Why do Ex-British Colonies use Dollars Instead of Pounds? Documentary
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Date: 2022-07-19
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Comments and reviews: 20
Fedoramaster
I feel like economics is the most human field of study. Its not based on facts, or trends, or any bs people talk about really. Its just that people say something has value, and when they stop paying attention to it, or acknowledge that something has surpassed it, that thing loses value irrelevant of what it actually does. Like if economics were a science, oil would always have a fixed price based on the market average. But no. If enough people say oil is worth this much even if theres just as much as there was before, oil is then worth that much. Its almost a reflection of how people see the world.
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I feel like economics is the most human field of study. Its not based on facts, or trends, or any bs people talk about really. Its just that people say something has value, and when they stop paying attention to it, or acknowledge that something has surpassed it, that thing loses value irrelevant of what it actually does. Like if economics were a science, oil would always have a fixed price based on the market average. But no. If enough people say oil is worth this much even if theres just as much as there was before, oil is then worth that much. Its almost a reflection of how people see the world.
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2N2222A
Where do you get the pound more subject to fluctuation argument? England like anywhere else was about silver and gold. The exchange rate was basically fixed at about five pounds to the US dollar (a crown for a buck or so) till after WW-I. The UK debased their coins, going from 92. 5pct to 50pct silver in 1919 and then dispensed with silver altogether at the outbreak of WW-II. Even then they were getting favorable exchange at over $3 to a pound for Lend-Lease. What made people poorer, there as here or anywhere (e. g. ancient Rome, was Inflation - abandoning sound money.
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Where do you get the pound more subject to fluctuation argument? England like anywhere else was about silver and gold. The exchange rate was basically fixed at about five pounds to the US dollar (a crown for a buck or so) till after WW-I. The UK debased their coins, going from 92. 5pct to 50pct silver in 1919 and then dispensed with silver altogether at the outbreak of WW-II. Even then they were getting favorable exchange at over $3 to a pound for Lend-Lease. What made people poorer, there as here or anywhere (e. g. ancient Rome, was Inflation - abandoning sound money.
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Michael
the pound was the dominant world currency into the 1940s? Where, on Mars? As early as 1916, british pound was done for, as UK owed about $2 trillion (in todays currency value) to US in loans borrowed for the War. In WWII, pound had become a joke even in UK. by 1947, UK was ready to declare martial law to avoid famine riots in the county. is this why the British pound was the dominant currency till 1949?
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the pound was the dominant world currency into the 1940s? Where, on Mars? As early as 1916, british pound was done for, as UK owed about $2 trillion (in todays currency value) to US in loans borrowed for the War. In WWII, pound had become a joke even in UK. by 1947, UK was ready to declare martial law to avoid famine riots in the county. is this why the British pound was the dominant currency till 1949?
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Bill
So. if/when China's economy becomes the world's dominant economy, will we see lots of countries switch to a native version of the yuan? (Two twin boys, separated at birth, were adopted by two different families, a hispanic family and an arabic family. One boy was named Juan, the other Jamal. As the saying goes: if you've seen Juan, you've seen Jamal)
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So. if/when China's economy becomes the world's dominant economy, will we see lots of countries switch to a native version of the yuan? (Two twin boys, separated at birth, were adopted by two different families, a hispanic family and an arabic family. One boy was named Juan, the other Jamal. As the saying goes: if you've seen Juan, you've seen Jamal)
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Larry
Okay. These ads really mess up the video. It appears that we lose the first 15 seconds of the video by the time the ad ends. To get the intro, we have to rewind the video. I started the video again because it didnt want to rewind. THEN, I had to listen to part of the ads again. There has to be a better way.
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Okay. These ads really mess up the video. It appears that we lose the first 15 seconds of the video by the time the ad ends. To get the intro, we have to rewind the video. I started the video again because it didnt want to rewind. THEN, I had to listen to part of the ads again. There has to be a better way.
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CZ
For anyone wondering why the Australian flag still has the Union Jack after all this time, it's because the Union Jack portion of the flag denotes the country's origin in its modern state - that is six British colonies coming together to form a Federated Commonwealth.
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For anyone wondering why the Australian flag still has the Union Jack after all this time, it's because the Union Jack portion of the flag denotes the country's origin in its modern state - that is six British colonies coming together to form a Federated Commonwealth.
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Andrew
Does anybody know if History Matters is intentionally trolling Americans by using the pre-Gadsden Purchase US territorial boundary when referring to America in contexts both before and after the brief 1849-1852 window when such a map was representational?
