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Paul Craig Roberts: Greece's Lesson For Russia
Submitted by Paul Craig Roberts,
“Greece’s debt can now only be made sustainable through debt relief measures that go far beyond what Europe has been willing to consider so far.” — International Monetary Fund
Greece’s lesson for Russia, and for China and Iran, is to avoid all financial relationships with the West. The West simply cannot be trusted. Washington is committed to economic and political hegemony over every other country and uses the Western financial system for asset freezes, confiscations, and sanctions. Countries that have independent foreign policies and also have assets in the West cannot expect Washington to respect their property rights or their ownership. Washington freezes or steals countries’ assets, or in the case of France imposes multi-billion dollar fines, in order to force compliance with Washington’s policies. Iran, for example, lost the use of $100 billion, approximately one-fourth of the Iranian GDP, for years simply because Iran insisted on its rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Russian journalists are asking me if Obama’s willingness to reach a deal with Iran means there is hope a deal can be reached over Ukraine. The answer is No. Moreover, as I will later explain, the deal with Iran doesn’t mean much as far as Washington is concerned.
Three days ago (July 14) a high ranking military officer, Gen. Paul Selva, the third in about as many days, told the US Senate that Russia is “an existential threat to this nation (the US).” Only a few days prior the Senate had heard the same thing from US Marine commander Joseph Dunford and from the Secretary of the Air Force. A few days before that, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff warned of a Russian “hybrid threat.”
Washington is invested heavily in using Ukraine against Russia. All the conflict there originates with Washington’s puppet government in Kiev. Russia is blamed for everything, including the destruction of the Malaysian airliner. Washington has used false charges to coerce the EU into sanctions against Russia that are not in the EU’s interest. As Washington has succeeded in coercing all of Europe to harm Europe’s political and economic relationships with Russia and to enter into a state of conflict with Russia, certainly Washington is not going to agree to an Ukrainian settlement. Even if Washington wanted to do so, as Washington’s entire position rests on nothing but propaganda, Washington would have to disavow itself in order to come to an agreement.
Despite everything, Russia’s president and foreign minister continue to speak of the US and Washington’s EU vassal states as “our partners.” Perhaps Putin and Lavrov are being sarcastic. The most certain thing of our time is that Washington and its vassals are not partners of Russia.
The Wolfowitz doctrine, the basis of US foreign and military policy, declares that the rise of Russia or any other country cannot be permitted, because the US is the Uni-power and cannot tolerate any constraint on its unilateral actions.
As long as this doctrine reigns in Washington, neither Russia, China, nor Iran, the nuclear agreement not withstanding, are safe. As long as Iran has an independent foreign policy, the nuclear agreement does not protect Iran, because any significant policy conflict with Washington can produce new justifications for sanctions.
With the nuclear agreement with Iran comes the release of Iran’s $100 billion in frozen Western balances. I heard yesterday a member of the Council for Foreign Relations say that Iran should invest its released $100 billion in US and Europe companies. If Iran does this, the Iranian government is setting itself up for further blackmail. Investing anywhere in the West means that Iran’s assets can be frozen or confiscated at any time.
If Obama were to dismiss Victoria Nuland, Susan Rice, and Samantha Power and replace these neoconservatives with sane diplomats, the outlook would improve. Then Russia, China, and Iran would have a better possibility of reaching accommodation with the US on terms other than vassalage.
Russia and China, having emerged from a poorly functioning communist economic system, naturally regard the West as a model. It seems China has fallen for Western capitalism head over heels. Russia perhaps less so, but the economists in these two countries are the same as the West’s neoliberal economists, which means that they are unwitting servants of Western financial imperialism. Thinking mistakenly that they are being true to economics, they are being true to Washington’s hegemony.
With the deregulation that began in the Clinton regime, Western capitalism has become socially dysfunctional. In the US and throughout the West capitalism no longer serves the people. Capitalism serves the owners and managers of capital and no one else.
