Re: Imposing the US Dollar on Canada

["Alan G. Isaac" <aisaac@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 19 Apr 2001 phillp2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>   Alan's post was unbelievable.  Henry did something to
> redress the balance but if this is the level of understanding of
> monetary and macro economics, we must all weep and wail.
> Is this really the level of economic analysis and understanding of
> PKT?




Paul,

You seem to be equating weeping and wailing with analysis,
since you offer nothing else.  For example, a specific
critique of the actual content of my post, as opposed
to rhetorical flailing.

Colin and William are the only ones I recall actually
attempting analysis.  Just where is the ``analysis''
in Henry's posts that you are admiring?  In the
undefined and untethered notions of imperialism that
he is throwing around in this discussion?

How about offering something in the way of argument,
perhaps with specific reference to Panama, Ecuador,
El Salvador, the CFA zone, etc., etc.  Do you really
think your LAND and HERITAGE are at issue in your
choice of currency??

The ``weeping and wailing'' you celebrate is exactly
why Colin, William, and I started posting.  As far
as I can tell it is nothing more nobel than indignant
nationalism. As I said in my post,
``Dollarization is one of those issues where the debate is
likely to consist more of heat than light, and where the
economic interests of ordinary people are likely to be
ignored in favor of ideological rants or nationalist
ravings.''

I will point out in addition that, to my recollection,
no one has suggested that dollarization is
generally a good idea.  Some of us just noted, to the dismay
of the politically correct, that it need not always
be a bad idea.  Indeed it is far from clear that
any countries that have adopted the dollar so far
will be worse off, even accounting for
their loss of seigniorage revenues.  (You may be
aware of discussions in the US to compensate for
these.)  Of course countries seldom consider
dollarization except in crisis, and crisis is
seldom resolved by monetary reform, so especially
in the short run it is hard to determine the
contribution of dollarization to economic events.

In any case, you and Harry need to take a deep breath.
No one on this list has suggested Canada should dollarize.
You can keep your LAND and your HERITAGE and your
evident NATIONALISM.

Cheers,
Alan