The world is entering a period of economic upheaval that has never before been experienced in history. While many economists proclaim that the world economy is recovering from the near global economic collapse of 2008, the reality is that like a tsunami following an earthquake, an economic tsunami will soon arrive following the economic earthquake of last year.
In an attempt to prevent the global economic system from collapsing, the printing of currency by central banks around the world has been like pouring oil on an out of control fire. Injecting so much liquidity into the world’s banking system may have temporally prevented a global economic collapse last year, but it has failed to correct the fundamental problems that caused the crisis in the first place. Rather, central banks have just created the environment for a global economic collapse on a scale the world has never experienced. They have created the perfect economic storm.
As a result of injecting trillions of dollars into the world’s banking system, this newly created fiat money is now beginning to flow into the global economy. There is a general feeling that the recession is over and that the good times will soon be here again. This false sense of optimism is based on the assumption that the banking system once again lending to consumers financing their consumption lifestyles, will jump start a new era of prosperity. Many advanced nations have taken that it is their right to exploit the planet’s resources to maintain their living standards. Yet nothing has been done to correct the fiscal problems that caused to economic crisis in the first place.
The stage is now set for hyperinflation. According to investor Marc Faber in a recent Bloomberg interview, the US will experience inflation rates similar to those which took place in Zimbabwe rising to 231 million percent in July. Inflation at this level means the currency will become worthless, as Germany experienced in 1923 during the economic chaos of the Weimar Republic. Just as Germany experienced at that time, the current, impending economic disaster will bring great hardship to those people on fixed incomes, and to the nation as a whole.
The economic crisis of 2008 was primarily caused by excessive credit in the global banking system, and the large current account and budget deficits of the English speaking world, especially for the USA and UK. Large surpluses in US dollars used to pay for consumer goods from Asia were recycled back into the US and British banks; encouraging them to create new financial products to develop consumer markets to recycle money. This has resulted in an unsustainable property boom, encouraging extravagant consumer spending habits, and debt. This has enabled the banks to enslave the people of the Anglo-Saxon nations in bondage under a mountain of debt, earning for themselves excessive profits and bonuses on the money lent by foreign investors. Due to very lax lending rules, it was inevitable that eventually the inability of many bank customers to repay their loans emerged as one of the key causes of the current crisis.
Central banks injecting money into the their domestic banks may have saved the banking system from a total melt-down last year, but this capital injection has not corrected the cause of the original problem. The Anglo-Saxon nations’ growing current account and budget deficits continue to mount, and they depend on the inflow of Asian capital to finance these deficits. Their budget deficits have blown out of control following the bail-outs and can only be financed through printing even more fiat money or borrowing at ever increasing interest rates. The stage has been set for the dramatic and sudden collapse of the English-speaking nations.
America’s creditors have become increasingly alarmed about the sustainability of the U.S. being able to finance its budget and current account deficits. There is now discussion amongst world financial leaders of replacing the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency with a basket of currencies, to finance international trade. However this is unlikely to be effective as it will mean the establishment of an organisation such as the IMF which would also have the power to regulate the member countries’ money supply. Nations will be unlikely to give up their national sovereignty to allow this to happen.
We are now seeing the downward spiral in the value of the U.S. dollar against the Euro and some other currencies. The dollar will continue to fall in value unless the USA can correct its current account and budget deficits. There is little chance of this happening with rising oil prices, the maintenance of an unaffordable global military establishment bogged down with unwinnable wars, and the large amount of money required to support the economy collapsing last year. The Federal Reserve may soon be forced to increase interest rates in an attempt to support the dollar, but this will only bring about more corporate collapses, defaults on home mortgages, and a lack of confidence in the US economy. Either way the US cannot save its economy from collapse.
The collapse of the $US will trigger economic turmoil around the world. Those nations with reserves in US dollars will suffer massive losses as their foreign reserves are wiped out with the collapse of the dollar. In particular this will have a major impact on China and Japan, as both nations have large holdings in US dollar reserves not to mention massive holdings in Treasury Certificates and other Federal Vouchers. The losses the Asian economies will suffer will bring wide-spread economic depression in Asia. These nations will blame the Anglo-Saxon nations for their plight, and for good reason. Japan, already burden with a national debt almost the same size at that of America could well face bankruptcy along with other heavily indebted nations in the region.
There is only one economic region that will withstand the fall-out of the economic collapse of the Anglo-Saxon nations, and that is the EU. In spite of many skeptics predicting that the Euro would not survive as a single currency, it has proved to have been remarkably successful. The model adopted by the Euro zone nations can also be adopted globally, creating a single world currency. The European Central Bank which imposes financial disciplines on the member states of the Euro zone, has created fiscal stability in the region. While unemployment has increased in the EU following the crisis, member states are making adjustments to the management of their economies to lay the foundations for solid economic growth in the future. This will eventually be a stimulus to world trade, stop currency speculation and restore global prosperity. It would remove tariff barriers, trade protectionism, and stimulate world trade between Asia and Europe.
The recent acceptance by the EU member states of the Treaty of Lisbon will enable the EU to have a single President, Foreign Minister and defense policy. The actual shape of this new Europe is yet to take place, but no doubt the sudden economic collapse of the Anglo-Saxon nations will trigger off a political and economic crisis in Europe, to where the Europeans will be willing to accept a single strong leader to restore economic prosperity and social order, even if it means giving up some individual freedoms.
The outcome of this chaos will result in the end of democracy, and free market Anglo-Saxon capitalism. A desperate world will be willing to give up many individual freedoms to support a strong leader in order to have prosperity and economic order. The international banking system will become strictly regulated – no longer will bankers be able to enrich themselves at the expense of savers. New technology will enable a global central bank to control the currency supply, and implement controls to prevent taxation avoidance, money laundering, and unfair balance of trade deficits.
Such a new world order can only be brought about by a strong European leader with dictatorial powers that would allow him or her to have the authority to bring about the controls to reform the global economy and restore prosperity to the world. This leader will be looked upon as the savior of the world’s economy, and will be given the power to not only regulate the global economy, but also the way people live and trade.
The coming collapse of the Anglo-Saxon nations will see their people soon slide into total poverty – there money will be worthless, their people facing starvation, diseases, and internal conflict. They will receive little sympathy or support from the rest of the world. These nations will enter a period of total collapse, and their skilled workers used to provide the labor force for advanced nations in Europe and Asia requiring skilled workers to maintain their aging populations.
The stage is now set for these events to unfold quickly and suddenly. It will catch many by surprise to see the dollar and British pound collapse and loose or value – once creditor’s loose confidence in these currencies there will be panic selling, hyper-inflation and economic collapse. It will create a new world economic order where the world will prosper under the authority of this new global leader, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon nations. It will be the end result of a perfect economic tsunami brought on by the self-destructive, thunderous collapse of Anglo-American capitalistic greed.
Bruce Porteous
bruceport@xtra.co.nz
18 October, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment