Theater Reviews

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The Root of the Problem, Counterfeit Debt

In other posts, I have written long expositions of why we are in a financial crisis. I have decided to write several short posts on the subject as well.

The root of the problem is counterfeit money. I’m sure that’s a statement worthy of a double take for most people, but it is true.

In today’s world, there is not very much difference between debt/credit and money. If you write a check to someone saying your bank owes them $100, that’s pretty similar to giving them a $100 bill. Businesses buy and sell debt like they buy or sell anything else.

Now, a relatively easy way to make money is to convince someone that some debt is good, and sell them the debt. If you know the debt is bad, this is really a form of counterfeiting. For those interested, here’s another take on the problem.

An everyday example of counterfeiting debt is writing a bad check.

Now there are three forms of debt we care about:

  • Debt that will be paid back, or good debt.
  • Debt that is good debt now, but will go bad later.
  • Debt that is bad now.

And they directly correspond to:

  • Money.
  • Counterfeit money that will magically become worthless in the future.
  • Counterfeit money that people realise is counterfeit, and won’t accept.

The housing boom, mortgage backed securities, credit default swaps, etc. was all about making counterfeit money, whether it be intentional or unintentional. Mostly, it was in some grey area really close to "intentional". Now, those same institutions dealing in this counterfeit money have been caught by their own creation.

That was the root of the problem.

The problem now is that lots of institutions are now holding counterfeit money that has turned bad, and they do not want to admit that they are bankrupt. Similarly, they are afraid to do business with other institutions, because they suspect those institutions have the same problem. They like to claim that they can’t sell their debt at the correct price, and that their "assets are illiquid". That is not true, if they were willing to sell those assets for what they were worth, they would sell like hotcakes.

Any bailout attempt that does not force businesses to come clean about how much counterfeit money they hold is doomed to failure. Markets will be frozen until trust is restored, and trust will be restored when institutions are forced to come clean, and not a second sooner.

Authorities are trying to paper over the problem by providing "liquidity"; that is, lending money for short periods to those in trouble. This is a fool’s errand, as I will cover in another post.

26Oct2008 | Ray | Comments Off | Continued
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Oregon Shakespeare Festival Review: Our Town

Our Town is the first 20th century play to be produced on the Elizabethan Stage at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival . Given this year’s production, I’d say it’s a safe bet to expect more. This well-acted production takes no "chances" with the source material, Thornton Wilder’s 1930’s play, and contents itself with giving us the play as it was intended.

That’s fine by me. With Anthony Heald ably conducting our tour of Grover’s Corners as the Stage Manager, we get a fine and nuanced performance by the OSF company. As George Gibbs, Todd Bjurstrom is actually quite affecting - it’s a role that can be dreadfully earnest, but Mr. Bjurstrom plays George as he is: a callow young man, yes, but a regular one because of it. He’s in his second season now, and I’d expect him to be here for the long haul assuming that’s what he wants. Mahira Kakkar , as Emily Webb, is almost disturbingly young in her role. She isn’t, and clearly it’s a conscious decision to emphasize her youth, for her appearance in the graveyard in Act III is shocking. In all, that play is well-cast and flows without that horrible "ew really?" feeling that you sometimes get when an actor just doesn’t suit you. I’m absolutely not talking about the Queen of the Amazons in this year’s Midsummer . Nope, absolutely not.

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14Jul2008 | John | Comments Off | Continued
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Oregon Shakespeare Festival Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Oh. My. God.

If you’ve already seen one or six productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and you’re thinking that you can skip this year’s production at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival … wrong wrong-y wrong wrong. Assuming you can still get tickets, buy two: one to see the show, and one to sacrifice to Dionysus as an apology. There is so much good about this production that I have to start the kudos with Mark Rucker, a new director to the Festival. He is absolutely fearless in the chances he takes, embracing them rapturously rather than mincing them for fear of rejection.

This will sound ridiculous about a production of a play from the 1590’s, but I’m going to place details behind a "more" link to avoid spoilers in case you’re going to see it later. Damn right, spoilers. Tantalizing, ain’t it?

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10Jul2008 | John | Comments Off | Continued
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Oregon Shakespeare Festival Review: Othello

This year our trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival began with Othello . My experience with the play only goes so far as a reading and a movie, so I was excited to have a company I’m fond of introduce me to the work.

Well.

Many individual components of the production were very good. First and foremost Dan Donohue , as Iago, was fantastic; he impressed as Horatio in last year’s Romeo and Juliet , and with this role has cemented his status in the incredibly prestigious List of Actors John Enjoys Seeing . (If you listen close, you can hear the off-stage trumpets sing their fanfare…) Hopefully Mr. Donohue stays this time - he’s got an active career above and beyond Ashland . Sarah Rutan gives a warm and rounded Desdemona without trying to shoehorn an entire post-feminist rewrite into the role. I agree that the character is difficult to accept from a modern perspective and is not terribly deep, but… well, there you have it. Also of particular note, Danforth Comins was a soulful Cassio. The costumes were lovely; the set was spare but effective.

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4Jul2008 | John | Comments Off | Continued