From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire (quickest source I could find):

“None of his immediate successors had any particular military or political talent and the administration of the Empire increasingly fell into the hands of the civil service. Efforts to revive the Byzantine economy only resulted in inflation and a debased gold coinage. The army was now seen as both an unnecessary expense and a political threat. Therefore, native troops were cashiered and replaced by foreign mercenaries on specific contract.”

I would suggest you look into this a little more. It is surprising the effect that gold and coinage and the economy, and their debasement, had on the decline of the Byzantine Empire.

Barry, since your blog is mainly about money, I’m shocked you missed the connection.

“[Chinese] elite would much rather create export jobs, even at the cost of subsidizing foreign buyers, than allow the yuan to rise and thereby risk job shortages at home. ”

i see it as dumping their cheap goods on the rest of the world by keeping the yuan artificially low-

can’t last forever

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/11/china-and-the-american-jobs-machine.html

“…President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year’s State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning…”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29471.html

“…The administration wants to keep some of the unspent funds available for emergencies, but is considering setting aside a chunk for debt reduction, according to people familiar with the matter…”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125799009185344567.html?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1

This is worth an email to support this idea.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/

However, a month ago (Sept. 21st) we were told that “Only 5% of Web Users Would Pay for News”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/sep/21/paid-content-newspapers-online-news

So, what changed?

My guess is that somebody else paid to get a different answer.

If somebody surveyed me I’d say that I’d pay for news but I should be paid for the BS that passes for the “news” that I’m getting now.

Such as these survey results…

the Fed is willing to risk $ destruction- and high inflation- in fact- it may be their intention- with the hope of supporting asset prices-

my guess- the $ will catch a bid with or without them and the air will be let out of this commodity/equity before long

BR, while you’re sitting on those long plane rides, check out Simple Minds new stuff, after running out of steam in the nineties, they have made three very good albums.
U2 fans are usually very pleasantly surprised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AXCohT0jQM