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Abu Yahya's definitions

circulating capital

(ECONOMICS) the capital that a business sells in order to make money. The obvious example is the inventory of a convenience store; in this case, the circulating capital is the merchandise, and the fixed capital includes the cash register, the display racks, and so on.

In other cases, the circulating capital consists of raw materials or supplies; for example, a mechanic has transmission fluid or air filters, while a dress maker has muslin and thread.
An entrepreneur makes money by hanging onto fixed capital as long as possible, and getting rid of circulating capital as fast as possible.
by Abu Yahya May 4, 2010
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internal deficit

the gap between revenues and expenditures for a government (over a given period of time); often referred to as a public deficit or fiscal deficit. In many cases, a country has administrative subdivisions that also run significant fiscal deficits, e.g., India or Argentina. The sum of state, local, and federal deficits would constitute the internal deficit of those countries.

On very rare occasions the term is applied to the deficit run by private enterprise as well as by government; in such a case, the definition is understood to mean the total debt of a country that is held by its own citizens.
Some of the largest internal deficits in the world are experienced by countries with large external surpluses. Japan in the mid-'00's was a classic example.

(See external deficit)
by Abu Yahya February 14, 2009
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disaster capitalism

(POLICY) an extreme form of capitalism created in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. In some cases, as in Chile (1973), the disaster is a coup d'etat with the express purpose of imposing disaster capitalism. In other cases, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, it is a genuine natural disaster that literally kills.

After some disasters, the authorities in some countries may well respond by imposing "reforms" that would have been impossible before. These include: (1) privatization of public property, making it unavailable to the indigenous people; (2) arbitrary elimination of laws ("deregulation"); and (3) slashing democratically chosen programs that help ordinary citizens ("austerity programs").

The concept was popularized in Naomi Klein's excellent 2007 book, *The Shock Doctrine*.
"Disaster capitalism" is neoliberalism imposed undemocratically. It exploits natural disasters, civil wars, foreign invasions, coups d'etat, terrorism, or explicit deception. It always seeks to make its changes irreversible.

Naomi Klein mostly blames the International Monetary Fund, but there are other culprits as well.
by Abu Yahya July 10, 2010
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bill of exchange

(ECONOMICS) method of transferring wealth from a buyer to a seller, usually over long distances and under different currency systems. Requires the buyer to have an account with a banker in the other city; the buyer sends a note ordering his banker to credit the seller's account by the amount being paid.

Bills of exchange were adopted in 13th century Italy; almost as soon as they became common, traders began to use them as a speculative instrument (discounting bad ones and reselling them) or else as a sleazy method of borrowing money (by "drawing and redrawing," i.e., where two merchants in different towns agree to exchange bills of exchange with each other). "Drawing and redrawing" is analogous to the method used by college students on the 1980's of writing checks to each other every couple of days and depositing them in ATM's so their checking accounts wouldn't bounce.
A bill of exchange is a type of "negotiable instrument" (contractual form of money).

A modern form of bill would be a check.
by Abu Yahya September 7, 2010
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NYSE

New York Stock Exchange. The US-half of NYSE Euronext.

NYSE has been a publicly traded company since 2005; at the time of its initial public offering, it merged with Euronext and ArcaEX.

While average daily trading volume on the NYSE is typically between 3 million and 7 million shares, only about 40% of this actually trades in the iconic Wall Street building. The rest trades remotely in regional exchanges.
In a good year, about 250 billion in new capital is raised from equity issues on the NYSE.
by Abu Yahya September 28, 2010
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Shah Reza

(HISTORY OF IRAN) More accurately known as Reza Shah; founder of the Pahlavi Dynasty (1925-1979), shah (emperor) of Iran from 1925 to his ouster in 1942 (by invading British and Russian armies).

Born, 1878; died, 1944. Originally in the regular Iranian Army, when the Iranian monarchy was bankrupted he contracted out to command a cossack division for the Anglo Persian Oil Company (British Petroleum). As a result, he actually had a lot of money and was able to become the prime minister (1922), and then depose the old Dynasty, the Qejars.

As Shah, he promised to revise the hated concession to Anglo Iranian Oil Company, but they managed to stall and thwart him with the help of the International Court of Justice. As a result, he turned to the Axis Powers. When World War II broke out, he offered some help to the Germans and Italians, so the British invaded and replaced him with his son, Shah Muhammad Reza.
Shah Reza Pahlavi is often compared with Ataturk, a contemporaneous dictator of Turkey. However, Reza Shah was much more reliant on a cooperative clergy than Ataturk was.
by Abu Yahya July 17, 2010
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Lusophonic

(ADJECTIVE) Portuguese-speaking; of or related to the Portuguese-speaking world
In order of population, the Lusophonic countries are Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, Timor-Leste, Macau S.A.R., and São Tomé e Príncipe.
by Abu Yahya May 18, 2010
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