Coins and banknotes – the two most common physical forms of money.

Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given socio-economic context or country.^[1][2][3] The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past, a standard of deferred payment.^[4][5] Any kind of object or secure verifiable record that fulfills these functions can serve as money.

Money is historically an emergent market phenomena establishing a commodity money, but nearly all contemporary money systems are based on fiat money.^[4] Fiat money is without intrinsic use value as a physical commodity, and derives its value by being declared by a government to be legal tender; that is, it must be accepted as a form of payment within the boundaries of the country, for "all debts, public and private".

The money supply of a country consists of currency (banknotes and coins) and bank money (the balance held in checking accounts and savings accounts). Bank money usually forms by far the largest part of the money supply. ^[6][7][8]

History[link]

A 640 BC one-third stater electrum coin from Lydia.

The use of barter-like methods may date back to at least 100,000 years ago, though there is no evidence of a society or economy that relied primarily on barter.^[9] Instead, non-monetary societies operated largely along the principles of gift economics and debt.^[10][11] When barter did in fact occur, it was usually between either complete strangers or potential enemies.^[12]

Many cultures around the world eventually developed the use of commodity money. The shekel was originally a unit of weight, and referred to a specific weight of barley, which was used as currency.^[13] The first usage of the term came from Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC. Societies in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia used shell money – often, the shells of the money cowry (Cypraea moneta L. or C. annulus L.). According to Herodotus, the Lydians were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins.^[14] It is thought by modern scholars that these first stamped coins were minted around 650–600 BC.^[15]

Song Dynasty Jiaozi, the world's earliest paper money

The system of commodity money eventually evolved into a system of representative money.^{[citation needed]} This occurred because gold and silver merchants or banks would issue receipts to their depositors – redeemable for the commodity money deposited. Eventually, these receipts became generally accepted as a means of payment and were used as money. Paper money or banknotes were first used in China during the Song Dynasty. These banknotes, known as "jiaozi", evolved from promissory notes that had been used since the 7th century. However, they did not displace commodity money, and were used alongside coins. Banknotes were first issued in Europe by Stockholms Banco in 1661, and were again also used alongside coins. The gold standard, a monetary system where the medium of exchange are paper notes that are convertible into pre-set, fixed quantities of gold, replaced the use of gold coins as currency in the 17th-19th centuries in Europe. These gold standard notes were made legal tender, and redemption into gold coins was discouraged. By the beginning of the 20th century almost all countries had adopted the gold standard, backing their legal tender notes with fixed amounts of gold.

After World War II, at the Bretton Woods Conference, most countries adopted fiat currencies that were fixed to the US dollar. The US dollar was in turn fixed to gold. In 1971 the US government suspended the convertibility of the US dollar to gold. After this many countries de-pegged their currencies from the US dollar, and most of the world's currencies became unbacked by anything except the governments' fiat of legal tender and the ability to convert the money into goods via payment.

Etymology[link]

The word "money" is believed to originate from a temple of Hera, located on Capitoline, one of Rome's seven hills. In the ancient world Hera was often associated with money. The temple of Juno Moneta at Rome was the place where the mint of Ancient Rome was located.^[16] The name "Juno" may derive from the Etruscan goddess Uni (which means "the one", "unique", "unit", "union", "united") and "Moneta" either from the Latin word "monere" (remind, warn, or instruct) or the Greek word "moneres" (alone, unique).

In the Western world, a prevalent term for coin-money has been specie, stemming from Latin in specie, meaning 'in kind'.^[17]

Functions[link]

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In the past, money was generally considered to have the following four main functions, which are summed up in a rhyme found in older economics textbooks: "Money is a matter of functions four, a medium, a measure, a standard, a store." That is, money functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a standard of deferred payment, and a store of value.^[5] However, modern textbooks now list only three functions, that of medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value, not considering a standard of deferred payment as a distinguished function, but rather subsuming it in the others.^[4][18][19]

There have been many historical disputes regarding the combination of money's functions, some arguing that they need more separation and that a single unit is insufficient to deal with them all. One of these arguments is that the role of money as a medium of exchange is in conflict with its role as a store of value: its role as a store of value requires holding it without spending, whereas its role as a medium of exchange requires it to circulate.^[5] Others argue that storing of value is just deferral of the exchange, but does not diminish the fact that money is a medium of exchange that can be transported both across space and time.^[20] The term 'financial capital' is a more general and inclusive term for all liquid instruments, whether or not they are a uniformly recognized tender.

Medium of exchange[link]

When money is used to intermediate the exchange of goods and services, it is performing a function as a medium of exchange. It thereby avoids the inefficiencies of a barter system, such as the 'double coincidence of wants' problem.

Unit of account[link]

A unit of account is a standard numerical unit of measurement of the market value of goods, services, and other transactions. Also known as a "measure" or "standard" of relative worth and deferred payment, a unit of account is a necessary prerequisite for the formulation of commercial agreements that involve debt. To function as a 'unit of account', whatever is being used as money must be:

• Divisible into smaller units without loss of value; precious metals can be coined from bars, or melted down into bars again.
• Fungible: that is, one unit or piece must be perceived as equivalent to any other, which is why diamonds, works of art or real estate are not suitable as money.
• A specific weight, or measure, or size to be verifiably countable. For instance, coins are often milled with a reeded edge, so that any removal of material from the coin (lowering its commodity value) will be easy to detect.

