Posts Tagged ‘Benjamin Franklin’
Beer: Built the Pyramids, caused the settlement of mankind, and amassed Capital…
Posted on: May 28, 2014
Beer: Built the Pyramids, caused the settlement of mankind, and amassed Capital…
232 million of gallons of beer were needed to build the Giza Pyramid. Each worker was compensated with 2 gallons of non-alcoholic beer for along day work. Beer was most nutritive and safest liquid to drink by everyone one, including kids. Water was too polluted to dare drink and the brewing process eliminated many bacteria in the water .
Just figure out the quantity of barley that was necessary to produce and import for the brewing of beer.
For example, if not for beer drinking, far more than 50% of the Europeans in Medieval period would have died before the age of 6.
Beer brewing was discovered about 9,000 years BC, while bread was invented less than 6,000 years ago.
Nations were considered wealthy according to the amount of beer produced.
Beer was used as medicine as well for gum diseases and for bowel problems. The tetracycline (an antibiotic) in beer cured many illnesses.
Alcoholic beer is a modern product and consequently, women and children were banned from drinking beer on the ground of not that healthy for consumption on a large scale.
Beer was the first and most widely traded commodity, and remained so even in our time.
Mariners survived on beer during their long voyage since it didn’t spoil.
People in Europe of the 16th century consumed beer 6 times as much as today and everyone drank beer for fear of drinking water and because it was very affordable.
The monks in monasteries were the main brewers on an economical scale and the monasteries were filthy rich and prosperous. And beer was promised to people attending mass.
In the Arabic Empire, the Christian monasteries in Iraq and Syria were very prosperous because they were the main beer brewers. The caliphs and government officials paid regular visits to monasteries in order to drink at their leisure.
Actually, Wine or Khamra in Arabic and Persian poems referred to beer.
Beer brewing was the first means for amassing capital.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams… were brewers of beer on large scale.
Taverns, the first communication hubs, were created to cater for beer drinkers during breaks, before workers return home and during trips to other villages.
Do you believe the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston was the catalyst for the Boston Tea Party insurrection?
The melody of America’s national anthem (the Star Spangled Banner) is a 17th century beer drinking song.
Refrigeration was developed for the beer brewing industry and applied to control the temperature for the Lager kind.
And Carl von Linda invented the first commercial refrigerating machines in 1881.
Michael Owens invented in 1904 the mass automated production of beer glasses. This automation almost wiped out child labor within a decade.
Benjamin Franklin said: “Beer is the proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”
Note 1: Inspired by an article of Jean Maroun Aziz published in the Lebanese magazine Beryte
Note 2: If the beer industry start producing very affordable non-alcoholic beer at a large scale, maybe mankind will have another chance to survive from these heavily polluted rivers and water sources.
Third President: Thomas Jefferson (1801-09)
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was behind the formation of the Republican-Democrat Party against the Federalist Party that seek a strong executive power and supported by Alexander Hamilton.
Once in power, Jefferson switched to a “strong executive” concept and nominated Hamilton for the Treasury.
Jefferson was born in Virginia and inherited from his father 1,000 hectares of land with 200 slaves at the age of 14. His was educated at College of William and Mary and become lawyer. At the age of 25, he is elected at the Chamber of the Bourgeois, the colonial assembly of Virginia (the richest and most populous of the 13 colonies).
He published in 1774 the pamphlet “Summary View of the Rights of British American” which accused the British government of killing American individual rights. and was selected to represent Virginia at the Philadelphia Congress of 1775 and to write the essential parts of the Declaration of Independence.
From 1776 to 79, Jefferson is member of Virginia legislative body where he demanded the separation of Churches from the State.
At 36, Jefferson is elected governor of Virginia and has to confront the frequent incursions of the British.
In 1781, he retired to his property in Monticello and published his “Notes on the State of Virginia”. His wife Martha died in 1782 and Jefferson decided to return to the public life.
In 1785, he is appointed ambassador to France to replace Benjamin Franklin. Consequently, Jefferson could not be physically at the Constitution Convention of 1787, but approve the text globally.