This is why US income inequality is now as bad or worse than during the “robber baron” era of the 1920s. The 1930s regulation that made capitalism a functioning economic system has been repealed. Today in the Western world capitalism is a looting mechanism. Capitalism not only loots labor, capitalism loots entire countries, such as Greece which is being forced by the EU to sell of Greece’s national assets to foreign purchasers.
Before Putin and Lavrov again refer to their “American partners,” they should reflect on the EU’s lack of good will toward Greece. When a member of the EU itself is being looted and driven into the ground by its compatriots, how can Russia, China, and Iran expect better treatment? If the West has no good will toward Greece, where is the West’s good will toward Russia?
The Greek government was forced to capitulate to the EU, despite the support it received from the referendum, because the Greeks relied on the good will of their European partners and underestimated the mendacity of the One Percent. The Greek government did not expect the merciless attitude of its fellow EU member governments. The Greek government actually thought that its expert analysis of the Greek debt situation and economy would carry weight in the negotiations. This expectation left the Greek government without a backup plan. The Greek government gave no thought to how to go about leaving the euro and putting in place a monetary and banking system independent of the euro. The lack of preparation for exit left the government with no alternative to the EU’s demands.
The termination of Greece’s fiscal sovereignty is what is in store for Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and eventually for France and Germany. As Jean-Claude Trichet, the former head of the European Central Bank said, the sovereign debt crisis signaled that it is time to bring Europe beyond a “strict concept of nationhood.” The next step in the centralization of Europe is political centralization. The Greek debt crisis is being used to establish the principle that being a member of the EU means that the country has lost its sovereignty.
The notion, prevalent in the Western financial media, that a solution has been imposed on the Greeks is nonsense. Nothing has been solved. The conditions to which the Greek government submitted make the debt even less payable. In a short time the issue will again be before us. As John Maynard Keynes made clear in 1936 and as every economist knows, driving down consumer incomes by cutting pensions, employment, wages, and social services, reduces consumer and investment demand, and thereby GDP, and results in large budget deficits that have to be covered by borrowing. Selling pubic assets to foreigners transfers the revenue flows out of the Greek economy into foreign hands.
Unregulated naked capitalism, has proven in the 21st century to be unable to produce economic growth anywhere in the West. Consequently, median family incomes are declining. Governments cover up the decline by underestimating inflation and by not counting as unemployed discouraged workers who, unable to find jobs, have ceased looking. By not counting discouraged workers the US is able to report a 5.2 percent rate of unemployment. Including discouraged workers brings the unemployment rate to 23.1 percent. A 23 percent rate of unemployment has nothing in common with economic recovery.
Even the language used in the West is deceptive. The Greek “bailout” does not bail out Greece. The bailout bails out the holders of Greek debt. Many of these holders are not Greece’s original creditors. What the “bailout” does is to make the New York hedge funds’ bet on the Greek debt pay off for the hedge funds. The bailout money goes not to Greece but to those who speculated on the debt being paid. According to news reports, Quantitative Easing by the ECB has been used to purchase Greek debt from the troubled banks that made the loans, so the debt issue is no longer a creditor issue.
China seems unaware of the risk of investing in the US. China’s new rich are buying up residential communities in California, forgetting the experience of Japanese-Americans who were herded into detention camps during Washington’s war with Japan. Chinese companies are buying US companies and ore deposits in the US. These acquisitions make China susceptible to blackmail over foreign policy differences.
The “globalism” that is hyped in the West is inconsistent with Washington’s unilateralism. No country with assets inside the Western system can afford to have policy differences with Washington. The French bank paid the $9 billion fine for disobeying Washington’s dictate of its lending practices, because the alternative was the close down of its operations in the United States. The French government was unable to protect the French bank from being looted by Washington.
It is testimony to the insouciance of our time that the stark inconsistency of globalism with American unilateralism has passed unnoticed.