Store of value[link]

To act as a store of value, a money must be able to be reliably saved, stored, and retrieved – and be predictably usable as a medium of exchange when it is retrieved. The value of the money must also remain stable over time. Some have argued that inflation, by reducing the value of money, diminishes the ability of the money to function as a store of value.^[4]

Standard of deferred payment[link]

While standard of deferred payment is distinguished by some texts,^[5] particularly older ones, other texts subsume this under other functions.^[4][18][19] A "standard of deferred payment" is an accepted way to settle a debt – a unit in which debts are denominated, and the status of money as legal tender, in those jurisdictions which have this concept, states that it may function for the discharge of debts. When debts are denominated in money, the real value of debts may change due to inflation and deflation, and for sovereign and international debts via debasement and devaluation.

Measure of Value[link]

Money, essentially acts as a standard measure and common denomination of trade. it is thus a basis for quoting and bargaining of prices. It has significantly in developing efficient accounting systems. But the most important usage is that it provides a method to compare the values of dissimilar objects.

Money supply[link]

In economics, money is a broad term that refers to any financial instrument that can fulfill the functions of money (detailed above). These financial instruments together are collectively referred to as the money supply of an economy. In other words, the money supply is the amount of financial instruments within a specific economy available for purchasing goods or services. Since the money supply consists of various financial instruments (usually currency, demand deposits and various other types of deposits), the amount of money in an economy is measured by adding together these financial instruments creating a monetary aggregate.

Modern monetary theory distinguishes among different ways to measure the money supply, reflected in different types of monetary aggregates, using a categorization system that focuses on the liquidity of the financial instrument used as money. The most commonly used monetary aggregates (or types of money) are conventionally designated M1, M2 and M3. These are successively larger aggregate categories: M1 is currency (coins and bills) plus demand deposits (such as checking accounts); M2 is M1 plus savings accounts and time deposits under $100,000; and M3 is M2 plus larger time deposits and similar institutional accounts. M1 includes only the most liquid financial instruments, and M3 relatively illiquid instruments.

Another measure of money, M0, is also used; unlike the other measures, it does not represent actual purchasing power by firms and households in the economy. M0 is base money, or the amount of money actually issued by the central bank of a country. It is measured as currency plus deposits of banks and other institutions at the central bank. M0 is also the only money that can satisfy the reserve requirements of commercial banks.

Market liquidity[link]

Market liquidity describes how easily an item can be traded for another item, or into the common currency within an economy. Money is the most liquid asset because it is universally recognised and accepted as the common currency. In this way, money gives consumers the freedom to trade goods and services easily without having to barter.

Liquid financial instruments are easily tradable and have low transaction costs. There should be no (or minimal) spread between the prices to buy and sell the instrument being used as money.

Types of money[link]

Currently, most modern monetary systems are based on fiat money. However, for most of history, almost all money was commodity money, such as gold and silver coins. As economies developed, commodity money was eventually replaced by representative money, such as the gold standard, as traders found the physical transportation of gold and silver burdensome. Fiat currencies gradually took over in the last hundred years, especially since the breakup of the Bretton Woods system in the early 1970s.

Commodity money[link]

A 1914 British Gold sovereign

Many items have been used as commodity money such as naturally scarce precious metals, conch shells, barley, beads etc., as well as many other things that are thought of as having value. Commodity money value comes from the commodity out of which it is made. The commodity itself constitutes the money, and the money is the commodity.^[21] Examples of commodities that have been used as mediums of exchange include gold, silver, copper, rice, salt, peppercorns, large stones, decorated belts, shells, alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, candy, etc. These items were sometimes used in a metric of perceived value in conjunction to one another, in various commodity valuation or Price System economies. Use of commodity money is similar to barter, but a commodity money provides a simple and automatic unit of account for the commodity which is being used as money. Although some gold coins such as the Krugerrand are considered legal tender, there is no record of their face value on either side of the coin. The rationale for this is that emphasis is laid on their direct link to the prevailing value of their fine gold content.^[22] American Eagles are imprinted with their gold content and legal tender face value.^[23]

Representative money[link]

In 1875 economist William Stanley Jevons described what he called "representative money," i.e., money that consists of token coins, or other physical tokens such as certificates, that can be reliably exchanged for a fixed quantity of a commodity such as gold or silver. The value of representative money stands in direct and fixed relation to the commodity that backs it, while not itself being composed of that commodity.^[24]

Fiat money[link]

Fiat money or fiat currency is money whose value is not derived from any intrinsic value or guarantee that it can be converted into a valuable commodity (such as gold). Instead, it has value only by government order (fiat). Usually, the government declares the fiat currency (typically notes and coins from a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve System in the U.S.) to be legal tender, making it unlawful to not accept the fiat currency as a means of repayment for all debts, public and private.^[25][26]

Some bullion coins such as the Australian Gold Nugget and American Eagle are legal tender, however, they trade based on the market price of the metal content as a commodity, rather than their legal tender face value (which is usually only a small fraction of their bullion value).^[23][27]

Fiat money, if physically represented in the form of currency (paper or coins) can be accidentally damaged or destroyed. However, fiat money has an advantage over representative or commodity money, in that the same laws that created the money can also define rules for its replacement in case of damage or destruction. For example, the U.S. government will replace mutilated Federal Reserve notes (U.S. fiat money) if at least half of the physical note can be reconstructed, or if it can be otherwise proven to have been destroyed.^[28] By contrast, commodity money which has been lost or destroyed cannot be recovered.

