The passing of Joan Veon tribute by John Loeffler Adam Fergusson was born in Scotland in 1932. He graduated in history at Cambridge, and later became a journalist with the Glasglow Herald, the Statist, and The Times. He has been a Member of the European Parliament, a Special Adviser at the Foreign Office, a consultant on European affairs for international industry and commerce, and political advisor to Geoffrey Howe, Mrs. Thatcher's Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1979. He has written five books. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he lives in London. This week on Financial Sense Newshour Jim Puplava talks with Adam Fergusson about his rereleased book When Money Dies and why it is still relevant today. Vitaliy Katsenelson was born and raised in Murmansk, Russia. He immigrated to the US from Russia in 1991 with all his family. Vitaliy is a Director of Research / Portfolio Manager at Investment Management Associates, Inc (IMA) a value investmentfirm based in Denver, Colorado. He has written articles for Financial Times, Barron’s, BusinessWeek, New York Post, Forbes.com, among others. He has been interviewed in Barrons, The Wall Street Transcript, Value Investor Insight, Welling@Weeden, BusinessWeek, BNN, CNBC, and countless radio shows. Vitaliy is also the author of Active Value Investing: Making Money in Range-Bound Markets an investment book published by John Wiley & Sons in October 2007, and interviewed by Jim Puplava February 2008. This week on Financial Sense Newshour Vitaliy Katsenelson talks with Jim Puplava about the coming problems for Japan and China. Daily Express (London) Allen Mattich, Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2010 When Money Dies is the classic history of what happens when a nation’s currency depreciates beyond recovery. In 1923, with its currency effectively worthless (the exchange rate in December of that year was one dollar to 4,200,000,000,000 marks), the German republic was all but reduced to a barter economy. Expensive cigars, artworks, and jewels were routinely exchanged for staples such as bread; a cinema ticket could be bought for a lump of coal; and a bottle of paraffin for a silk shirt. People watched helplessly as their life savings disappeared and their loved ones starved. Germany’s finances descended into chaos, with severe social unrest in its wake. Money may no longer be physically printed and distributed in the voluminous quantities of 1923. However, “quantitative easing,” that modern euphemism for surreptitious deficit financing in an electronic era, can no less become an assault on monetary discipline. Whatever the reason for a country’s deficit—necessity or profligacy, unwillingness to tax or blindness to expenditure—it is beguiling to suppose that if the day of reckoning is postponed economic recovery will come in time to prevent higher unemployment or deeper recession. What if it does not? Germany in 1923 provides a vivid, compelling, sobering moral tale. Adam Dugdale Fergusson (born 10 July 1932) is a Britishjournalist, author and Conservative Party politician who served one term in the European Parliament. He has remained involved in the field of European Union affairs since, as a Special Adviser to Conservative governments and as a business consultant. Among other books, he wrote When Money Dies, a classic account of hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic. First published in 1975, When Money Dies was hailed as a cult classic in the wake of the Financial crisis of 2007-2010, with copies changing hands on eBay for up to $1000. As a result, When Money Dies was republished in July 2010, becoming an internet sensation after allegedly being commended [1] by financier, Warren Buffett. Fergusson is the second son of Sir James Fergusson, 8th Bt. of Kilkerran. He attended Eton and Trinity College, Cambridgewhere he read History, graduating in 1955. He went into journalism on the Glasgow Herald, working as a Leader-writer in 1957-58 and as Diplomatic Correspondent from 1959 to 1961. Leaving the Herald, Fergusson moved to The Statist, a journal for economists and businessmen. He was Foreign Editor of theStatist from 1964 until it ceased publication in 1967, afterwards joining The Times as a feature-writer specialising on political, economic and environmental matters. He was at the Times for ten years, also using his time to write fiction, including Roman Go Home(1969) and The Lost Embassy (1972). In the late 1970s Fergusson became active in Conservative politics. As a firm opponent of devolution, he spoke at conferences trying to persuade the Conservatives to oppose the Scottish Assembly; after this campaign was successful, he was a member of the "Scotland Says No" campaign for thedevolution referendum. At the 1979 elections to the European Parliament, Fergusson fought the Strathclyde Westconstituency, which had seemed safe for Labour; however, a collapse in the Labour vote saw him elected by 1,827 votes. For three years, Fergusson acted as spokesman for theEuropean Democratic Group on political affairs. He supported calls for a boycott of the Moscow Olympics, arguing that theinvasion of Afghanistan and the internal exile ofAndrei Sakharov showed the two sides of the Soviet Union: "Aggression without, and oppression within". When Barbara Castle criticised the expenses of the European Parliament, he described her as "the single most damaging export the United Kingdom has on its hands today". When in 1982 the European Union proposed that the electoral system for European Parliament elections be changed to the party list, Fergusson led the Conservative MEPs' opposition. He kept up constant pressure on the government of Poland over its crackdown on Solidarity, and condemned not only the USSR over the shootdown of Korean Air Flight 007, but theGreekgovernment which had failed to issue its own condemnation. He was a rapporteur in late 1983, bringing in a report which called for European co-operation on arms manufacture; and for a proposal to install an Empty Chair in the parliament, symbolically waiting for Eastern European countries to be liberated and join the European Community. He was for twenty years from 1981 a vice president of the Pan-European Union. At the 1984 election, Fergusson opted out of defending his seat in Strathclyde, and instead fought London Central where the sitting MEP Sir David Nicolson was standing down. He found it sad that people could vote for an opponent (Stan Newens), who had opposed EEC entry, but on election day Newens won the seat by 13,000 votes. Fergusson was Special Adviser on European Affairs to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1985 to 1989. He then set up as a consultant on European affairs. Fergusson also continued journalism, and contributed to the rebuilding of the City of Bath (he was honorary Vice-President of the Bath Preservation Trust from 1997). His polemic, "The Sack of Bath", was first published in 1973 and is a record of how, in the space of a few years, and in the name of modernisation and redevelopment, the city was robbed of its architectural "undergrowth"; and of how ugly new developments wrecked a unique part of the European heritage. His novel "Scone", a political satire on the effects of devolution in Scotland, was published in 2005. Remaining fully committed to the European ideal, Fergusson derided the Conservative Party's approach to the 1999 European Parliament elections in a joint letter which wished for a manifesto "more like that of the Pro-Euro Conservative Party". He was married for 44 years to Penelope Hughes (d.2009), with whom he had four children and eleven grandchildren. He lives in London.
