Money Week - UK (2021-10-08)

MONEYWEEK 8October 2021 moneyweek.com

£32.3m£32.3mThecombined
valueofa ll of the
clothes,accessories,
gadgetsand vehi cles used
by Daniel Crai g’sJames
Bond from thefirstfilm,
Casino Royale,in2006, to
hislast,No Time To Die,
released lastweek,
accordingtoanalysisby
onlinegamingexperts
CasinoScores.

£7.5mTheaskingprice
forElmestree House
Estate,a117-acre estate
nearTetbury,
Gloucestershire, located
nextdoortoP rince
Charles’ Highgrove
countryretreat .The
property,which dates

46 Lastword

The bottom line

©G

etty

Imag

es

$60m hevalueof

te of pop

ritney

pictured).

week, a

gein Los

ngeles

ordered

that her

father,

Jamie, be

suspended

omthe

ervatorship

has

agedher

rs since

when

rns

aisedover

ger’s

lhealth.

©S

enat

eC

om

mitt

ee

on

Bankin

g, Ho

using

,and Ur

banA

ffairs

Tripping up to the gates of hell

The crackpots and grifters will showusthe way

for“formulating, financing, and

executingacoordinated strategyof

sustainableandsociallyinclusive

economic development”. The

NIAwouldalso“act directlyin

financialmarkets as alender,

guarantor, securitiser, andventure

capitalist with abroadmandate

to mobilise,amplify, anddirect

public andprivate capitaltowhere

it’s neededmost”. In otherwords, a

Gosbank,theUSSR’scentral bank.

Andwhynot? Centralplanning

workedsowellintheSoviet Union.

HowniceofOmarovato bring

itwithher–toAmerica.The

fundamentalprinciplesthatguided

theAmericanRepublic–therules

andinstitutionswegrewupwith

–are beingchuckedin theriver.

Comethenextbig crisis,wewill

beguidedbycrackpotsandgrifters

–andtheUSwill stepgingerly

throughthegatesofhell, likeso

manynationsbeforeit.

I

nrecent columnswehavelooked
at howtheworldends. This
week,wemeetawomanwho
intendstokill it:Saule Omarova.
Born inKazakhstan,educated
in MoscowandMadison,and
nownominatedbytheBiden
teamto headup itsOfficeofthe
ComptrolleroftheCurrency,
Omarovamakes noeffort to
disguise what sheisupto. She
sayssheaimsto“effectively
‘endbanking’ as weknowit”.
That is,shewantstoreplace an
entire industry –onethat evolved
over hundredsof years, thanks
to theefforts of thousandsof
innovating, competingbankers,
whoservedmillionsofwilling
customers–withsomemonsterof
herowninvention.
Butdestroyingbankingis just
thebeginningof
herambitions.
Shehas never
workedfor a
bank,never
runabusiness, neversatisfied a
customer,never startedacompany,
or “madepayroll”for one,and
neverevenheldajoboutsideof
academia,thegovernment or
thelaw.Andyet, shethinksshe
knowswhatisbestfor 330million
Americans(andperhaps thewhole
world) andintends to give itto us,
whether wewant itor not. She
explains:“Mynewworking paper
[...]advocatesacomprehensive
reformof thestructureandsystemic

functionof theFed’s balance

sheetas thebasis forredesigning

thecorearchitecture of modern

finance.Itoffersablueprint for

transformingtheFed’s balance

sheetinto what itcallsthePeople’s

Ledger:theultimate public platform

forgenerating,

modulating,

andallocating

sovereigncredit

andmoneyina

democratic economy.”

Holy moly.Shethinksmodern

finance was“designed”,andthat

shehas theright to redesignit,

allocating moneyasshesees fit.

Ye s, sheproposes to bethedecider,

notjustforthegovernment, but

fortheprivatesector, too. In

particular,sheproposessetting

upsomethingsimilar to the

GosplanintheSoviet Union, a

“NationalInvestmentAuthority

[NIA]”,thatwouldberesponsible

“Destroyingbanking

is jus tthe beginning of

her ambitions”

back to the12th century,

will require “considerable

restoration”.

£100mThevalue of

Cornwall’s daffodil-

growingindustry.

This year,274 million

stems,afifth of th eentire

crop, wentunpickedowing

to alackoff lower

pickers,according to

producer s. Cornwall

suppliesnineout of te nof

alldaffodilsgrown

commercially in Britain.

€1mHowmuch239

pre-French Revolution

gold coins, that were

discovered in awallata

remotemansion near

Quimper, in Brittany

fetchedataucti on.

One, araredouble

Louisd’Or, depictin

LouisXIV,and

dati ng to 1646,sold

for€46,000.

$385bnHow

much is owed to

Chinafor its“belt

androad

initiative”projects

by 165countri es.

Theloans are

often “hidden”

from international

bodiessuchasthe

WorldBank,accord

to afour-year study

US-based research

labAidData.

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IISSN: 1472-2062

Omarova:bringingthegloriesofthe

SovietUniontothelandofthefree

BillBonner

Columnist