement went on to say that all other wallets were “secure and unharmed.”
People who choose to hold their own cryptocurrency can store it “hot,” “cold,” or some combination of the two. A hot wallet is connected to the internet and allows owners relatively easy access to their coins so that they can access and spend their crypto. The trade-off for convenience is potential exposure to bad actors.
CNBC reached out to multiple Bitmart employees to ask for more clarity on the hack, including whether customer funds had specifically been targeted in the breach, and if so, whether users would be reimbursed. CNBC has not yet heard back, but an email to the work address of Bitmart founder and CEO Sheldon Xia (as listed on Xia’s unverified Twitter account) bounced back with a message that read, “Recipient address rejected: Access denied.”
More
Finally, going, going, will today add gone to China Evergrande?
China Evergrande shares hit 11-year low after firm says no guarantee it can meet repayments
Mon, December 6, 2021, 1:25 AM
By Clare Jim
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Shares of China Evergrande Group tumbled 12% to an 11-year low on Monday after the firm said there was no guarantee it would have enough funds to meet debt repayments, prompting Chinese authorities to summon its chairman.
The shares fell as a 30-day grace period on a coupon payment of $82.5 million due on Nov. 6 comes to an end on Monday.
Evergrande, once China's top-selling developer, is grappling with more than $300 billion in liabilities. A collapse could send shockwaves through the country's property sector and beyond.
In a filing late on Friday, Evergrande, the world's most indebted developer, also said it had received a demand from creditors to pay about $260 million.
That prompted the government of Guangdong province, where the company is based, to summon Evergrande Chairman Hui Ka Yan, and it later said in a statement it would send a working group to the developer at Evergrande's request to oversee risk management, strengthen internal controls and maintain normal operations.
In a series of apparently coordinated statements late in the evening, China's central bank, banking and insurance regulator and its securities regulator sought to reassure the market that any risks to the broader property sector could be contained.
Short-term risks caused by a single real estate firm will not undermine market fundraising in the medium and long term, the People's Bank of China said, adding that housing sales, land purchases and financing "have already returned to normal in China".
Evergraned's stock fell more than 12% to HK$1.98, its lowest since May 2010.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-evergrande-shares-set-fall-012553180.html
Global Inflation/Stagflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
U.S. REPORTS FOOD PRICES ARE AT HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE
2011
Dec. 3, 2021
Agri-Pulse
reports:
Global food prices rose for a fourth consecutive
month in November, driven by strong demand for wheat and dairy products,
according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
FAO's Food Price Index averaged 134.4 points during
November, its highest level since June 2011 and 1.2% higher than it was in
October. The index tracks monthly changes in the international prices of
commonly-traded food commodities.
November's index was 27.3% higher than it was a year
earlier.
Dairy prices were up 3.4% as strong global import
demand continued for butter and milk powders. The price index for cereal grains
was up 3.1% in November.
Supplies are especially tight for higher quality
wheat, and there are concerns about untimely rains in Australia and potential
changes to export measures in Russia.
To view the report click here.
https://www.agrimarketing.com/s/138957
Bridgestone sets fifth price increase in U.S., Canada in past year
December 03, 2021 02:49 PM
NASHVILLE—Bridgestone Americas is planning to raise prices Jan. 1 in the U.S. and Canada on Bridgestone-, Firestone- and Fuzion-brand passenger and light truck replacement tires and Bridgestone motorcycle tires by as-yet undisclosed amounts.
The new pricing will include adjustments at the article and pattern level, Bridgestone said.
The company cited "current market dynamics" for the price increase.
This will be Bridgestone Americas' fifth price increase on consumer products in a 12-month span.
Other actions taken in the past year include:
- Oct. 1—up to 8 percent on Bridgestone-, Firestone- and Fuzion-brand passenger and light truck tires; Bridgestone- and Firestone-brand truck and bus tires; Bridgestone- and Firestone-brand off-the-road (OTR) tires; and Firestone agricultural tires and tubes.
- Sept. 1—up to 10 percent for Bandag products including treads, cushion and ancillary items sold in the U.S. and Canada.
