Contemporary parallels

From: Michael & Susan O'Brien <mrmob_at_...>
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 21:05:46 +0400

Rory:
> > Hmmmmm, I bet there are economic implications in that much outflow of
> > gold/silver from the empire, and also the inflow where troops are
> > stationed.

Tangentially relevant footnote from my story "Jaxarte and the Emperor": "...the much larger State Crockery is a modern creation, modelled on the few authentic relics of the Dara Happan age that escaped melting down by Magnificus and others to finance their wars against the usurper Sheng. It has been a project of the current Mask, Argenteus, to restore the State Crockery to a truly Dara Happan level of magnificence; agents of the Red Dancer of Power suggest that the staggering quantities of gold required have slightly exacerbated the rising level of inflation of recent years." http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mrmob/jaxandtheemperor.htm

>Take a look at what the war in the Low Countries did to Spain (you know, the
>country with all the gold from the Americas? The richest nation on earth (or
>at least in Europe) at the time...

All that New World treasure (actually it was primarily silver, rather than gold) caused problematic inflation in the Spanish economy, and the tax system fell unevenly, with the nobility and the rich largely exempt. Sinking a colossal fortune into an ultimately fruitless attempt to maintain control of the Netherlands didn't help.

>I'll forbear from suggesting any parrallels with anything happening
>nowadays...

It also didn't help that the competent Phillip II was succeeded by his slacker of a son Phillip III, who has been described as the laziest king in Spanish history and "...unable to escape his own mediocrity".

Y'know, I *can* see some contemporary parallels!

Cheers,

MOB