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Well, if you're not willing to pay the vigorish to The Tribe™...then fuck you.
come on, PCR, I like you, but you know better than to call what has taken over the western world "capitalism". We live in a world of debt based fiat money, central banks, legal tender laws, bailouts, and govt enforced cartels. What ha taken ove the western world is fascism, not runaway capitalism. NONE of the things you complain about would happen in a world of actual free markets. Your advocacy of moar central planning is flawed. There is no such thing as a government that is big enough to control all of this yet is still kind and cuddly. Hasn't existed before, and it never will
Fictional Reserve Banking at its best
Up-voted you since you understand that what fascism is and what the struggle is all about.
I don't think PCR lacks understanding of what Communism, Socialism, Mixed Economies, and Capitalism is though.
I think the US Meme is to frame things about Communism response to Capitalism since capitalism existed long before.
I do like the other remark by MEFOBIlls that much of this may extend back to Sumeria and Babylon.
Q: can a govt get big enough to manage all of this?
No. But you have to have laws, enforcement, disincentives against accounting control fraud, false financial ratings, government payoffs called bailouts to corporations and subsidies that enable large companies an advantage over the small business interests, you have to simplify, streamline, and standardize to help small business (Laws, rules, tax regulations)... and you have to break up Big Corporations and monopoly MSM, and do other smart things to get money out of politics, gift giving out of industry, covering up inflation in professional education for doctors, judges... and drug testing which has been privatized. Term limits. Make courts accessible and fair for poor and middle class when faced with corporations and the wealthy.
Consider if you will a US Education system in with foreigner participate and foreigners even work in our banks and financial institutions... then walk away and get "Ripped-Off" by our TBTF Banks in normal type deals ... or WB or IMF Relationships.
Clearly USA Education is held back from much of our population so that the "Winners" can take advantage of the "Losers".
Nice. This points out the key requirement for all government. Ethics Top to Bottom. If Congress can take Gifts and Money... that corrupts our Businesses and Lobbying Mechanisms. WTF.
We all know Power, Control, Status, and Money (Gifts) corrupts all kinds of people and if not leads them to accept Industry Agenda Points. We even lose Free Speech if we can't afford to miss career advancement, new jobs in banking, or bonus money. Whistleblowers in Federal Government have dried up since they have to income protection in a Fascist Society where you have to work for someone and always be a Loyal Sycophant.
Domestic Spying = the End of Democracy & Self Rule.
Conflicts of Interest? Shit. Everything in the former USA is a conflict of interest to Freedom.
And what we have zero Smart People that chose to layout Freedom's Government & the American Dream Government all over again so we can shake this off... Well no we have thousands that want to. But where is the American Genius?? And most of the work should be well documented from our 200 years plus. Seems like a single Books would do it.
ZH has a couple of Authors that could easily layoff the Template for Liberty in a single 6 month period. Me, I would need longer. Maybe 7 Years for me to do it.
I don't think that Russians used the word "partner" in the same way Americans do. I have communicate with Russians and Ukrainians and the term seems to be used a lot more loosely. They referred to their suppliers as well a customers a partners.
They mean 'partner' in the sense of they (russia) are one of the two who wears the rainbow shirt and takes it up the ass
after that last cold war, who can blame them?
should've added 'as far as the west is concerned' to my comment above.
I am all for Russia acting as the last bastion of resistance against the western hegemony on the world. Who else will dare resist?
"Ya know I'm always ready, pardner..."
Tychus Findlay
The use of 'partner' was a mix of diplomacy (negotiating with people that you despise) and sarcasm.
That is now in the past. In a recent (3rd July) Russia Security Council meeting, Putin referred to the West as 'opponents'. The western dumbfucks never listn and this change will pass them by.
"The first is that the Russians use their words very carefully. They never engage in saber rattling, and they do not make threats. They have policies, and they make promises. ... The other is that the words match their policy. Again, that doesn't mean they aren't capable of double-speak - referring to clear "opponents" as "partners" is one giant and obvious example. But so long as they consistently referred to these powers in the west as "partners" it was clear what kind of relationship they wanted to build, or maintain."
http://fortruss.blogspot.co.nz/2015/07/partners-no-more-its-official-put...