- July 1—up to 8 percent on select Bridgestone, Firestone and Fuzion passenger and light truck tires.
- May 1—up to 8 percent on Bridgestone- and Firestone-brand passenger and light truck tires and up to 8 percent on Bridgestone-brand truck and bus radial tires and Bandag retreads in the U.S. (effective in Canada April 1).
- Jan. 1—by an undisclosed amount.
https://www.rubbernews.com/tire/bridgestone-americas-raise-tire-prices-us-canada
Francisco pizza chain says he received no applications for an assistant manager, despite raising the salary to $70,000
Sat, December 4, 2021, 4:21 PM
· Assistant managers are becoming increasingly difficult to hire, per WSJ.
· One co-founder of a pizza chain said he didn't receive any applications for the role in 10 months.
· He even upped the annual salary for the position to $70,000 but still had no success.
Businesses across many industries are finding it extremely hard to retain workers and fill roles amid the labor shortage in the US.
But according to The Wall Street Journal, one particular role has become even more challenging to recruit for: assistant manager.
The co-founder of Square Pie Guys, a San Francisco pizza chain, said he tried to fill an assistant manager role for months and eventually had to give up, per The Journal.
"This job is seen particularly as thankless, overworked and underpaid — full stop," Danny Stoller told the publication.
Stoller said he advertised the position in November 2020 and didn't receive any applications from a qualified candidate. He even raised the annual salary over the 10-month period it was advertised from $55,000 to $70,000.
After two months, Stoller said he changed the role to a general manager position. "Applications shot up, and the company recently extended an offer to one candidate," The Journal's report said.
Square Pie Guys did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
A record number of Americans are quitting their jobs in search of better wages, benefits, and working conditions.
Some employees in the hospitality industry said they feel overworked and underpaid as a result of taking on too many roles during the labor shortage. For example, Dana Gurry, a store manager at Dairy Queen, said she quit her job after nearly 14 years for those reasons, Insider's Judy Brumley reported.
More
https://www.yahoo.com/news/co-founder-san-francisco-pizza-162129734.html
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
A man who tested positive for Omicron variant says 15 of his friends who joined him at a New York anime convention also have COVID-19
Sun, December 5, 2021, 5:08 AM
A Minnesota man who attended an anime convention in New York last month — and later tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant — has reportedly told health officials that 15 of his friends have also contracted COVID-19.
It's unclear if any of those individuals also caught the Omicron variant, health officials told media outlets. The man was one of the first reported cases of the Omicron variant in the United States, prompting questions of whether the variant spread throughout the convention, which tens of thousands of people attended.
"It's hard to say that it is a 'superspreader.' Certainly we're concerned about that," Kathy Como-Sabetti, manager of the COVID-19 epidemiology section for the Minnesota Department of Public Health, told The New York Times.
Officials in New York and Minnesota and with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating the variant's possible spread and tracing the man's contacts, according to The Washington Post.
"We don't know if we'll see a lot of Omicron, or we'll see a lot of Delta," Kris Ehresmann, the director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention, and Control Division at the Minnesota Department of Health, told The Post. "But we're likely to see a lot of COVID."
The man had attended the late-November convention as part of a group of 30 people from across the United States — half of whom are now sick, he told health officials.
Convention organizers noted that it's still unclear where the man contracted the Omicron variant and he may not have even picked it up at the convention at all.
More
https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-tested-positive-omicron-variant-050833692.html
India reports highest COVID-19 fatalities since July as states update tallies
December 5, 2021 5:59 AM GMT
MUMBAI, Dec 5 (Reuters) - India on Sunday reported its highest single-day COVID-19 deaths since July after two states revised their death tolls.
The eastern state of Bihar added 2,426 unrecorded deaths while the southern state of Kerala added 263 deaths to their tallies on Sunday, a federal health ministry spokesperson told Reuters.
The revised figures took single-day deaths to 2,796, the highest since July 21, according to a Reuters tally.
A devastating second wave in March and April this year saw thousands of deaths and millions affected.
