When the Netherlands had its hay-days, five out of every six ships on the world's oceans were Dutch. The German silver 'thalers' (indicating the valley where this silver of extreme high quality was mined) were the preferred way to pay, and the Dutch changed the German 'th' to 'd' to fit their word for valley (from 'thal' to 'dal') to make it 'daler'. You can then already see the origin for the word dollar.
Instead of changing the word to the English ‘deller’ (from ‘del’) the Dutch word was exported everywhere they traded and remained pronounced as such in the US. Along the East Coast today, many folks pronounce the Dutch word (now written 'daalder' in Dutch, with the second ‘d’ not very audible) almost verbatim, but is written out in English as pronounced: dollar.
The financial center in the world, Wall Street, is located in what was once New Netherlands, and likely named after the Walloons (Waal in Dutch) who were present in New Amsterdam in great numbers, so its word origin is likely not a wall. This part of US history is not very visible. As we know, history gets written by the winners, and here, too, the Dutch did not end on top. New Amsterdam, as we know, already had no Dutch majority in, it was a melting pot right from the start.
Spaniards likely took over the English writing of 'dollars' and pronounce it as spelled in Spanish, 'dolares' (when written with two ‘ls’ then the sound changes to ‘y’ as in youth, so the Spaniards had to lose one ‘l’).
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Size matters, John, and the English Navigation Acts caused four Anglo-Dutch wars, which resulted in a stale mate. That meant for the final result that England was indeed able to bully, whereas the Netherlands represented the free-market. The big guy could not be persuaded to open up its doors again for a true free-market exchange.
The Dutch Republic of red, white and blue, had just invented modern capitalism (now in use all across the planet, and not used here in its common negative connotation) and the Dutch were raking it in, much to the dismay of many European contemporaries. The Golden Age lasted for about 50 years. The English Navigation Acts enabled the much larger nation to power trip its smaller neighbor that needed wide-open borders everywhere to flourish.
As is obvious, when money cannot flow in two directions, then money will flow in the one direction allowed. The English ended up with capital even from the Netherlands because that was where the new profits were made. At first opportunity, capitalists showed that they did not care about borders but about profit, and if that meant that a nation closing its borders ended up the most profitable spot, then so be it.
The English took over many Dutch trading posts (many of which were originally Portuguese, who brought God with them, while the Dutch just focused on goods and money). The English fortified the trading posts so no one else could trade there. Where the Dutch had trading posts (and guarded their self-interest by playing the capitalist game to the max), the English started to occupy.
Where the Dutch had temporarily benefited from its free-market invention in a free and open playing field, that free world was quickly overtaken by the English that used the same open financial system, but that quickly closed the free world and made it their own.
Power established the English as the dominating force in the world, not openness, freedom and liberty. They embraced the free-market mechanism of their small neighbor, and they bullied their way to the top by closing their harbors to any foreign ships.
This is the starting point of modern nationalism, because others had to conform to this new reality (and this English 'invention' of nationalism is deeply tied to the modern clashes leading up to WW I and WW II).
To be fair (to the English), the Dutch (with money) were very much part of the English invasion of even their own trading posts. Capitalism is therefore correctly called by some the Anglo-Dutch system. When the New Netherlands area needed defending against the English, the investors in the Netherlands were not sure if ownership was what they were after. The ones with money wanted profits, and they would reap just as much with the English in control.
I hope this clarifies a lot. Money is not necessarily the same as power. Power is not necessarily the same as a nation.
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The Roman Empire was the biggest bully of ancient times. Their army crushed any and all free people, including crude repression when they were rising up against them. As you probably know, the Romans were both hated and admired in equal fashion. Many folks were slaughtered for no other reason than power hunger by the Romans. Yes, they brought with them many new developments, regulations that can all be considered beneficial, but that is 20/20, hindsight I mean. Again, history is written by the winners. The battle is prime, the power concentration is the first to establish the conditions for the outcomes.
At heart, we must talk about power, power hunger, and how this is innate in all people. Only when freedom is regulated well, only when power is dealt with in rightful manners, only then will we end up with a better world.
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I keep seeing the same Cyclops staring me in the face reading your words, John. You know red and blue, but you do not have yellow in your thoughts and ideas. I see that you keep closing an eye in your views.
Let me add this image here:
Green is not visible in the two-party system. Folks cannot see it, and when they see it, they cannot act on it. Power corrupts, particularly when power is not regulated properly.
I see how your words avoid talking about green. As if you don't see it. Meanwhile, it is the color most present in the image. If you allow me to express myself rather directly, then I would say you have an elephant in the room.