And if you want to be be the bitch of the US? Fine. Then suffer!
rusians can call them partners 24/7 just be ready to nuke paste the west back a few billion years at a moments notice.
07/18: Ukraine: 100 More US Military Humvees Arrive in Odessa – US Ambassador
It's only take one Iskander to make these 100 out-dated Humvees look like VWs.
Humvees but no real heavy weapons. This is Obama's way of saying see Im doing something when its really nothing more then throwing crumbs at the peasants. Russian bombers flying off our coast line and no sign of Top Gun Maverick this time. Russians could nuke up before Obama would allow any retaliation. https://vimeo.com/121287726
Humvees rolling down the steps of Odessa murdering civilians?
Tsarist soldiers walking down the steps of Odessa killing civilians in Battleship Potemkin (1925), is the most powerful scene ever in cinematography.
"When they are fed rancid meat, the sailors on the Potemkin revolt against their harsh conditions. Led by Vakulinchuk (Aleksandr Antonov), the sailors kill the officers of the ship to gain their freedom. Vakulinchuk is also killed, and the people of Odessa honor him as a symbol of revolution. Tsarist soldiers arrive and massacre the civilians to quell the uprising. A squadron of ships is sent to overthrow the Potemkin, but the ships side with the revolt and refuse to attack."
Odessa is Russian, not American.
Them's nailgun soundin' words Pauly boy.
Problem is....you cannot blackmail China unless you want to end dead. In the case of US end nuked. Period.
The author seems to lump many forms of economic systems into a "capitalism" blob. He refers to the current state of economic affairs as capitalism and blames deregulation for its failures.
I view true capitalism as laissez faire. In other words, the government removes itself entirely from the economy and limits itself to enforcing contracts. Is there anyone not in a coma that thinks this is the situation we have today?
Uncle Sam is squandering close to $4 trillion per annum and has managed to ring up some $200 trillion in obligations that cannot possibly be paid. The Fed is price-fixing interest rates. The PPT is rigging every known "market" on the planet. Regulations are so vast and consuming that they're strangling business formation, growth, and employment.
Call it what you want, but this ain't free markets by a country mile. It's more accurately described as a fascist oligarchy with heeping spoonfuls of government insider trading, bribery, and rampant corruption.
Throw in a Justice Department that refuses to prosecute white collar crimes, an SEC that's too busy downloading porn to bother with daily market-rigging, and a Fed that seems intent on destroying our currency to save its clients, the banks.
So yes, Washington is a hegemon and a bully. It is by far the most dangerous entity on the planet, run by psychopaths intent on lording it over others no matter how many people they kill and regardless of the damage it does to liberty, property and civilization itself.
Place blame where it belongs, Mr. Roberts. This debacle is the result of government run amok and central banking funding the criminal syndicate in Washington. It is not the fault of free markets.
Agree with the bulk of your post, but not your take on capitalism. As PCR wrote,
"The 1930s regulation that made capitalism a functioning economic system has been repealed. Today in the Western world capitalism is a looting mechanism. Capitalism not only loots labor, capitalism loots entire countries, such as Greece which is being forced by the EU to sell of Greece’s national assets to foreign purchasers."
It was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that made the banks into the gambling monsters we see today and the markets into casinos. It was laissez-faire capitalism that enabled it to happen, basically allowing corporations to police themselves and hoping they would be driven by market forces. There are too many case studies that show organizations have a very poor record of being transparent when they police themselves and when corporations become too big and powerful, it is not market forces that drive capital but corruption, fraud, media and political manipulation. We are at a stage when clear crony-capitalism is the norm and consumers are defrauded about choices by powerful corporations that own everything they consume, giving the illusion of choice through brands.