Indian states have continued to add unreported COVID-19 deaths in recent months, lending weight to some medical experts' opinions that such deaths are much higher than the reported number of 473,326. read more
Omicron variant may have picked up a piece of common-cold virus
December 4, 2021 4:15 AM GMT
NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up a snippet of genetic material from another virus - possibly one that causes the common cold - present in the same infected cells, according to researchers.
This genetic sequence does not appear in any earlier versions of the coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, but is ubiquitous in many other viruses including those that cause the common cold, and also in the human genome, researchers said.
By inserting this particular snippet into itself, Omicron might be making itself look "more human," which would help it evade attack by the human immune system, said Venky Soundararajan of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based data analytics firm nference, who led the study posted on Thursday on the website OSF Preprints.
This could mean the virus transmits more easily, while only causing mild or asymptomatic disease. Scientists do not yet know whether Omicron is more infectious than other variants, whether it causes more severe disease or whether it will overtake Delta as the most prevalent variant. It may take several weeks to get answers to these questions.
Cells in the lungs and in the gastrointestinal system can harbor SARS-CoV-2 and common-cold coronaviruses simultaneously, according to earlier studies. Such co-infection sets the scene for viral recombination, a process in which two different viruses in the same host cell interact while making copies of themselves, generating new copies that have some genetic material from both "parents."
This new mutation could have first occurred in a person infected with both pathogens when a version of SARS-CoV-2 picked up the genetic sequence from the other virus, Soundararajan and colleagues said in the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The same genetic sequence appears many times in one of the coronaviruses that causes colds in people - known as HCoV-229E - and in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, Soundararajan said.
More
Pfizer vs Moderna: Harvard study compares the two mRNA COVID vaccines
Rich Haridy December 01, 2021
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is the first to pit Moderna and Pfizer’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccines against each other in an efficacy face-off. The novel research compared health records from nearly half a million US veterans and found both vaccines are incredibly effective but Moderna’s candidate is marginally better at preventing COVID-19 infections, both mild and severe.
In late 2020, as Phase 3 trial data emerged, it became clear Moderna and Pfizer’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were incredibly effective. Across clinical trial and real-world data, the vaccines consistently prevented symptomatic COVID-19 at rates higher than 90 percent.
In the absence of a direct head-to-head clinical trial it has been unclear which mRNA vaccine is generally more effective. So this new study set out to fill that gap in the science by retrospectively analyzing health records from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest integrated health care system in the US.
From a database of over three million veterans, the researchers generated two cohorts of 219,842 subjects. Each person was matched with a demographically similar partner based on characteristics such as age, race, and sex. The only difference between the individuals in each matching couple was the mRNA vaccine they were administered.
Overall, the results reveal both vaccines are powerfully effective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections, hospitalizations and death. But Moderna’s mRNA was found to be ever-so-slightly better on all counts.
The initial 24-week study period, a snapshot of a time early in 2021 before the Delta variant emerged, revealed 4.52 positive cases of COVID-19 per 1,000 persons in the Moderna group. This compared to 5.75 cases per 1,000 persons in the Pfizer group. This means those Pfizer subjects were 27 percent more likely to report a documented COVID-19 infection.
A secondary analysis was conducted with a smaller cohort of subjects spanning a period later in the year when the Delta variant was predominant. Both vaccines were still incredibly effective in the face of the Delta variant, however, Pfizer again was marginally less effective, with its caseload rising to 6.54 more positive Delta cases per 1,000 persons compared to Moderna's per 1,000 caseload.
More
Next, some vaccine links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.
World Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
Some other useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Rt Covid-19
Centers for Disease Control Coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker (UK)
https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national
Technology Update.
With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported.
Motor Mouth: These numbers decide whether hydrogen or electric cars win out
The future of fuel-cell vehicles hinges on our ability to produce hydrogen cleanly and cheaply—here's the math that determines whether it'll work
Author of the article: Publishing date: Dec 03, 2021
Forgive the seemingly abrupt plunge into cold, rigorous analysis, but here, in very simple(-istic) terms, are the two numbers that explain why the transportation industry’s interest in hydrogen is once again bubbling. A modern car battery can store 250 watt-hours of energy for every kilogram of lithium-ion. A kilogram of hydrogen, meanwhile, has 33,200 of those watt-hour things per kilo. No, that’s not a mistake. Yes, hydrogen is more than 100 times as energy-dense as a li-ion battery.
