Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Money finish oh!

Print more money! You know what? You do not even have to print it. Just take a piece of paper and write your own amount. That will be the new money. Do not play with economics, because it will mess with you. Right away.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Beware of hyperinflation anno 2020

The two CDC executive members on social media pledged their respective supports to fulfilling the request of President George M. Weah for Legislative approval of the printing of L$35 billion, with Rep. Gray arguing that the printing of money is intended to pay civil servants. In agreement with Rep. Gray, Rep. Koffa also noted that the printing of new currency is inevitable. “I support the printing of money for payment of salaries as a short term measure. (Daily Observer 18th November 2019) Ladies and Gentlemen. Our elected representatives are lobbying their collegues to print new money to pay civil servants!!!!!!!!!!!! If this does not worry you then you should take the time to study similar cases throughout history. German Weimar Republic in the 1920s Zimbabwe inte late 1990s to 2015 Venezuela 2012 to present day.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Animal Farm

L$211.7909/US$1.00 During the days of the military regime that engulfed our country from 1980 to 1990 I remember reading George Orwells novel from 1945 called "Animal Farm". Although Mr. Orwell wrote the book with the power struggle between Lenin and Stalin in communist Russia in mind, the same themes were played out in our own backyard. In those days when this played out, we were all in the middle of it. Plot summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm#Plot_summary Somehow, I am getting a deju vu feeling. "Some animals are more equal than others"

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The answer is blowing in the wind

L$205.1281/US$1.00 How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly Before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, and how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesn't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Yes, and how many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? Yes, and how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Lyrics from Blowing in the wind, Bob Dylan.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

You can fool some people sometimes...

L$202.4819/US$1.00 ...but you can´t fool all the people all the time. (B.Marley) Nuff said.

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Law business

L$194.7185/US$1.00 What make it that we like law business so? Wherever you turn, everybody arguing about law business. This one and that one. Everybody can just be invoking different laws. You go this side, this other one know it. What?! But when you go look, nobody know how to make farm. Nobody knows how to make anything but trouble. We bringing all kinds of foodstuff from abroad. When we go look, our paper money just getting useless. That it now oh.

Sunday, June 02, 2019

Bury your garbage, City mayor urges

L$191.5041/US$1.00 Lo and behold. Only in Liberia. "The Mayor of the city of Monrovia, Jefferson Koijee, is urging Monrovians to begin disposing off their garbage by burying them in the earth." Daily Observer

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Supply of money

L$190.4475/US$1.00 When a country prints new bills, they are usually meant to replace older damaged notes. It is the job of the Central Bank to collect the old bills and destroy them and infuse the new ones. If you do not replace defunct currency, but just adding to money supply, you undermine the currency. We saw this in the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. In Zimbabwe, Mugabwe thought he was smart and started printing money to be able to pay govenment employees. In Venezuela today, Madouru is doing the same thing. In the short term, you may seem to solve a problem, but very shortly after, the currency is soon not worth more than what it actually is, paper. At this stage, when a country issues more money than it has backing for, you get increased inflation. Inflation is the increasing of prices, or really the decreasing of the value of the currency. In Weimar, Zimbabwe and Venezuela the printing of "new" money just kept on and on. This caused HYPERINFLATION. In the end, to buy a loaf of bread, the equivalent amount of money had to be carried in a wheelbarrow. Luckily, we are not here yet, but the tendencies seem to be ther. Wake up now, and smell the coffee.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Another one gets a bank

L$189.4508/US$1.00 Lo and behold. The Central Bank of Liberia has allegedly inflated its payroll by almost 300 people. For what? Are we going back to becoming a banana republic?

Friday, May 24, 2019

Supply and demand

L$187.6225/US$1.00 The more demand for any product, the more will be the price of it. The less the supply of something, the more the price. These are the two major facts in economic theory. The important lesson here is that to solve the problem you have to supply more of the scarce product. Or find a way to decrease the demand of the scarce product. There is unfortunately no piece of legislation that can do anything about this. Solution: Find a way to make the flow of US dollars into the country increase. Produce things that can be sold abroad to bring in foreign currency.

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Our neighbor

L$182.6281/US$1.00 Meanwhile in Sierra Leone. After eleven months in office, the new Sierra Leonean president has put measures in place to encourage a boost in agriculture. They have also implemented a central govenment account for the collection of revenue. These measures have gained approval from the IMF and World Bank. Things are looking up for our neighbors, for us, not so much. We are concentrating on building mansions for ourselves.

Friday, May 10, 2019

One, two, three

L$172.5305/US$1.00 One, two, three.

In this day and age

L$177.8284/US$1.00 In this day and age we are still writing checks? An employee of the Revenue Authority has managed to cash a check for USD 450 000 and make off with the amount. Are we surprised?

Saturday, April 27, 2019

New money, old problem.

L$170.1264/US$1.00 and counting. Our Finance minister has proclaimed that in order to solve our currency problem we will have to change our currency. Changing the currency will do nothing but make it worse, and it will not solve the real issue. We import almost everything that is consumed in our country. For this the importers need foreign exchange (US dollars). If the importer cannot get a hold of US dollars, they can´t import goods and go out of business. So, to insure a steady supply of US dollars, the price will continue to increase. In order to counter this, you have to either stop importing all your goods and producing your own goods or even begin to export your goods for foreign exchange. This is simple economics. There is nothing that the government can do about this except encourage people to produce goods to export.

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Freedom of speech

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, please listen up. The cost of living gets so high, the rich and poor, they start to cry. Now that we must get strong, they say oh, what a tribulation. Them belly full but we hungry. A pot has cooked but the yield´s not nuff. L$166.0221/US$1.00 Today the minister of State for Presidential Affairs has sued the host of the Costa show!! Can you imagine.

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Pro Poor?

Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor! By repeatedly saying something does not make it true. By repeatedly saying something does not make it good. By repeatedly saying something does not make it legitimate. By repeatedly saying something does not make it proper. Go figure.

Wednesday, March 06, 2019

Unaccounted for but not hidden

Since the beginning of time, in this glourious land of Liberty, whenever someone happens upon any kind of funds that they were not previously in pocession of, they will build a house. We have seen it throughout the years. It it always there for everyone to see. So, those in the know will say that there is nothing wrong with that. I respectfully disagree. Unfortunately, impunity here is a well guarded tradition. This is usually also the case with these same people, who have not even declared their assets in the first place.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Aint you see it ehn!

So my friends "The time has come, let´s raid the rules and have som fun." Exactly what we were expecting has now come to pass. No one can tell me that they are surprised. There is no surprise there at all. As George Orwell so pleasantly put it, "Some animals are more equal than other animals." And that it what we are now seeing. Press freedom. The first casualty in the Weah regime is now a fact. As Donald Trump would put intricately describe it, "Sad!"