Wayne Parham Messages: 18793 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
It looks like Michael Hudson is becoming concerned about the national debt, largely because of the increased interest rates that we've begun to pay.
There are a lot of things to blame for the debt, and probably many of them are legitimate complaints. But it is what it is. We have excessive debt.
Surely we can't just default or react in any other self-defeating way. But we probably should trim fat where we can and pony-up payments to pay it down over a period of time. With this huge debt, that period of time would probably need to be decades. That's OK, most people buy a home on a thirty-year note, so a goal of that length or even longer is at least movement in the right direction.
I think we're either going to make a decision to "hunker down" and reduce debt - which is a painful choice - or we're going to have some sort of crisis that may be much more painful.
Rusty Messages: 1202 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
Yes he is concerned about debt. Private debt and balance of payment debt. Private debt the public is saddled with from financialization, privatization and monopolization. And balance of payment debt from our dollar domination as the world currency that we've misused and abused so much over the decades that countries are now pulling away from it.
The discussion points out this changing dynamic in world trade and finance. Which is moving away from US dominance that has amounted to a free lunch so to speak for America to move it's industry offshore, finance our war mongering and military industrial complex and colonialize foreign economies. The Chinese success phenomena has brought forth a schism in how the world is aligning its relationships with trade and economic doctrines.
Our public debt is MMT, our private debt inflicts compound interest on the publics ability to thrive through debt deflation from the (FIRE) sectors asset inflation. Paying more and more servicing debt at the expense of goods and services.
Our balance of payments debt is now becoming critical due to the free lunch coming to an end internationally using the dollar as a world currency. Foreign debt denominated in other currencies can imperil a weakening dollar.
Our current debt ceiling is a lousy political stunt that points to the futility of what neoliberalism has painted this country into a corner over time. It has benefitted a small segment of the population at the expense of the majority.
Rusty Messages: 1202 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
This is a good primer by Ben Norton on what the BRICS alliance is all about & why its being done. The dollar dominance is starting to crumble. It's only natural that this would happen eventually. Had the original Bretton Woods conference gone along with Keynes idea of the Bancor as a world trade currency. America would not have had the ability to control economies throughout the world as it has done. The US wanted domination in its currency when a great portion of the world was decimated by world war.
How the BRICS Bank is resisting US financial domination
Rusty Messages: 1202 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
Ben does it again. This time speaking to Roland Boer. An Australian philosophy scholar having lived in China the last 16 years. He wrote a book called, Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners.
Here he points out some history of how China over the last 70 years or so has reshaped their Marxist philosophy into a working, refining doctrine to their economy and political regime that has brought their population from a once poverty stricken and imperialized country to the leader in manufacturing and too many other to mention fields of disciplines that rivals the best in the world.
In particular is his unmasking of a country that in lieu of his experiences living there, contradicts the notions bestowed on it by the western nations that are now and particularly the US committed to a cold war mentality to their success. I think this video brings to mind some very disturbing contradictions to our views of what this country is and what it has accomplished. Pretty impressive in my view. Especially and ironically their political system and how egalitarian it is to ours. I think we could learn quite a lot from what they are doing in a continuum that our system of governance and economics seems very static and inefficient.
Rusty Messages: 1202 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
Denial isn't just a river in Egypt. Our leaders in Washington and throughout Europe have taken up that practice. We have a political climate that uses adversarial confrontation and is financed by special interests. The results have been a disarray of the legislative process. Meanwhile, other parts of the world are being more pragmatic. And their economies are showing the results of that. I hope we can wake up from this malaise. That's my version of being woke is anyway. Richard Wolff gives a good summation of the geopolitical scene going on now. The world truly is, a-changin. We're stuck in the past, scratching our noggins about how to be great again without any frank self evaluation.
Rusty Messages: 1202 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
This was a tough read. To get the jest of and just how pervasive is the corrupt dealing of our financial industry is. And not just here in the US. But certainly well established in the free market economies of the world. Control fraud is a term coined to explain the engineering behind financial malfeasance. It's what the GFC or great financial crisis of 2008 was all about. It is just an aspect of what finance capitalism is and is perpetuated from it's influence of the political landscape.
Bill Black was a banking regulator during the now quaint in comparison, Savings & Loan scandal of the 1980's. He's now one of the foremost academic scholars concerning white collar crime and institutional fraud, or, control fraud. His acclaimed book, The Best Way to Rob a Bank, Is to Own One. Is a thorough analysis of the GFC. Nothing has stopped this behavior by the too big to fail banks and Wall St. financial institutions since. As they are perpetually bailed out by our Federal Reserve system.