Currency[link]

Currency refers to physical objects generally accepted as a medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply. The other part of a nation's money supply consists of bank deposits (sometimes called deposit money), ownership of which can be transferred by means of cheques, debit cards, or other forms of money transfer. Deposit money and currency are money in the sense that both are acceptable as a means of payment.^[29]

Money in the form of currency has predominated throughout most of history. Usually (gold or silver) coins of intrinsic value (commodity money) have been the norm. However, nearly all contemporary money systems are based on fiat money – modern currency has value only by government order (fiat). Usually, the government declares the fiat currency (typically notes and coins issued by the central bank) to be legal tender, making it unlawful to not accept the fiat currency as a means of repayment for all debts, public and private.^[25][26]

Commercial bank money[link]

Demand deposit in cheque form.

Commercial bank money or demand deposits are claims against financial institutions that can be used for the purchase of goods and services. A demand deposit account is an account from which funds can be withdrawn at any time by check or cash withdrawal without giving the bank or financial institution any prior notice. Banks have the legal obligation to return funds held in demand deposits immediately upon demand (or 'at call'). Demand deposit withdrawals can be performed in person, via checks or bank drafts, using automatic teller machines (ATMs), or through online banking.^[30]

Commercial bank money is created through fractional-reserve banking, the banking practice where banks keep only a fraction of their deposits in reserve (as cash and other highly liquid assets) and lend out the remainder, while maintaining the simultaneous obligation to redeem all these deposits upon demand.^[31][32] Commercial bank money differs from commodity and fiat money in two ways, firstly it is non-physical, as its existence is only reflected in the account ledgers of banks and other financial institutions, and secondly, there is some element of risk that the claim will not be fulfilled if the financial institution becomes insolvent. The process of fractional-reserve banking has a cumulative effect of money creation by commercial banks, as it expands money supply (cash and demand deposits) beyond what it would otherwise be. Because of the prevalence of fractional reserve banking, the broad money supply of most countries is a multiple larger than the amount of base money created by the country's central bank. That multiple (called the money multiplier) is determined by the reserve requirement or other financial ratio requirements imposed by financial regulators.

The money supply of a country is usually held to be the total amount of currency in circulation plus the total amount of checking and savings deposits in the commercial banks in the country. In modern economies, relatively little of the money supply is in physical currency. For example, in December 2010 in the U.S., of the $8853.4 billion in broad money supply (M2), only $915.7 billion (about 10%) consisted of physical coins and paper money.^[33]

Digital money[link]

Digital currencies gained momentum in before the 2000 tech bubble. Flooz and Beenz were particularly advertised as an alternative form of money. While the tech bubble caused them to be short lived, many new digital currencies have reached some, albeit generally small userbases.

Most digital currencies are simply fiat currencies parleyed across a digital medium. However, protocols like Bitcoin allow money to only exist in cyberspace which allows for some classic limitations to be lifted. Never in the history of time has the sending of money across a geographical divide not required the trust of a 3rd party which of course then is susceptible to regulatory capture. Analogous to the printing press having allowed the free exchange knowledge which was highly regulated by the Christian church (who unsuccessfully tried to impose the death penalty for publishing after the printing press came to Europe), new forms of currency coming to fruition this very day allow for the free exchange of wealth across distances.

Monetary policy[link]

When gold and silver are used as money, the money supply can grow only if the supply of these metals is increased by mining. This rate of increase will accelerate during periods of gold rushes and discoveries, such as when Columbus discovered the New World and brought back gold and silver to Spain, or when gold was discovered in California in 1848. This causes inflation, as the value of gold goes down. However, if the rate of gold mining cannot keep up with the growth of the economy, gold becomes relatively more valuable, and prices (denominated in gold) will drop, causing deflation. Deflation was the more typical situation for over a century when gold and paper money backed by gold were used as money in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Modern day monetary systems are based on fiat money and are no longer tied to the value of gold. The control of the amount of money in the economy is known as monetary policy. Monetary policy is the process by which a government, central bank, or monetary authority manages the money supply to achieve specific goals. Usually the goal of monetary policy is to accommodate economic growth in an environment of stable prices. For example, it is clearly stated in the Federal Reserve Act that the Board of Governors and the Federal Open Market Committee should seek “to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.”^[34]

