2016 elections - because it's never too early

[MadImmortalMan]

Well, more to the point that the entire slave holding part of the country was mostly demolished in general due to war.

I am sure there were plenty of bank loans written with slaves as collateral prior to the secession.

Well, the value of the slaves fell during the war--it isn't as though people weren't aware of what was possibly going to happen. Presumably during the war, banks would have anticipated this as well when giving loans.

For the antebellum loans that continued into the civil war, I doubt it mattered. If issued by a northern bank, at least some southern states (can't speak for all of them) had laws prohibiting the repayment of the loans. If issued by a southern bank, well I can't imagine too many of those banks survived.

I think it was a significant majority from northern banks. I'm not sure though.

[The Minsky Moment]

Actually, that is an interesting economics question/thought.

Freeing a slave is a huge hit to the paper wealth of the society, since you are not transferring the wealth, you are destroying it.

A slave has an economic value as an asset, a free person has zero capital value, right?

Basically it's a transformation of physical capital into human capital.
So you are right that "book" value of combined private wealth declines, but assuming free labor is more productive, ceteris paribas national income (GDP) will go up.  By way of analogy you could say that national book value declines but going concern value goes up.

[dps]

Well, more to the point that the entire slave holding part of the country was mostly demolished in general due to war.

I am sure there were plenty of bank loans written with slaves as collateral prior to the secession.

Well, the value of the slaves fell during the war--it isn't as though people weren't aware of what was possibly going to happen. Presumably during the war, banks would have anticipated this as well when giving loans.

For the antebellum loans that continued into the civil war, I doubt it mattered. If issued by a northern bank, at least some southern states (can't speak for all of them) had laws prohibiting the repayment of the loans. If issued by a southern bank, well I can't imagine too many of those banks survived.

I think it was a significant majority from northern banks. I'm not sure though.

I'm pretty sure you're correct.  If I'm remembering what I've read on the subject correctly, there simply wasn't enough free capital in the south to support a robust banking sector--too much of their capital was tied up in land and slaves.

I believe that there was also a good bit of loans in the south that was owned by European (especially British) banks, which was part of the reason why some of the elites there were a bit pro-Confederate.

[Razgovory]

Why would you even want that job? Obama in 2009 and now....

I think that tie has been through the wash a few to many times.

[jimmy olsen]

Lincoln and FDR redistributed a lot of wealth and they were two of our best presidents.

How did Lincoln redistribute wealth?

The total value of slaves in the American south were worth more than any other class of property in the nation. A quick perusal of wikipedia quotes it at  2.5 to 3.7 billion dollars.

[Jaron]

John Wilkes Booth redistributed his wealth into Lincoln's head.

[jimmy olsen]

John Wilkes Booth redistributed his wealth into Lincoln's head.

[Phillip V]

Why would you even want that job? Obama in 2009 and now....

We all age quite a bit after 7 years in middle age, especially when smoking.  His fingernails look fine.

[MadImmortalMan]

Yeah but the presidency does seem to take a toll on guys. They all go grey.

[Caliga]

Also, almost a decade has gone by.

[MadImmortalMan]

I think part of it is image. Hell, I've been going grey since I was 13. You can easily dye that shit. For some reason, the presidents all seem to think we want to see them going grey in office. Like they're working their asses off or something.

[lustindarkness]

If I was president I would not have time to go grey. Half the population of the world would not have time either. :nuke:

[Caliga]

If I was president I would not have time to go grey. Half the population of the world would not have time either. :nuke:

I like the way this guy thinks.

[MadImmortalMan]

Yeah. Lusti for president. Also, I'm preparing my camp site in the mountains. 

[sbr]

Also, almost a decade has gone by.

It looks like he has aged 20 years, not 10.