At lest some journalists on the fringe like Patrick Lovell try to bring to light this abomination of morality to our attention. From his blog:
A Peculiar Grift with Bill Black & Michael Hudson
Rusty Messages: 1202 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
Wow! Another great insight by Hudson. He da man! Why does history repeat over and over again? Because human nature is such that influence is gained with the grease of wealth to lubricate the law. The Supreme Court is in the news more often than not in an unsavory light here of late. What's the difference of it though than our legislators? Campaign finance and lobbying is our countries legalized source of bribery. Neither party addresses it or has any notion to change it. We proudly claim we live in a democracy, that we have "suffrage", or, the right to vote whom ever to represent us. But do they?
When the conundrum becomes too vexing for our legislators, some entity in the political spectra takes it to the highest court in the land. To presumably settle the matter. And our constitution becomes the blueprint for making the call. But does the constitution itself give enough latitude to interpret in todays context. And can it be improved upon? A good example of democracy was from the Irish high courts allowing for an amendment in their constitution to come from the will of the people of Ireland. In a country of traditional religious values. They settled their abortion issue by vote. We apparently are not capable of that in this country. Maybe we're too tapped out in private debt to provide the necessary lubrication.
Rusty Messages: 1202 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
I'm struck by what the possibilities are by learning to cooperate on the scale of geopolitical relationships. Here of late the US has been sending over diplomatic and economic representatives to China under the auspices of "improving" relations with the world's largest real economy. It's interesting to compare the two systems of governance without the, shall we say, rather biased rhetoric we are given in the news. You have to get off the information highway and look at some of the secondary roads of thoughts to give an alternative to what's typically written.
Recently a debate was conducted at the Abigail Adams Institute near Harvard university between Arnaud Bertrand, a French entrepreneur and scholar and Adrian Zenz, an opposing scholar on the subject matter bluntly of, "Is the Chinese system better than the American system, to give prosperity, stability and freedom to it's people"? This debate is discussed in the Global Times in an interview with Arnaud Bertrand. Who won the debate by vote from the audience. His thoughts are interesting in the context of our countries diplomacy with China and the movement to decouple the American dollar from its unipolar role in trade and finance since WWII.
This dovetails well with the Australian scholar living in China for years has written about.
Personally I think it's high time we get off our high horse and ponder our state of affairs internally and externally around the globe. Things are changing now. Thanks to China. It's our wake up call to be a better nation for ourselves and the rest of the world. I'm glad some people here in the US want the same.
Rusty Messages: 1202 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
Nice follow up to the prior in another interview with French entrepreneur Arnaud Bertrand. Having "lived" in China and done business there. What strikes me is from the media interpretation we seem to get on this country. Life there must be an oppressive experience dictated by a monolithic government in every aspect of life. Expand your horizons and read. And compare what Mr. Bertrand explains the contradictions to what we're made to believe and what he's experienced first hand. To me I sense nothing more than propaganda covering for a system that is in denial of it's compounding shortcomings and it's eroding economic philosophy.
It seems self defeating for a country that promotes it's ideals and history as being fair and democratic, when compared by actual deeds and actions showing metrics in all aspects of society that fail to support what is promoted. To then denigrate and denounce other countries as not being up to it's standards of good governance.
Rusty Messages: 1202 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
The main take away that I've come to realize about our economic system is how much private banking has compromised our long term capability to have an efficient means to create a thriving real economy. Contrary to popular belief, private banking doesn't make loans towards private enterprise. Most of banking loans are towards real estate where tangible assets are the collateral. Credit services are another main part of private banking. Credit and debit cards are a main source of private debt that is dragging our economy.
Our economy changed radically in the 80's that embraced globalism, de-industrialization and the financial planning of our economy. It replaced productivity with financial engineering that makes no widgets or useful consumable items. It creates debt for the debt service industry and speculation in wall street. Which has led to fraud, wealth disparity and debt deflation for the working class. Backed by the central banking apparatus in western economies.
Comparing private banking with public banking, all anyone needs to do is observe China's economy to ours. They've avoided the trap inherent to unproductive finance towards it's own entitlement. Just using GDP to point out a countries productivity is misleading. As our GDP compares with China's. What isn't accounted for is our GDP is skewed by the finance sectors gains from debt service that is added into our accounting for our productivity. Which isn't widgets or useful services produced by working people. A regressive policy. China can thrive from it's public banking being used productively. All without issuing bonds borrowing from a private non sovereign entity that can earn interest. Only a sovereign government can create money and do MMT. Which is the way it's always been without the acronym. We've only replaced rational planning with idealistic ideology that validates the current financial function in our society. Much detrimental to our benefit.
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