A failed monetary policy can have significant detrimental effects on an economy and the society that depends on it. These include hyperinflation, stagflation, recession, high unemployment, shortages of imported goods, inability to export goods, and even total monetary collapse and the adoption of a much less efficient barter economy. This happened in Russia, for instance, after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Governments and central banks have taken both regulatory and free market approaches to monetary policy. Some of the tools used to control the money supply include:

• changing the interest rate at which the central bank loans money to (or borrows money from) the commercial banks
• currency purchases or sales
• increasing or lowering government borrowing
• increasing or lowering government spending
• manipulation of exchange rates
• raising or lowering bank reserve requirements
• regulation or prohibition of private currencies
• taxation or tax breaks on imports or exports of capital into a country

In the US, the Federal Reserve is responsible for controlling the money supply, while in the Euro area the respective institution is the European Central Bank. Other central banks with significant impact on global finances are the Bank of Japan, People's Bank of China and the Bank of England.

For many years much of monetary policy was influenced by an economic theory known as monetarism. Monetarism is an economic theory which argues that management of the money supply should be the primary means of regulating economic activity. The stability of the demand for money prior to the 1980s was a key finding of Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz^[35] supported by the work of David Laidler,^[36] and many others. The nature of the demand for money changed during the 1980s owing to technical, institutional, and legal factors^{[clarification needed]} and the influence of monetarism has since decreased.

See also[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Money

Look up money in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Money

• Coin of account
• Currency market
• Electronic money
• Labor-time voucher
• Leper colony money
• Local Exchange Trading Systems
• Money bag
• Non-market economics
• Numismatics — Collection and study of money
• Orders of magnitude (currency)
• Seignorage
• Slang terms for money
• Tax
• World currency
• Protection Systems

References[link]

vep:Rahad

James Beeland Rogers, Jr.
Born	(1942-10-19) October 19, 1942 (age 69) Baltimore, Maryland, USA[1]
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford Yale University
Occupation	Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc. Co-founder of the Quantum Fund
Website
www.jimrogers.com

James Beeland Rogers, Jr. (born October 19, 1942) is an American investor and author. He is currently based in Singapore. Rogers is the Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc. He was the co-founder of the Quantum Fund with George Soros and creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index (RICI).

Rogers is an outspoken proponent of the free market, but he does not consider himself a member of any school of thought. Rogers acknowledged, however, that his views best fit the label of Austrian School of economics.^[2][3]

Early life and education[link]

Rogers was born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Demopolis, Alabama.^[1][4] He started in business at the age of five by selling peanuts and by picking up empty bottles that fans left behind at baseball games. He got his first job on Wall Street, at Dominick & Dominick, after graduating with a bachelor's degree in History from Yale University in 1964. Rogers then acquired a second BA degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford University in 1966.

Business career[link]

1970-2002[link]

In 1970, Rogers joined Arnhold and S. Bleichroder. In 1973, Rogers co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros. During the following 10 years, the portfolio gained 4200% while the S&P advanced about 47%.^[5] The Quantum Fund was one of the first truly international funds.

In 1980, Rogers decided to "retire", and spent some of his time traveling on a motorcycle around the world. Since then, he has been a guest professor of finance at the Columbia Business School.^[6]

In 1989 and 1990, Rogers was the moderator of WCBS' The Dreyfus Roundtable and FNN's The Profit Motive with Jim Rogers. From 1990 to 1992, he traveled through China again, as well as around the world, on motorcycle, over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) across six continents, which was picked up in the Guinness Book of World Records. He tells of his adventures and worldwide investments in Investment Biker, a bestselling investment book.

In 1998, Rogers founded the Rogers International Commodity Index. In 2007, the index and its three sub-indices were linked to exchange-traded notes under the banner ELEMENTS. The notes track the total return of the indices as an accessible way to invest in the index. Rogers is an outspoken advocate of agriculture investments.

Between January 1, 1999 and January 5, 2002, Rogers did another Guinness World Record journey through 116 countries, covering 245,000 kilometers with his wife, Paige Parker, in a custom-made Mercedes. The trip began in Iceland, which was about to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Leif Eriksson's first trip to America. On January 5, 2002, they were back in New York City and their home on Riverside Drive. His route around the world can be viewed on his website, jimrogers.com. He wrote Adventure Capitalist following this around-the-world adventure. It is currently his bestselling book.

2002 to present[link]

On his return in 2002, Rogers became a regular guest on Fox News' Cavuto on Business and other financial TV shows.^[7] In 2002, Rogers said that Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's "reaction to the stock-market bubble has caused two more bubbles to grow: a real-estate bubble and a consumer-debt bubble."^[8] In 2006, Rogers said he was shorting US financials, home builders and Fannie Mae.^[9][10]

In 2005, Rogers wrote Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market. In this book, Rogers quotes a Financial Analysts Journal academic paper co-authored by Yale School of Management professor, Geert Rouwenhorst, entitled Facts and Fantasies about Commodity Futures. Rogers contends this paper shows that commodities investment is one of the best investments over time, which is a concept somewhat at odds with conventional investment thinking.