He witnessed the French revolution of 1789. On the autumn of 1789, Jefferson is nominated by George Washington to head the department of foreign affairs. He has this certitude that only France can counter balance the power of England. His ideas on foreign affairs go counter to the Washington inkling and resigns in 1794.
Aged 50, Jefferson is enjoying the life of a land grower and focus on his studies. His friend James Madison is in charge of organizing the opposition to Washington.
Jefferson took residence in the new Capital of Washington DC in 1801. It has barely 3,000 people. His inaugural address:
“Minority own equal rights that an equal law must protect… We are all republicans, we are all federalists…” He walks to the Capitol without the traditional white wig and the formal reception is cancelled.
James Madison is nominated head of foreign affairs and replace most of the 600 executive employees with people of his party.
He launched in 1801 a naval attack against the Algerian Pasha for ransoming American ships.
Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803 for $15 million and the negotiations are held in total secrecy from Congress and invented a new procedure: The Executive Order. This territory included all the States where the Mississippi River passes through. The mischievous story is that England extended the loan to the US for the purchase in order to get the French out of the American continent. Napoleon was preparing to invade England and needed funding…
That loan came with a heavy price: Alexander Hamilton convinced Jefferson to sign on the monopoly of the Rothschild family of England to print US paper money and eventually have control the expansion of the internal US market.
The second calamity attached to this monopoly is that England invaded the US in 1814 in order to pressure Congress to extend this license for 24 years…
The third catastrophe was that England (through the Bank Of US) cut-off credits to the settlers in Ohio and the North-West Territory and plunged the US in a deep financial crisis in 1819.
Jefferson imposes an embargo toward European ports in 1807 and denied any ships coming from Europe to accost on US ports. This decision is a blow to US trade and Jefferson decides not to seek a third term.
Jefferson returned to Monticello at the age of 66 and created the university of Charlottesville.
He died on July, 4, 1826: a date that coincides with the independence.
“Euro B”: For internal trades?
Posted on: July 8, 2010
“Euro B”: For internal trades?
Most population or demographics of the Northern European States such as Germany, Holland, Danmark, Sweden, and Norway are on average much older than the Southern States such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, and Greece. For example, the average age in Germany is 45 and thus, Germany spends less for new housing and can save much more than the younger States. States experiencing high deficits in budget and in GNP need plenty of credit to get its young citizens settled down.
The smaller or emerging States in the EU are suffering from another major handicap. In the previous decade, these States received plenty of financial funding from the richer States in the EU and thus, most of the young people quit colleges and universities in order to work in a booming economy and to make money and purchase consumerism products that their families never owned or experienced.
Statistics show that 80% of the newer entrepreneurs in Spain and Portugal have not earned a college degree; they have restricted and limited skills to compete in this global economic environment. An entire generation was lost to shoulder the next challenges.
The problems of the Euro currency and the economy of European Union (EU) States had begun before the latest financial crash, but this financial upheaval uncovered problems that were swept under carpets for as long as the illusion of global economic development was not that evident.
The European common market is a vast market of 450 million consumers, as large as the combined USA and Russia markets. If the EU policies focus on internal trades among its States then, most of the difficulties would be far more bearable in this climate of stringent conditions to slowing down deficits in budget and to GNP.
The EU needs to consider issuing a currency valid for its internal trades that is heavily devalued compared to the current Euro. This inner currency may be called “Euro B” which will have the consequences of lowering the cost of living compared to reductions in salaries and public reduction in sectors of health, education, family planning, and small business lending facilities. The other consequence is that tourism will increase and tourists will be able to purchase more consumerism goods as product prices effectively fall.
Another additional remedy that may keep internal trades developing smoothly is to allowing hard hit States to asking for more liquidity of “Euro B” as internal trades increase and develop. Obviously, Germany should keep the exclusive monopoly of issuing Euro, both Euro A and Euro B(a monopoly that generates over 5 billion Euros to Germany per year), but the mechanism for evaluating the needs for more liquidity should be more lenient and timely.
For example, the colonies in the US before independence experienced economic expansions while England was having hard times. Benjamin Franklin, Ambassador to France after the US independence, let out the secret: Economic expansion was related to the colonies enjoying the right to “printing” currency when the economy needed this “oiling” mechanism.
