Category Archives: Global Economy

Pertinent to global economic issues and events.

Impending Destruction of the US Economy

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration, and is the author of several books. His article on the Impending Destruction of the US Economy is both insightful and, in my opinion, accurate. No one can dismiss his statements as being the ranting of a liberal Democratic partisan. He sees clearly the dire situation faced by Americans as we see the limits being reached in the ability of our federal government to finance its debt. Here are a few excerpts from his article. I urge you to read it in its entirety. – thg

“Hubris and arrogance are too ensconced in Washington for policymakers to be aware of the economic policy trap in which they have placed the US economy. If the subprime mortgage meltdown is half as bad as predicted, low US interest rates will be required in order to contain the crisis. But if the dollar’s plight is half as bad as predicted, high US interest rates will be required if foreigners are to continue to hold dollars and to finance US budget and trade deficits.”

“Which will Washington sacrifice, the domestic financial system and over-extended homeowners or its ability to finance deficits?”

“Superpower America is a ship of fools in denial of their plight. While offshoring kills American economic prospects, “free market economists” sing its praises. While war imposes enormous costs on a bankrupt country, neoconservatives call for more war, and Republicans and Democrats appropriate war funds which can only be obtained by borrowing abroad.”

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What’s This Sub-prime Credit Crisis All About?

Correspondent Hasan Bramwell has made us aware of a very funny video that is also a “Brilliant short tutorial on the sub-prime credit crisis (video)” See it at http://www.goldmau.com/content/articles/2007-11-23/comic.php

Paul Craig Roberts Tells it Like It Is

 Roberts has some credibility, even if he is a Republican. This article is well worth reading. Get ready for trouble ahead. — t.h.g.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.

Uncle Sam, Your Banker Will See You Now

By Paul Craig Roberts

08/08/07 “ICH” — – Early this morning China let the idiots in Washington, and on Wall Street, know that it has them by the short hairs. Two senior spokesmen for the Chinese government observed that China’s considerable holdings of US dollars and Treasury bonds “contributes a great deal to maintaining the position of the dollar as a reserve currency.”

Should the US proceed with sanctions intended to cause the Chinese currency to appreciate, “the Chinese central bank will be forced to sell dollars, which might lead to a mass depreciation of the dollar.”

If Western financial markets are sufficiently intelligent to comprehend the message, US interest rates will rise regardless of any further action by China. At this point, China does not need to sell a single bond. In an instant, China has made it clear that US interest rates depend on China, not on the Federal Reserve.

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Financial Meltdown on the Way??

The interesting to note the increasing incidence of warnings of dire consequences that are now coming from establishment sources.

That the global financial house of cards will fall seems unavoidable, the big questions are timing and the exact nature of the meltdown.

 You can be assured that governments will, as always, try to prop up and rescue the banks.

That means they will try to shift the burden of their failure to the ordinary citizen, the worker, the small business person. Our assets may be wiped out while our debts remain.

The unprecedented global expansion of credit over the past few years seems to be the last gasp effort to keep a flawed and corrupt system going.

What seems likely is a massive global depression caused by cascading failures of financial fantasies (derivatives, interest-only mortgages, inflated real estate prices), exacerbated by banks calling in loans and restricting credit to legitimate businesses as they continue to fund government deficits to finance war, waste, and transfers of more wealth to the wealthy.

That phase will be followed by hyper-inflation as governments try to “revive the economy.”

The silver lining here is that crisis always brings with it opportunity. In this case, it’s the opportunity to implement structures of exchange and finance that are more honest, democratic, and equitable. We’re much better prepared to do that now than we were in 1932.

Putin is surely correct in saying that “Institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the IMF are “archaic, undemocratic and inflexible’”,  and that “The new architecture of economic relations requires a completely new approach.”

However, his hope of using the ruble  or any other manipulated political currency to replace the dollar falls far short of what is needed.

I am proposing that independent nations in the Islamic world and Latin America spearhead the formation of a network of independent credit clearing unions that will use an objective standard unit of account for pricing. They may start with a gold or silver unit, then shift to the composite commodity standard that I proposed in Part III of my book, Money and Debt.

When it becomes generally understood that money is nothing more than “turnover credit,” and that a far better payment system can be created around the process of credit clearing, then it will be possible to make a rapid shift to a new exchange paradigm that will bring a sustainable, peaceful, and environmentally friendly global economy.

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Central Banking, Usury, and the Growth Imperative

It seems a difficult thing for people to accept, but the present global debt-money system contains within it a growth imperative. Because money is created by banks as interest-bearing loans, debt grows exponentially as time goes on (the compound interest formula is exponential).

How is it possible for every debtor to pay their loans WITH INTEREST when the money supply does not grow except by the creation of more debt by the banks?

Every actor in the economy must then compete for that insufficient supply of money in order to keep from defaulting. Hence, they must do all they can to expand production, sales, and profits. They must control their markets, both markets in which they sell their products and markets in which they buy their inputs.

That is why the environment is being destroyed, the social fabric is being torn asunder, and the economic product is being increasingly maldistributed. This monetary system REQUIRES that there be many losers.

Under central banking, there are two choices:
1. Keep the money supply pumped up by making additional credit (money) easily available, or
2. Let the economy contract as defaults mount.

The first leads to hyperactivity and inflation. This hurts those on fixed incomes.
The second leads to depression. This hurts small businesses and those who have little financial net worth and live from paycheck to paycheck.

The central banking usury system puts us between a rock and a hard place.

Interest (usury) between two parties to a loan is one thing; interest built into the foundation of a credit-based monetary system is quite another.

There’s a good economic reason why three major religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) have banned usury. Now the economists need to understand it.