In December 2007, Rogers sold his mansion in New York City for about 16 million USD and moved to Singapore. Rogers claimed that he moved because now is a ground-breaking time for investment potential in Asian markets. Rogers's first daughter is now being tutored in Mandarin to prepare her for the future. He is quoted as saying: "If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia." In a CNBC interview with Maria Bartiromo broadcast on May 5, 2008, Rogers said that people in China are extremely motivated and driven, and he wants to be in that type of environment, so his daughters are motivated and driven. He also stated that this is how America and Europe used to be. He chose not to move to Chinese cities like Hong Kong or Shanghai due to the high levels of pollution causing potential health problems for his family; hence, he chose Singapore. He has also advocated investing in certain smaller Asian frontier markets such as Sri Lanka and Cambodia, and currently serves as an Advisor to Leopard Capital’s Leopard Sri Lanka Fund.^[11] However, he is not fully bullish on all Asian nations, as he remains skeptical of India's future - "India as we know it will not survive another 30 or 40 years".^[12] In 2008 Rogers endorsed Ron Paul for President of the United States.^[13]

Rogers has two daughters with Paige Parker. Hilton Augusta (nicknamed Happy) was born in 2003, and their second daughter Beeland Anderson in 2008. His latest book, A Gift To My Children, contains lessons in life for his daughters as well as investment advice and was published in 2009.

On November 4, 2010, at Oxford University’s Balliol College, he urged students to scrap career plans for Wall Street or the City, London’s financial district, and to study agriculture and mining instead. “The power is shifting again from the financial centers to the producers of real goods. The place to be is in commodities, raw materials, natural resources."^[14]

In February 2011 Rogers announced that he has started a new index fund which focuses on "the top companies in agriculture, mining, metals and energy sectors as well as those in the alternative energy space including solar, wind and hydro."^[15] The index is called The Rogers Global Resources Equity Index and according to Rogers, only the best and most liquid companies go into the index.

Bibliography[link]

• 1995: Investment Biker: Around the World with Jim Rogers. - ISBN 1-55850-529-6
• 2003: Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip. - ISBN 0-375-50912-7
• 2004: Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market. - ISBN 1-4000-6337-X
• 2007: A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World's Greatest Market. - ISBN 1-4000-6616-6
• 2009: A Gift to My Children: A Father's Lessons For Life And Investing. - ISBN 1-4000-6754-5

Further reading[link]

• Schwager, Jack D. (1993). Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders. Collins; Reissue edition. ISBN 0-88730-610-1. 
• Train, John (2003). Money Masters of Our Time. Collins; Reprint edition. ISBN 978-0-88730-970-0. 

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (September 2010)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jim Rogers

• The Millennium Adventure, Official Jim Rogers website
• The Rogers International Commodity Index A site for information on the RICI

Articles

• "An Early Christmas for Jim Rogers". - BusinessWeek - December 8, 2004.
• "Invest In Commodities – and Keep Your Shirt". - November 23, 2006.
• "We Want Our Kids To Learn Chinese". - MySinchew. - July 19, 2008. - (article about Rogers' life in Singapore)
• "Adventure Capitalist". - PODER Magazine. - April 2010.

Interviews

• Curated Interview With Jim Rogers From Market Wizards
• Jim Rogers on the British Pound, US Dollar, And China
• Jim Rogers, The Adventure Capitalist
• Jim Rogers and George Soros Started the Quantum Fund
• rediff.com: The Money Interview/Jim Rogers, investor, globetrotter
• Financial Sense Newshour's Ask The Expert: Jim Rogers:
  • 2003.
  • May 6, 2004.
• Riverside Conversations: a 3 Part TV Series with Marc Faber
• SCMP video interview, September 8, 2008.
• Investors Chronicle interview. - (on the decline of the US/Europe, emerging markets, commodities). - November 2008.
• Bloomberg Night Talk interview. - November 24, 2008.
• Jim Rogers on The Lew Rockwell Show:
  • "The Crash of '08". - December 12, 2008. - (*.MP3 audio)
  • "Economic Advice to My Children (and You)". - May 17, 2009. - (*.MP3 audio)
• Bloomberg TV Jim Rogers Special. - December 24, 2008.
• TIME Q&A: Jim Rogers:
  • April 28, 2009.
  • October 31, 2008.
• Interview from March 2009 on Channel 4
• Jim Rogers Sat 3 Interview German TV Sat 3
• Euro is not to blame for crisis, BBC News, 26 December 2011.