More than a century of laws to protect the public from companies that form cartels, monopolies, sell dangerous products, conduct false advertising, thieve and defraud with smallprints on contracts - they show that laissez-faire capitalism - leaving corporations alone to do whatever they want in transactions between private parties free from government interference such as regulations and privileges, is an incredibly foolish thing to do. The part I do like about laissez-faire is being free from tariffs, and subsidies from the government. As usual, PCR is spot on about his fears on many forms of capitalism. That is not to say socialism is any better, but a vigilent, critical eye is necessary in order to have a better system than the one we currently suffer under.
(Nope, that down vote wasn't me! As I said I agree with the bulk of your post)
Mini-Me: "I view true capitalism as laissez faire. In other words, the government removes itself entirely from the economy and limits itself to enforcing contracts."
I took that as meaning no laws that enable corporations. That would solve half the world's problems.
Where true laissez faire capitalism fails (and has indeed failed in the past) is when the point is reached where one interest gains sufficient control of resources (primarily land and its associated fossil fuel deposits, mineral deposits, water sources, timber, etc) to dictate a monopoly on the rest of us. I'm all for the concept of private property in terms of consumer products, buildings, IP, digital rights, precious metals, etc, but when it comes to land there are 7 billion of us and those that are hogging more than an equal share need to be coerced into sharing at least some of their exploits with the rest of us.
BS
Were there corporations in your "true laissez faire capitalism" world? They are creations of government law which negates your "true laissez faire capitalism". In addition, monopolies are a product of government.
You can't have freedom or a free market if government exists.
PCR is not legit. Dinsinfo agent or whatever you want to call him.
You're probably right, but PCR is just one part of a well balanced media diet consisting of other vital nutrients such as BBC, RT, FOX, ZH which are all essential for a fully functioning critical mind.
The last thing Muslim boy Obama wants .... is US, Russia, the West and the East and the South .... cooperating against Islam .... yes, I'm talking about my project .... Northern Nations United Against Islam ! Monedas at Zion-Hedge
I just had a chat with a visiting private school principal, who led a few hundred high school students from Shanghai attending summer camp here. he told me nearly all those student's parents view the US as the most upright country in morality, ethics and political freedom. I asked if there were a war between two countries, he said the Chinese middle class would help Washington to overthrow the Chinese government.
lol, ha nice sample of brainwash clones that don't think critically. and i most certainly agree that their hair is black, ha...
I just had a chat with a guy in the pub, he told me his cousin was Batman, and I believe him, because I believe everything anyone tells me ever...just like you!
Why on earth would
Chinese students have changed their opinion?
Chinese Students laugh at Geithner
http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-students-laugh-at-tim-geithner-20...
Great analysis, but what was left out is that if the Greek government were to plan to leave the euro they would be thrown out of office and likely jailed or worse. The empire does not only use financial war, it also has many other tools at its disposal. Too many tools to name, but the victims litter the landscape.
The delusion is that any mastermind can be trusted. Power corrupts. Banking corrupts. Bail out whom? Logic nor results are not obtained by use of selected nouns and verbs.
What negates American exceptionalism? Obama as president; McCain and Graham in Senate. Should the world be ruled by an affirmatively chosen leader? If a hundred million morons chose a leader, is that superior to the choice of one moron?
America ueber alles? Oh, please. What's the difference between having a king or a central committee as absolute ruler? Will not the committee degenerate as would a king and a nobility? The flaw of sheeple is their craving for a king, messiah, hero or uebermensch. Thinking must be too painful, because trust is craved.
