What We Are Reading Today: The History of Money
In this eye-opening global history, economist David McWilliams charts the relationship between humans and money — from clay tablets in Mesopotamia to cryptocurrency in Silicon Valley.
McWilliams shows that money is central to every aspect of our civilization, and from the political to the artistic. According to this book, money defines the relationship between worker and employer, buyer and seller, merchant and producer. It also defines the bond between the governed and the governor, and the state and the citizen.
In this book, McWilliams takes the readers across the world, from the birthplace of money in ancient Babylon to the beginning of trade along the Silk Road.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Japan says US promises to fix double tariff oversight
Japan said Thursday that the US has pledged to amend a presidential order to prevent overlapping tariffs on Japanese goods, addressing what Tokyo's trade negotiator described as a 'regrettable' oversight. During talks in Washington, Ryosei Akazawa urged US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to ensure that a newly agreed fifteen percent tariff would not be stacked on top of existing duties on imports such as beef. Akazawa said the US officials told him they would revise the July 31 presidential order—which already included a no-stacking clause for the European Union but not for Japan—and refund any excess duties collected. They also said former President Donald Trump would lower auto tariffs from twenty-seven point five percent to fifteen percent through a separate executive order, in line with last month's bilateral trade agreement. 'Frankly, I did not expect to be visiting the US again so soon after my last trip,' said Akazawa, who has now traveled to Washington nine times since April. The US Treasury and Commerce Department did not immediately comment on the latest meetings. News of the changes, combined with strong corporate earnings, helped push Japan's broad Topix index above the key 3,000-point mark for the first time. Reports about the tariff fix 'calmed fears over US tariffs and helped drive the market higher,' said Shoji Hirakawa, chief global strategist at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Lab. Japan is one of eight major US trading partners to strike a trade framework deal, and the fifteen percent tariff rate is considered relatively low. However, confusion arose after the US began collecting higher tariffs on August 7 from dozens of countries, including a fifty percent levy on Brazilian imports, thirty-nine percent on Swiss imports, and thirty-five percent on Canadian goods. Much of what Akazawa negotiated directly with Trump in July was not included in a signed document, fueling concerns in Tokyo that Japanese companies could face higher-than-expected tariffs. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who has faced criticism for not issuing a joint statement with Trump, defended the decision by saying it was intended to accelerate implementation of the agreement. Ishiba is under pressure within his party to step down following last month's upper house election loss. To help finalize the deal, Japan agreed to boost investment in the US by as much as $550 billion through government-backed loans and guarantees for joint projects. Trump later likened the pledge to a baseball player's signing bonus that Washington could use as it saw fit. Akazawa declined to say whether the investment pledge was discussed during this week's talks. Japan 'will continue to maintain close communication with the US side at various levels,' the government said in a statement.
Arab News
7 hours ago
- Arab News
Trump defends the US economy with charts after job reports showed warning signs
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump unexpectedly summoned reporters to the Oval Office on Thursday to present them with charts that he says show the US economy is solid following a jobs report last week that raised red flags and led to the Republican firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Joining Trump to talk about the economy was Stephen Moore, a senior visiting fellow in economics at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and the co-author of the 2018 book 'Trumponomics.' Flipping through a series of charts on an easel, Moore sought to elevate Trump's performance as president and diminish the economic track record of former President Joe Biden. Trump stood next to Moore and interjected with approvals. The moment in the Oval Office spoke to the president's hopes to reset the narrative of the US economy. While the stock market has been solid, job growth has turned sluggish and inflationary pressures have risen in the wake of Trump imposing a vast set of new tariffs, which are taxes on imports. Moore said he phoned Trump because he put together some data that shows he was correct to dismiss Erika McEntarfer as the head of the BLS. He noted that's because reports from the BLS had overestimated the number of jobs created during the last two years of Biden's term by 1.5 million. 'I think they did it purposely,' said Trump, who has yet to offer statistical evidence backing his theory. Revisions are a standard component of jobs reports and tend to be larger during periods of economic disruption. The economy has seldom conformed to the whims of any president, often presenting pictures that are far more mixed and nuanced than what can easily be sold to voters. Through the first seven months of this year, employers have added 597,000 jobs, down roughly 44 percent from the gains during the same period in 2024. The July jobs report showed that just 73,000 jobs were added last month, while the May and June totals were revised downward by 258,000. While Biden did face downward revisions on his job numbers, the economy added 2 million jobs in 2024 and 2.6 million in 2023. The fundamental challenge in Biden's economy was the jolt of inflation as the annual rate of the consumer price index hit a four-decade high in June 2022. That level of inflation left many households feeling as though groceries, gasoline, housing and other essentials were unaffordable, a sentiment that helped to return Trump to the White House in the 2024 election. There are signs of inflation heating back up under Trump because of his tariffs. On Thursday, Goldman Sachs estimated that the upcoming inflation report for July will show that consumer prices rose 3 percent over the past 12 months, which would be up from a 2.3 percent reading in April. Trump promised that he could galvanize a boom. And when nonpartisan data has indicated something closer to a muddle, he found an advocate in Moore, whom he nominated to serve as a Federal Reserve governor during his first term. Moore withdrew his name after facing pushback in the Senate. Moore said that through the first five months of Trump's second term in office that 'the average median household income adjusted for inflation and for the average family in America, is already up $1,174.' Moore said his numbers are based on unpublished Census Bureau data, which can make them difficult to independently verify. 'That's an incredible number,' Trump said. 'If I would have said this, nobody would have believed it.'
