Euro Area

**Kralizec** · 07-15-2012, 22:10

Originally Posted by lars573

The Holy Roman Emperor also had 2 ancillary titles. King of Germany and King of the Romans. After Charlemagne the title of HRE and king of the Romans was passed around by his grand-sons descendants. It end up with the elected king of the Germans also being HRE. With a stipulation that it was only official if you crowned by the Pope in Rome. Electors were the original dukes of the German tribal duchies. After the 15th century no HRE really bothered going to Rome for a coronation. But the late dark age idea that the Pope had the authority to make Emperors is why Napoleon had the Pope crown him Emperor.

That's mostly correct, except that the term "Holy Roman Empire/Emperor" was only used from Otto I and onwards. IIRC, being king of Germany (that is, the eastern portion of the divided Carolingian realm) was originally hereditary, but that male-line branch of Charlemagne's descendants died out at some point. Strictly speaking all the lands should then have passed to the Carolingian heir in west-Francia (i.e. France), but the German dukes decided to elect a new monarch instead. Since then, the king/emperor of Germany was elected.

**HopAlongBunny** · 07-16-2012, 16:28

Apparently I was wrong about the LIBOR scandal winding down to oblivion.

Canadian banks are under investigation as well as ones in USA. The article (http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/stor...nk-probed.html) mentions Canadian branches of involved banks, as well as an investigation by the US. If any findings see the light of day, it could get very ugly indeed.

**drone** · 07-16-2012, 17:46

Excellent, this need to get the full light-of-day treatment. It's high time the heads of bank execs started rolling, and the uproar might prevent the regulatory rollbacks the industry is currently bribing our congresscritters for.

**Strike For The South** · 07-17-2012, 05:01

In 100 years, this will be the new gilded age, only with bankers taking the role that heavy industry played.

Any takers?

sigh. I would be a revolutionary, if there were any money in it.

**HopAlongBunny** · 07-17-2012, 16:04

Originally Posted by Strike For The South

In 100 years, this will be the new gilded age, only with bankers taking the role that heavy industry played.

Any takers?

sigh. I would be a revolutionary, if there were any money in it.

I'll bite.

Unlike Twains' Gilded Age where cheap money saw enormous expansion of industry, agriculture and infrastructure (raising all boats), this gilded age is all about cheap money chasing paper returns essentially resulting in asset inflation. The beauty of Twains' take on things is it is just as relevant today as when published. The actors change but the mechanism of gov't/industry and "wealth creation" is much the same.