"selling pubic assets"? I think he meant to write "public"
Freudian slip
slip of the tongue
Lets not split hairs when we have the bit between our teeth
I do not see evidence that the Russians, Chinese, or any of the Brics nations are unaware of the dangers of Washington and see some of Europe as controlled by Washington. However, what Mr Roberts seems to be losing sight of is how late in the game we really are. Greece as he indicates is no success for the West, it was a complete failure. That they forced democracy to end , could not do any haircut while having to pay to bailout Greece much more than they did before is no success and the world sees this including Europe and the US. The governments of the west are so far up to their necks in debt the credibility of their currencies is teetering on their inevitable destruction. No one is being 'fooled' by the emperor with no clothes.
they see no threats because: they are in the same fucking club - uber wealthy elitists, self appointed by wealth and relationships with other worldly uber rich fucks. and we go along with it all cause their titles are bannered by the media as experts, heads of this that and the fed. first think that the fed is not a bank and the reserve chair is invalid. they control first your mind and then your actions. don't allow them to be superior...
Russia and China have seen the writing on the wall for a long time.
And have been preparing for the day when wall street cast it's greedy eyes upon them. For many years they have been joining themselves at the hip. Most nations are moving as quickly as possible to disentangle themselves from the western debt slave empire and it's toxic currencies, and realign with the eastern intitiatives EEU/New silk road/SCO and the new BRICS international trading platform.
So of course every effort the government makes outside the borders has as it's secondary objective the prevention of these things from becoming real threats to it, it's primary objective of course is still ripping everybody off.
and what makes you think their "silk road" will be any different? ha fucking ha, fooled again - different club same plan,,,lol...
Paul Craig Roberts
is
full of propaganda shit, flowing out through his posts.
Perhaps you could expound on that? Maybe narrow it down a little...
How do you narrow the jet of a gushing spring of scheizer? You can only let it expand. Let it pound the ground all brown in its anger.
PCR is worrying too much, not provoking is on purpose and the right action.
A banker controlled West is in fatal decline. It cannot force project when the fires at home will only grow in intensity.
“With the deregulation that began in the Clinton regime, Western capitalism has become socially dysfunctional. In the US and throughout the West capitalism no longer serves the people. Capitalism serves the owners and managers of capital and no one else. “
This statement above is true. The Neocons invaded during the Clinton Years, and Clinton passed fatal acts that broke down banking (GLB and anti-redlining provisions in CRA, which in turn destroyed Glass-Steagall). Clinton signed MFN with China, while simultaneously screwing over NAFTA, thus jobs were more easily shifted away from North America. America then suffers a Mexinvasion. Clinton also created the ministry of propaganda in the U.S. by his telecommunications act. Clinton WAS a Rhodes Scholar and a stooge of Chatham House and CFR, organs that are banker proxies.
Banker games out of Wall Street to then finance the lifting of industry to China; all this to make a few more shekels for finance oligarchy.
NeoCons and NeoLiberals are Zionist Jews and sometimes Christians. Say it isn’t so. They are “international” and don’t really give a damn about a nation’s people. The Western Credit money system is “international” especially with the dollar as reserve. Before that it was Sterling Credit, and Before that it was Gold. London was an international banker center, and Gold/Silver was enabled by East/West Caravan routes. This private international money power goes all the way back to Babylon, and even further to the priest kings of the Temples who first dispensed metal money by weight.
These donkey tribe Jewish Caravaners in ancient times, were outcasts who would sit outside the city gates, and plot ways to take down the civilization. This sort of psychopathy is now indurated into Cabla/Talmud and is funded by private money, especially usury out of the private banking system.
True money is law, and is a sovereign right of the people. The people who labor and make wealth are the true owners of their money.
The BRICS are fatal to the Western financial Oligrachs, and the West has NO “statesman” brain, it is run by money and markets.
All the West can do is the Samson option, and hopefully cooler Western (not Zionist) minds will prevail. Striking out during collapse is the true risk, so Russia and China are right to NOT PROVOKE.
best of your comment is the reference to labor and wealth, ie,real wealth. real wealth is how the money from labor is "spent" or invested. certainly not usery, incrementally erroding the self sovereign personel "state".
It's true that the BRICs are constructed using debt instruments, exchange rates, and SWIFT like systems almost identical to the West.
