C. Sawicky,
Nice to talk to you again. Do you mean that you don't buy his arguments historically or politically? By this I mean to ask whether you think he is wrong on the history or that he is trying to build a misguided political-economic case.
I'm just a bit farther along in the book and I have to say that as a less historically literate American than some here, this book has been fantastic for me in terms of building context. As an American, I don't think I'm alone in tending to see issues of taxation and government finance in strictly modern terms. I am finding it nice to take these issues out of the typical Marxism/Keneysianism versus laissez-faire/Monetarism meatgrinder.
peace,
boddi
p.s. - on the Iraq-Vietnam thing
I was watching Tom Friedman (who is getting more and more hang-dog for having backed Bush's war) respond on the News Hour to some former Army guy who said it was okay that Al-Qaeda types were infiltrating into Iraq because we were engaging them and destroying them "in their own camp," as he put it. Friedman pointed out that "this is a part of the world that is having a population explosion. There are more 15-year-olds in the area from Morocco to the border of India than any other part of the world I believe." That made me think of something I had read in this Ferguson book, that: "there was no real breakthrough in the way armies were supplied between the seventeenth century and the early twentieth. From the battle of Mons in 1692 to the Battle of Mons in 1914 'armies could only be fed as long as they kept moving': they had to live off the country by buying - or more commonly stealing - local produce."
It occurs to me that despite the obvious risks, the best job a young man can have in the third world is being a soldier. At a minimum you have respect and ability to get what you need to survive - if only by sticking an AK-47 in somebody's face and stealing it. Moreover, the more desperate a society gets, the better a job soldiering is by comparison. It sort of helps to explain why these African wars just grow and grow. It also helps to explain, I guess, why the North Vietnamese always ran short of food and ammunition but never soldiers. N'est-ce pas?
-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org]On Behalf Of Max B. Sawicky Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 6:36 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] Niall Ferguson's "The Cash Nexus"
I just started it myself. Finished Chapter 1 so far. It's a pleasure to read, tho I couldn't say I buy his arguments.
-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org]On Behalf Of boddhisatva Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 9:17 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: [lbo-talk] Niall Ferguson's "The Cash Nexus"
Hi all,
I hav been away from the lists for a while. I am reading the book in my title here and was wondering what people on this list thought of it.
thanks,
boddi
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