England then convinced the US government, after US independence, to have the monopoly of issuing money instead of the US treasury. The Rothschild family in England endeavored to ruin the US economic expansion by refraining from issuing badly needed currencies. The dollar received a higher value than being simply an oiling mechanism: thus, the dollar was overvalued and the economy shrank.
The “Euro A”, designed for external trades outside the EU, can still be devalued, but since export balances favor only export economies such as in Germany then, “Euro A” may be considered as a political currency that should not affect significantly internal trades in the European common market.
The Euro of the European Union (EU) currency or what I call “Euro A” is witnessing healthy devaluation lately compared to the dollar and needs to be lower to around 1.1 to the dollar. The increasing difficulties experienced by many States in the EU result from initial weaker economies that could not compete efficiently in the European common market and then, were buffeted by the US financial crisis as financial multinationals extended credits not based on tangible sound economic improvement.
As long as “Euro A” is overvalued and individual States have no sovereignty for issuing currency then, the smaller States will have no options but exercising internal devaluation of 20% represented in lower salaries and harsher budget cuts.
The European and international financial and political medias are breaking the taboo of discussing whether maintaining the Euro is a viable alternative in the short-term. The arguments of the group that staunchly defends the Euro is mostly based on political reasons: To them it is becoming a matter of safeguarding dignity and sovereignty. It believes that the Euro is the major factor in the reconstruction of the European market and for the political stability and the cohesion of the European market. This group would like you to believe that without the Euro there would be no EU.
The “taboo breaker” group believes that the EU is in dire difficulty because it prematurely created a common currency before ironing out and strengthening common politics. Germany and its satellites States in the northern hemisphere benefited most from the Euro since their currencies were highly overvalued “stronger” than the Euro and thus, they managed to compete better and export more to the European common market. The other States in the Union could not deal with a Euro that was much overvalued compared to their national currencies and thus, had to suffer in market competition.
The financial and economic commotions in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain are symptoms of the financial and economic imbalance with respect to the vaster and stronger economies in Germany, France, and Italy. This group believes that the EU is heading toward a deflationary period within a couple of years if no structural institutions are installed.
The main source of imbalance is that the original six States in the Union had firmer and better tested administrative and political institutions that could apply regulations agreed on; they had the capability to supervise and monitor laws and regulations governing the union members. The weaker States are at great disadvantage: The main powerful States in the union have no confidence in the resilient determination of the weaker States to effectively executing the agreed upon regulations and second, the weaker States are prohibited to issuing (printing money) to satisfy liquidity in their internal trade and commerce.
It is not the Euro that created the common European market: the EU was already instituted and functioning well before the common currency was created on political grounds. The Euro was mainly to be the material “symbol” of the Union and this symbol degenerated into a calamity at the first major problem. The EU could have imagined much less costly symbols for its unification until political coherence was firmly established, tested, and thoroughly evaluated.
The Maastricht treaty set limits to budget deficit below 3% and public deficit below 60%. Currently, only Spain has kept its public debt at 54% and Germany its budget debt at 3.3%. The remaining States in the Euro have doubled and even tripled both limits. Joblessness is very bad all over the Euro zone averaging 10%; Spain has 20% and Ireland and Greece about 14%.
It seems to me that the Euro has encourage many mafia type “economies” to expand simply because it became much easier to transfer a unique currency and circumventing further money exchange regulations and constraints. The “Euro A” will be a good barrier for whitewashing mafia money outside the EU.
The financial institutions and the medias are sending waves of terrors claiming that there is lack of confidence in the Euro; they claim that this confidence is so low that investors are shirking the Euro zone States. I believe that the Euro should stay but be restricted to the main large economies such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Danmark, and Norway where the same homogeneous spirit for taking seriously the application of financial and economic regulations among the member States.
The other weaker States should have an alternative common currency or “Euro B”, far devalued from the Euro and backed by the “Euro A”, until political coherence and institutions are equalized in efficiency and modernity. The weaker states should enjoy the privilege of preempting slow internal trade by issuing liquidity in the newer common currency within limits.
Adonis Diaries 