Arab News
13 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan says US doubling tariffs on India presents ‘strategic opening'
KARACHI: US President Donald Trump's move to double tariffs on Indian goods presents a 'strategic opening' for Islamabad to deepen its trade partnership with Washington, Pakistan's finance adviser Khurram Schehzad said on Thursday. Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to place an additional 25 percent tariff on India on top of a 25 percent tariff that went into effect on Thursday. The move made India one of the most heavily taxed US trading partners in Asia. Pakistan, India's traditional arch-rival, has meanwhile improved its ties with Washington. Pakistan and the US finalized a trade agreement last week under which a 19 percent tariff was imposed on a wide range of Pakistani goods. The new rate marked a considerable reduction from the initially proposed 29 percent under a sweeping executive order signed by Trump. 'The US tariff hike on Indian goods presents a strategic opening for Pakistan,' Schehzad told Arab News. Washington's 19 percent tariff on Pakistani goods makes them less expensive than Indian goods, making Pakistan one of the countries with the lowest tariff profiles in the region. 'We see this as a moment of opportunity to deepen trade and economic ties with the United States,' the finance official added. The US is Pakistan's largest export destination, State Minister for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani said on Thursday. He added that out of $32 billion of Pakistan's exports in the last fiscal year, $6 billion went to the US. Pakistan's tariff deal with the US took place at a time when Islamabad is pushing for an economic revival, buoyed by a $7 billion financial bailout package by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Pakistan has undertaken financial reforms over the past two years. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has tasked authorities to ensure Islamabad's $32 billion annual exports surge to over $60 billion by fiscal year 2028-29. Pakistan, having one of the lowest regional tariff profiles and also attracting a growing US investment interest, is positioned to expand its exports, particularly in textiles, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, technology, mining & minerals, and other value-added manufacturing, Schehzad said. 'This agreement will help us realize the long-term export targets we have set under Uraan Pakistan program,' he said, referring to the government's economic plan that aims to make Pakistan a trillion-dollar economy by 2035. 'MAJOR OBSTACLES' Pakistani businesspersons, especially those related to textiles, think otherwise. Atif Ikram Sheikh, president of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), said the US has imposed the lowest trade tariffs in the region on Pakistan, which Islamabad should take full advantage of. However, he said higher production costs in Pakistan could neutralize this benefit. 'Taxes and high electricity and gas prices for the industry are major obstacles to taking advantage of low tariffs,' Sheikh said. The textile industry is Pakistan's biggest foreign exchange earner, fetching $18 billion during the last fiscal year, most of which came from the US. Kamran Arshad, chairman of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), was also unsure whether the new trade agreement with the US would benefit Pakistan significantly. 'The costly power and high interest rates would not allow us to compete (in the global textile market) at this 19 percent tariff,' Arshad told Arab News. Last week, Pakistan's central bank kept the policy rate unchanged at 11 percent, adopting a cautious approach. According to the APTMA, Pakistan has a higher interest rate of 11 percent, compared to India's 5.5 percent, Bangladesh's 10 percent, Vietnam's 4.5 percent, Sri Lanka's 7.75 percent, Indonesia's 5.25 percent and Cambodia's 3 percent. The power tariff for industries in Pakistan, meanwhile, stands at $0.16 kilowatt per hour as compared to $0.096 in India, $0.10 in Bangladesh, $0.08 in Vietnam, $0.06 in Sri Lanka, $0.07 in Indonesia and $0.135 in Cambodia, the data shows. Pakistani businesses are paying 29 percent corporate income tax and as much as 10 percent super tax compared to the 27.5 percent preferential taxes their competitors from India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Cambodia are paying on incomes. 'Pakistan's corporate tax, policy rate, labor costs, electricity rate put us at a disadvantage with India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Indonesia,' Arshad noted. Shankar Talreja, head of research at Karachi-based brokerage firm Topline Securities, said the US is a 'big market' for pharmaceuticals, textiles and food products. 'If Pakistan gets preferential treatment in the US market, this will help our companies grow further,' he said.
