есть ли у вас план, мистер Фикс?
06:24 | 24-08-2013 | Cinematograph, Economics, History | No Comments
чудесная статья о Джеймсе Бонде, Бреттон-Вудской системе и всех-всех-всех:
[Auric Goldfinger’s] problem is that the way the Bretton-Woods system of semi-fixed exchange rates worked was that ordinary citizens couldn’t just own gold. A little jewelry, sure. But buying and storing large quantities of gold was illegal unless you were licensed to use gold for industrial purposes. Goldfinger, being a gold enthusiast, has in fact obtained such licenses. But naturally as a person obsessed with gold, he bears little love for an economic policy regime that restricts his ability to obtain it. Thus he isn’t shy about exploiting the arbitrage opportunities that arise under the system. Since gold couldn’t flow frequently across national boundaries and exchange rates couldn’t float up or down, the price of gold could vary quite a bit from place to place. As Colonel Smithers from the Bank of England explains, Goldfinger is using his industrial permits to obtain gold in Britain and then spiriting some of it off the island for sale in other countries where the price of gold is higher.
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Why is this a matter for MI-6?
Well it goes back to the failed economic policies of Labour Party Prime Minister Harold Wilson.