References[link]

The Right Honourable The Lord Mandelson PC
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
In office 11 May 2010 – 20 May 2010
Leader	Harriet Harman
Preceded by	Kenneth Clarke
Succeeded by	Pat McFadden
First Secretary of State
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	John Prescott
Succeeded by	William Hague
Lord President of the Council
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
Succeeded by	Nick Clegg
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Himself (at BERR) John Denham (at IUS)
Succeeded by	Vince Cable
Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
In office 3 October 2008 – 5 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	John Hutton
Succeeded by	Himself (at BIS)
European Commissioner for Trade
In office 22 November 2004 – 3 October 2008
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Pascal Lamy
Succeeded by	Catherine Ashton
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 11 October 1999 – 24 January 2001
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Mo Mowlam
Succeeded by	John Reid
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
In office 27 July 1998 – 23 December 1998
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Margaret Beckett (President of the Board of Trade)
Succeeded by	Stephen Byers
Minister without Portfolio
In office 2 May 1997 – 27 July 1998
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Brian Mawhinney
Succeeded by	Charles Clarke
Member of Parliament for Hartlepool
In office 9 April 1992 – 23 July 2004
Preceded by	Ted Leadbitter
Succeeded by	Iain Wright
Majority	22,506 (59.1%)
Personal details
Born	(1953-10-21) 21 October 1953 (age 58)[citation needed] South London, United Kingdom
Political party	Labour
Domestic partner	Reinaldo Avila da Silva
Alma mater	St Catherine's College, Oxford

Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, PC (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and was a European Commissioner. He was a key architect in the rebranding of the Labour Party as "New Labour" and its subsequent landslide victory in the 1997 general election.^[1]

He twice resigned from Tony Blair's government while holding Cabinet positions. After his second resignation, he served as the European Commissioner for Trade from 2004 to 2008. He rejoined the government when he was made a life peer by the Queen and took his seat in the House of Lords on 13 October 2008.^[2]

Early life[link]

Peter Mandelson was born in London in 1953, the son of Mary Joyce (née Morrison) and George Norman Mandelson.^[3] His father's family was Jewish, and his father was the advertising manager at The Jewish Chronicle. On his mother's side, he is the grandson of Margaret (Kent) and Herbert Morrison, the London County Council leader and Labour cabinet minister.^[4] He was educated at Hendon County Grammar School 1965–72.^[5] In 1966 he appeared on stage with the local amateur theatre group, the Hampstead Garden Suburb Dramatic Society as the eponymous lead in The Winslow Boy.

He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Catherine's College, Oxford (1973–1976) and in the late 1970s, became Chair of the British Youth Council. As Chair of the BYC, he was a delegate in 1978 to the Soviet-organised World Festival of Youth and Students in Havana, Cuba, where with several future Labour cabinet colleagues, he with Hilary Barnard, future IUSY President, and Trevor Phillips successfully frustrated agreement on a distorted Soviet text on youth in the capitalist countries.^[6][7]

In his teenage years, he was also a member of the Young Communist League.^[8] but was a member of the Oxford University Labour Club delegation to the December 1975 NOLS Conference when the entryist Trotskyist Militant tendency lost control of NOLS. He was elected to Lambeth Borough Council in September 1979, but retired in 1982, disillusioned with the state of Labour politics.^[9]

Media and public relations career[link]

He worked as a television producer at London Weekend Television on Weekend World before Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock appointed him as Director of Communications in 1985, with a view to his overseeing Labour's campaign for the next general election, which was ultimately held in June 1987 and ended in a third successive win for Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government,^[10] although the Conservative majority was slightly reduced as Labour gained 20 seats.^[11]

Mandelson was able to secure close friendships within the Labour Party because of uncle Alexander Butler, who had worked alongside many important Labour politicians during the 1960s. In this role he was one of the first people in Britain to whom the term "spin doctor" was applied; he was thus called 'the Prince of Darkness'^[12][13] and, after his ennoblement, 'the Dark Lord', nicknames he apparently enjoys having.^[14]

In 1986, Mandelson ran the campaign at the Fulham by-election in which Labour defeated the Conservative Party.^[15] He then managed the Labour Party's 1987 general election campaign.

He is author (with Roger Liddle) of The Blair Revolution (1996). More recently, he contributed to the book The City in Europe and the World (2005).

Mandelson has been given the nickname "Mandy" in the popular media.^[16]

Political career[link]

He ceased being a Labour Party official in 1990 when he was selected as Labour candidate for the safe seat of Hartlepool. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1992 general election.^[17]

Shadow cabinet[link]

Mandelson made several speeches outlining his strong support for the European Union. He was close to two Shadow Cabinet members – Gordon Brown and Tony Blair – each regarded as potential future leaders, though he was sidelined during the brief period when John Smith led the party.

After Smith's sudden death in 1994, Mandelson chose to back Blair for the leadership, believing him to be a superior communicator to Brown^[18] and played a leading role in the leadership campaign. This created antagonism between Mandelson and Brown, though they were considered allies in the Labour Party.^[19]

He became a close ally and trusted adviser to Tony Blair. He was Labour's election campaign director for the 1997 general election, which Labour won by a landslide.^[20]

Government minister[link]

He was appointed as a Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office, where his job was to co-ordinate within government. A few months later, he also acquired responsibility for the Millennium Dome, after Blair decided to go ahead with the project despite the opposition of most of the Cabinet (including the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who had been running it). Jennie Page, the Dome Chief Executive, was abruptly sacked after a farcical opening night. She gave evidence to a House of Commons Select Committee for Culture and Heritage in June 2000. In what was seen as a reference to the close interest in the Dome from Mandelson, known at the time as so-called "Dome Secretary", and his successor Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Ms Page told the committee: "I made several attempts to persuade ministers that standing back from the Dome would be good for them as well as good for the Dome".^[21]

In July 1998, he joined the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. He launched the Millennium Bug And Electronic Commerce Bill and a Competitiveness White Paper, which he described, as 'bold, far reaching and absolutely necessary'. He also appointed a 'Net czar' to lead the UK in what he termed the "new industrial revolution". In 1998 he was appointed a Privy Councillor.