A CONVERSATION WITH ADAM FERGUSSON, "WHEN MONEY DIES"
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Fax 858.487.3969Editorial Reviews
Review
“Engrossing and sobering.”
“One of the most blood chilling economics books I’ve ever read.”Product Description
By Keith M. Barron (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
Here are some parallels with our time:
The Germany of the '20s finds it cannot meet the costs of war reparations. The US of the 2000s starts a war intending to pay reparations before it begins, and then finds itself unable to meet the mounting costs of war reparations it originally thought would leap out of the ground and just pay themselves. (Meanwhile, the US's wounded soldiers [& the families of its dead soldiers] are going to require entire lifetimes of domestic reparations).
The Germany of the '20s attempted to buy/finance prosperity with ballooning deficits. The US of the 2000s wants to buy/finance prosperity with ballooning deficits. Neither nation-State can be told it is wrong--and neither admits (or even recognizes) inflation is a hidden and pernicious tax.
Germany before the '20s had every confidence in the mark. The US in the 2000s believes the only currency in the world is the dollar, & the only thing money can be made of is paper and ink (never gold or silver). But as one mixes ink with paper, hoping the mixture will have exchange value, one finds that one has given value to neither material.
As Germany becomes more unhinged in the '20s, it moves towards a strong man as a moth to a flame. As the US grows more unhinged, it loses faith in its 'strong man' (even if he does not lose faith in himself). If the US should subsequently shun whoever wants to be the next 'strong man', there may yet be be hope. Since it is possible for the next wannabe 'strong man' to be laughed off the stage, it is yet possible the US will not succumb. The jury is still out.
At times the mark strenghthens (goes against the ultimate trend, for short periods): the Germans of the '20s (and other investors) think the crisis is over and it is time to buy. At times the dollar strengthens (goes against the ultmate trend [?], for short periods): the world of the 2000s thinks the crisis may end--isn't it now time to buy cheap US assets?
The Germans of the '20s can add more zeros to their paper--but paper production does not keep up with the 'demand' for money. The US of the 2000s has but to generate a computer entry and like magic, the 'demand' for money is met. The paper of Germany leaves a trail [Fergusson proves this]--computer entries can be a hidden and dirty little State Secret [until prices rise as the money actually depreciates, the state can suppress much of the evidence].
At many levels, this book about a frightening past speaks to a menacing present. Because of its price, many will not get to read that message. Between the Germany of the '20s and the US of the 2000s, there are differences too, but not differences that necessarily help. The potential for money supply to soar (the Fed's ability to create credit by computer without even having to buy ink, paper, and printers) has never been so boundless. We of the 2000s prefer to believe we are more intellegent than the Germans of the 20s. We live with the hope that our enlightened leaders [!] comprehend inflation & understand that deficit spending shall ruin us. Enlighted people that they are, from government top to government bottom, we know and rely upon our leaders' fiscal responsibility. Just look at how enlightenment runs through the Nation--budgetary constraints are placed upon our brilliant leader, by those guardians of the Public Purse & Trust, a US legislature that checks and balances all his raw power. In truthiness [that is, if one buys their spin], they all do their utmost to preserve & protect the currency, while shouldering their duties to preserve and protect our Constitution. Tonight, can I sleep contentedly, knowing both these National Treasures are safe and sound?
Read this book: it is still found in libraries. You will be witness to ink on paper that actually has and holds its value.Adam Fergusson (MEP)
[edit]Early career
[edit]The Times
[edit]Anti-devolution campaigning
[edit]European Parliament
[edit]1984 election campaign
[edit]Subsequent career
[edit]Personal life
[edit]References
click below to listen to full interview
When Money Dies: The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany
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Other Articles by James J Puplava CFP--This text refers to thePaperback edition.--This text refers to thePaperback edition.
those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it, December 18, 2002
This review is from: When money dies: The nightmare of the Weimar collapse (Hardcover)
This is a frightening account of the German, Austrian and Hungarian hyperinflations of the early 1920's. It includes blow-by-blow accounts by diplomats, bankers, and ordinary folk who survived the total annihilation of their currencies. Fergusson has done an outstanding job of documentation and must have spent thousands of hours in archives. It is indeed a shame that this book is out-of-print. "Making the Same Old Mistakes, but not Makin' Mo' Money" or "Zeros in -- Zeros out. Naught is Naught." , May 25, 2006, May 25, 2006
This review is from: When money dies: The nightmare of the Weimar collapse (Hardcover)
I first read this book some 25 years ago. I was so impressed I immediately bought a dozen copies & gave them to pals. (In 1980 they were 3-4 pounds sterling each--it's ironic & interesting that the price of this out-of-print book now fetches multiple zeros).From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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