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Does anybody know if History Matters is intentionally trolling Americans by using the pre-Gadsden Purchase US territorial boundary when referring to America in contexts both before and after the brief 1849-1852 window when such a map was representational?
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zephyr
I do not understand how lack of decimalisation can lead to more fluctuation. Wasn't the fluctuation actually due to the value being pegged to the value of gold and that the currency was not floated so that the value is more transparent?
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I do not understand how lack of decimalisation can lead to more fluctuation. Wasn't the fluctuation actually due to the value being pegged to the value of gold and that the currency was not floated so that the value is more transparent?
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kceteb
They love being colonized - the British empire is no longer in the position to colonize anyone so they switched to the next empire.
When you have been a slave for too long, you become scared of freedom and independence
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They love being colonized - the British empire is no longer in the position to colonize anyone so they switched to the next empire.
When you have been a slave for too long, you become scared of freedom and independence
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Malcolm
I'm a big fan of your videos, but there's one thing you constantly get wrong; the UK isn't a nation, it's a union of nations. There's no UK national day, legal system, education system, banking system, football team, etc.
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I'm a big fan of your videos, but there's one thing you constantly get wrong; the UK isn't a nation, it's a union of nations. There's no UK national day, legal system, education system, banking system, football team, etc.
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Jeremy
I remember as a kid buying sweets for farthings (In New Zealand. They seemed a useful unit. The Australian currency was supposed to be called the Royal but the republicans agitated enough for it to be the dollar instead.
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I remember as a kid buying sweets for farthings (In New Zealand. They seemed a useful unit. The Australian currency was supposed to be called the Royal but the republicans agitated enough for it to be the dollar instead.
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jetfowl
I call my currency the Triganic Pu. It has an exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu. However, Ningis are triangular rubber coins 6, 800 miles along each side. So no one has ever collected enough to own one Pu. yet.
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I call my currency the Triganic Pu. It has an exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu. However, Ningis are triangular rubber coins 6, 800 miles along each side. So no one has ever collected enough to own one Pu. yet.
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Nick
Canada changing from the Canadian pound to the Canadian dollar because the US was a neighbour doesn't make much sense. They didn't adopt the US dollar. They might just as well have called it the Canadian baht.
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Canada changing from the Canadian pound to the Canadian dollar because the US was a neighbour doesn't make much sense. They didn't adopt the US dollar. They might just as well have called it the Canadian baht.
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SpeakNup
What does it matter what you call the currency when each countries' dollar is free floating and has different values? You still need to convert between currencies when traveling, importing and exporting.
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What does it matter what you call the currency when each countries' dollar is free floating and has different values? You still need to convert between currencies when traveling, importing and exporting.
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quirky
The Australian dollar is worth less than so many other major currencies so it makes everything expensive travelling outside of Australia
Along with the fact that you have to travel far to go anywhere
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The Australian dollar is worth less than so many other major currencies so it makes everything expensive travelling outside of Australia
Along with the fact that you have to travel far to go anywhere
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Ben
Huh. Why do all these countries that hated us enough to declare independence not use the same money as us?
EDIT: Oh. So it's more because British money hated logic at the time. That also makes sense.
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Huh. Why do all these countries that hated us enough to declare independence not use the same money as us?
EDIT: Oh. So it's more because British money hated logic at the time. That also makes sense.
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Bigpeekay
It was a real god-send when Australia adopted decimal currency in 1966. I was only 10 years old and I was very thankful not to have to think in pounds and guineas anymore.
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It was a real god-send when Australia adopted decimal currency in 1966. I was only 10 years old and I was very thankful not to have to think in pounds and guineas anymore.
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dylan
Americans: why weren't they decimal from the beginning?
Everyone else: why the F%&k do you have a metric money system but refuse to use it to measure anthing else?
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Americans: why weren't they decimal from the beginning?
Everyone else: why the F%&k do you have a metric money system but refuse to use it to measure anthing else?
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Pickle
But. what was the real point? They don't use the US dollar so they could have called it anything they wanted to, pounds, marks, franks, Kangas whatever they wanted.
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But. what was the real point? They don't use the US dollar so they could have called it anything they wanted to, pounds, marks, franks, Kangas whatever they wanted.
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DanielOdvar
This makes no sense. there is still exchange rate. these countries do not use US dollars. i would guess the real reason was to controll their on currency
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This makes no sense. there is still exchange rate. these countries do not use US dollars. i would guess the real reason was to controll their on currency
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