First resignation[link]

Mandelson bought a home in Notting Hill in 1996 with the assistance of an interest-free loan of £373,000 from Geoffrey Robinson, a millionaire Labour MP who was also in the Government and subject to an inquiry into his business dealings by Mandelson's department.^[22] Mandelson contended that he had deliberately not taken part in any decisions relating to Robinson. However, he had not declared the loan in the Register of Members' Interests, and resigned on 23 December 1998.^[22] Mandelson had also not declared the loan to his building society (the Britannia) although they decided not to take any action, with the CEO stating "I am satisfied that the information given to us at the time of the mortgage application was accurate."^[23] Mandelson initially thought he could weather the press storm, but had to resign when it became clear that the Prime Minister thought nothing else would clear the air.^[24]

On 16 October 2000 it was reported that Robinson had "accused Peter Mandelson of lying to the Commons about the home loan affair that cost both of them their Government jobs."^[25][26]

He was out of the Cabinet for ten months. In October 1999, he was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, replacing Mo Mowlam. In his very first speech in the post he mistakenly referred to himself as the "Secretary of State for Ireland."^[27] During his tenure he oversaw the creation of the devolved legislative assembly and power-sharing executive, and reform of the police service.

Second resignation[link]

On 24 January 2001, Mandelson resigned from the Government for a second time following accusations of using his position to influence a passport application.^[28][29] He had contacted Home Office minister Mike O'Brien on behalf of Srichand Hinduja, an Indian businessman who was seeking British citizenship, and whose family firm was to become the main sponsor of the "Faith Zone" in the Millennium Dome. At the time, Hinduja and his brothers were under investigation by the Indian government for alleged involvement in the Bofors scandal. Mandelson insisted he had done nothing wrong and was exonerated by an independent inquiry by Sir Anthony Hammond which concluded that neither Mandelson nor anyone else had acted improperly. The front page headline in The Independent read in part "Passport to Oblivion".^[30]

At the 2001 general election, Mandelson was challenged by Arthur Scargill of the Socialist Labour Party and by John Booth, a former Labour Party press officer standing as "Genuine Labour",^[31] but Mandelson was re-elected with a large majority.^[32] This prompted him to make an exuberant acceptance speech, which was televised live, in which he declared that "I'm a fighter, not a quitter"^[1] and referred to his "inner steel".

Despite Labour success in the June 2001 general election, a third appointment to the Cabinet did not happen and he indicated his interest in becoming the United Kingdom's European Commissioner when the new Commission was established in 2004. Both of Britain's Commissioners, Neil Kinnock and Chris Patten, were due to stand down. Appointment as a Commissioner would require his resignation from Parliament and therefore a by-election in his Hartlepool constituency. His appointment was announced in the summer and on 8 September 2004 Mandelson resigned his seat through appointment as Steward of the Manor of Northstead.^[33][34] Labour won the subsequent Hartlepool by-election with a majority of more than 2,000.^[35]

During the Parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009, the Daily Telegraph raised questions about the timing of Mandelson’s second home allowance claim, dating from 2004, saying, "Lord Mandelson billed the taxpayer for almost £3,000 of work on his constituency home in Hartlepool less than a week after announcing his decision to stand down as an MP." Mandelson said in a statement, "The work done was necessary maintenance. All claims made were reasonable and submitted consistent with Parliamentary rules."^[36]

European commissioner[link]

On 22 November 2004, Mandelson became Britain's European Commissioner, taking the trade portfolio.

On 22 April 2005, The Times revealed that Mandelson had spent the previous New Year's Eve on the yacht of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, which was at the centre of a major EU investigation, although it did not allege impropriety.^[37]

During the summer of 2008, Mandelson had a widely publicised disagreement with Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France.^[1] Sarkozy accused him of trying to sell out European farmers and appeared to blame his handling of the Doha round of trade talks for the "no" vote in the Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. Mandelson said his position at world trade talks had been undermined and told the BBC he did not start the row, saying, "I stood up for myself, I'm not to be bullied." He said he believed the row was over but renewed his warnings on protectionism.^[1]

In 2008, melamine added to milk in China caused kidney stones and other ailments in thousands of Chinese children, and killed at least six. To show his confidence in Chinese dairy products, Mandelson drank a glass of Chinese yoghurt in front of reporters. The following week, he was hospitalised for a kidney stone; the events were probably unconnected.^[38][39]