To be fair, energy densities of 300 watt-hours per kilogram are being tossed around for the next generation of electric vehicle batteries, and the solid-state batteries expected by 2025 may boast as much 450 watt-hours per kilogram. Nonetheless, if we stick to those theoretical numbers, that means while a Tesla Models S’ 100-kWh battery weighs somewhere in the order of 400 kilograms, were all things equal — and they most certainly are not — the same amount of energy could be had with but three kilograms of hydrogen.
As arcane as something like energy density may seem, those two numbers are why the future of long-haul trucking is almost certainly hydrogen-fueled. Battery power may indeed prove feasible for local delivery and short-haul, point-to-point haulage (with battery chargers at both warehouses) but coast-to-coast big rigs will be fuel-cell-powered. According to Brian Lindgren, research and development director at Kenworth, the economics are simple: A semi with a battery big enough to power a fully-loaded big rig for 300 to 350 miles (480 to 560 km) — diesel-powered long-haul trucks typically double or triple that number — will probably have to sacrifice about one-third of its payload to the batteries. But, because of hydrogen’s high energy density, fuel-cell-powered semis should have a payload similar to current diesel rigs.
Now, here’s the opposite side of the coin, two more numbers, again in very simple(-istic) terms, that are the reason Elon Musk calls FCEVs “fool’s cells.” Battery-powered electric vehicles are phenomenally efficient. Depending on the model, they can boast a well-to-wheel efficiency of around 70 to 80 per cent. By comparison, a hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric vehicle (FCEV) is positively parsimonious, with an overall efficiency of somewhere around 30 to 35 per cent.
The difference is in how the two process electricity. If, for instance, you want an FCEV to be as emissions-free as a battery-powered car, you need to electrolyze the water — splitting H2O into, well, H2 and O — with clean wind, solar, or nuclear power. This electrolysis is not nearly as efficient as simply charging a battery. Similarly, in the fuel cell itself, the H2 and O must be recombined to generate electricity (and the water which is then spewed out the tailpipe). This process, again, is not nearly as efficient as a battery dumping its electrons. One can argue the percentages quoted here if you’d like, but the fact remains that converting electricity to hydrogen only to then convert it back is never going to be as efficient as directly feeding a battery.
Hydrogen’s saving grace is its refueling time. According to Lindgren, current charging stations would require as much as six hours to recharge a battery-powered semis. Even the most powerful rechargers envisioned for the future will need at least an hour or two to revitalize the ginormous batteries required for 800 or more kilometres of range. On the other hand, Toyota, which is working with Kenworth, already has hydrogen-powered semis that can be completely refueled in 15 minutes and expects that time to be reduced to 10 minutes in the next few years. Time, as they say, is money, and the FCEV’s reduced downtime is a major game-changer for zero-emission long-haul trucking.
If, of course, there’s an infrastructure to support the necessary refueling. Currently, hydrogen refueling stations are far and few between.
----So which of the two — batteries or hydrogen — is the alternative ‘fuel’ of the future? Well, unfortunately, for those looking for a definitive response, the answer is both. Battery-powered vehicles are certain to retain their advantage for the next few years while fuel cells struggle for the economies of scale and infrastructure that will open FCEVs to a wider market. Eventually, however, the adoption of hydrogen as a key part of our zero-emission future is inevitable. Besides long-haul trucking, marine shipping and long-haul commercial aircraft are much better suited to hydrogen power.
More
As the inflation proceeds and the real value of the currency
fluctuates wildly from month to month, all permanent relations between debtors
and creditors, which form the ultimate foundation of capitalism, become so
utterly disordered as to be almost meaningless; and the process of
wealth-getting degenerates into a gamble and a lottery.
Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning
the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages
all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it
in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.”
The Economic Consequences of the Peace.
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