In October 2008, Mandelson was reported to have maintained private contacts over several years with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, most recently on holiday in August 2008 on Deripaska's yacht at Taverna Agni on the Greek island of Corfu.^[40] News of the contacts sparked criticism because, as European Union trade commissioner, Mandelson had been responsible for two decisions to cut aluminium tariffs that had benefited Deripaska's United Company RusAl.^[41] Mandelson denied that there had been a conflict of interest and insisted that he had never discussed aluminium tariffs with Deripaska.^[42] On 26 October 2008, the Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague claimed the "whole country" wanted "transparency" about Mandelson's previous meetings with Deripaska. In response, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Mandelson's dealings with Deripaska had been "found to be above board".^[43] Mandelson said that meeting business figures from "across the range" in emerging economies was part of his brief as EU trade commissioner.^[44] On 29 October 2008, while Mandelson was on a ministerial visit to Moscow,^[45] it was alleged in the British press that, head of security at Deripaska's company Basic Element Valery Pechenkin had organised a swift entry visa for Mandelson when he turned up in Moscow to visit Deripaska in 2005.^[46]

In October 2008 he left his post as Trade Commissioner to return to UK politics. As a former EU commissioner, Mandelson is entitled to a £31,000 pension when he reaches the age of 65 years. While this is contingent on a "duty of loyalty to the Communities" which applies also after his term in office, Mandelson's spokesperson denied there is a conflict of interest.^[47]

Return to cabinet[link]

On 3 October 2008, as part of Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle, it was announced amid some controversy^[48][49] that Mandelson would return to government in the re-drawn post of Business Secretary, and would be made a life peer, entitling him to a seat in the House of Lords.^[50][51] On 13 October 2008 he was created Baron Mandelson, of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of Hartlepool in the County of Durham,^[52] and was introduced in the House of Lords the same day.^[53]

Since returning to office, Lord Mandelson has supported the planned Heathrow Airport expansion.^[54] On 6 March 2009, the environmental protester Leila Deen of anti-aviation group Plane Stupid approached him outside a summit on the government's Low Carbon Industrial Strategy and threw a cup of green custard in his face, in protest over his support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. The protester was cautioned on 9 April for causing "harassment, alarm or distress".^[55][56]

In a cabinet reshuffle on 5 June 2009, Mandelson was appointed to the honorific office of First Secretary of State, and to the position of Lord President of the Council.^[57] It was also announced that the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills would be merged into his, giving him the new title of Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, and that he would continue as President of the Board of Trade.^[57][58]

Mandelson was a member of 35 of the 43 Cabinet committees and subcommittees.^[59] An opinion poll conducted by the centre-left think tank Compass found that Mandelson was proving to be more popular with rank and file party members than Deputy Party Leader Harriet Harman. This was claimed to be surprising due to Mandelson's previously strained relationship with grassroots members, set against Harman's record of success winning grassroots votes in her election as Deputy. It was also seen to be prophetic, and to tie-in with Tony Blair's quote that his "mission would be completed when the Labour Party learned to love Mandelson".^[60]

Post-cabinet[link]

After the Labour Party failed to secure a majority in the 2010 general election and subsequent resignation of the Labour government, Mandelson published his memoirs "The Third Man: Life at the Heart of New Labour" in July 2010,^[61] a little over two months after leaving office. The memoirs were subsequently criticised by Labour leadership contenders Ed and David Miliband and Andy Burnham.^[62]

In November 2010, Lord Mandelson became chairman of Global Counsel LLP, a consultancy firm, with the financial support of WPP, the advertising giant.^[63] On 21 January 2011, it was announced by that Lord Mandelson would serve as a Senior Adviser to the advisory investment banking firm, Lazard Ltd.^[64]

In May 2011, it was revealed that there was speculation that Mandelson had been approached by China to be a candidate for the leadership of the International Monetary Fund, even though Mandelson cannot stand since he has not been a finance minister or led a central government bank. However, it was then speculated that Mandelson would stand to succeed Pascal Lamy as Director General of the World Trade Organization, and has the backing of David Cameron.

In May 2012 Lord Mandelson confirmed advising Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) in selling timber products to Europe. In 2012 APP has been accused of illegal logging in Indonesia and damaging the habitats of rare animals such as the Sumatran tiger. At least 67 companies worldwide, such as Tesco and Kraft Foods since 2004 and Danone since 2012 have boycotted APP.^[65][66][67]

Personal life[link]

In October 1998, during his first period in the Cabinet, Mandelson was the centre of media attention when Matthew Parris (openly gay former MP and then Parliamentary sketch writer of The Times) mentioned during a live interview on Newsnight, in the wake of the resignation of Ron Davies, that "Peter Mandelson is certainly gay".^[68]

In 2000, Mandelson publicly recognised his relationship with long-time partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva by allowing photographs of them together.^[69] Da Silva is Brazilian born but was naturalized as a British citizen around the end of August 2005.^[70]

Tam Dalyell, while Father of the House of Commons, claimed Mandelson formed part of Blair's 'Jewish cabal' in May 2003. In response Mandelson said: "Apart from the fact that I am not actually Jewish, I wear my father's parentage with pride."^[71]

Mandelson was, until 8 October 2008, the president of Central School of Speech and Drama.^[72] He was replaced in this unremunerated post by playwright Harold Pinter, who died some weeks later.

In 1999, 2009 and 2011 Mandelson was an invited guest of the Bilderberg Group and attended the annual conferences.^[73][74]

References[link]