This could be fatal to them in the long run, especially if it concentrates power into a pyramid, which it does.
At this juncture though, the BRICs system is a Political Construct, designed to invest and create wealth. This will prove to be irresistable to Europeon countries.
The Western Banking Credit system is in full harvest mode, trying to grab in order to settle expanding debts.
The BRICs are in a beginning debt cycle, so they can start new debts.
My opinion, and I think it is correct, is that Russian and Chinese Oligarchs are loyal to their people. They are NOT the international. Importantly, China kept her STATE banks, as fact which cannot be ignored, especially after Tianaman.
Russian Oligarchs could easily pull up the ladder and not be involved with Western fith column activities, especially if they are guaranteed a big piece of the Russian pie.
All the evidence points to this conflict as being real, where the West is trying to dismember Russia for her resources. Additionally it is NEOCON policy to not allow Eurasia to form.
This no Eurasia policy goes back to England, and her bankers, who also disallowed it, as it threatened her rent takings as a shipping power. The City of London was a private banking center, so it is no surprise that the no Eurasia strategy jumped to America along with the parasite money powers, especially by 1912.
"My opinion, and I think it is correct, is that Russian and Chinese Oligarchs are loyal to their people."
While Russian Oligarchs returned to mother Russia, it was under the threat of violence.
The realestate prices of major US cities, especially Chinese hot spots like the west coast, Vancouver and NYC, and international cities like London are proof positive that both groups are loyal to their own well being and to no country.
Call them insurance policies, or exit strategies, loyal to their people would have that investment going to their people.
Money grubbers pay homage to only money. That is what they do. All of them.
Did anyone else have trouble knowing the meaning of "insouciance" or did you even get that far into Paul's wordly and wordy treatise.
Dictionaries are your friend, oh wait, you are on a computer and don't even have to crack a book.
obviously PCR's audience is intended for readers more educated than I, but that isn't going to stop me... from asking... what kind of sauce is that?
Unregulated naked capitalism, has proven in the 21st century to be unable to produce economic growth anywhere in the West.
Paul, I call bullshit on this one. If we had unregulated capitalism the following would not exist:
AIG,
Citibank,
Bank of Amer
Wells Fargo,
JP morgan,
Goldman sachs...etc
They would all have been liquidated.
Squid
unregulated capitolism was the reason for what you quoted...it was all planned to take money from the people and give it to the banks..what world do you live in? unregulated capitolism is why the bankers are rich and the people are poor. The bankers planned this all along. It is not hard to make rules that are fair to all. But when bankers own the government, and are psychopathic murderers and child molesters and control the government there are no rules...what world do you live in?
And so you have helped PCR make his point. If all these banks had been liquidated, the financial system would have been far better off (assuming others like them didn't take their place.)
They can be liquidated if the 99% honest folks were smart enough NOT to do any business with them. Their daily transactions are like plankton to whales. Want The Great Red Dragon to go away; just stop feeding it.
Squid, I think PCR means "unregulated" the other way around. The capitalists have lobbied for and achieved a DEREGULATION in which it is now possible for them to steal the productive margin of the economy through greed and accounting legerdemain. This is what actually facilitated the 'bankrupting' of the institutions you cited above. And, this, aside from the fact that private money lent into the economy at parasitical interest by the private bankers has now overwhelmed and is killing the host, is why we have lost our ability to produce in excess of our need, because the plundering banksters and oligarchs can now rob from the proceeds without consequence in that unregulated environment. When FASB changed the Mark to Market accounting to Mark to Fantasy in 2009, that was a deregulation that made all this slide into the abyss of interminate debt and insolvency not only possible, but inevitable.
There has been no deregulation. Check your dan facts. You can't even or a lemonade stand for under 40k $ compliance costs.
check the hight of the pile of the federal registry. It has gone up exponentially. Check the surveillance state, that is all regulation. Anyone who claimed there was deregulation can be dismissed out of hand.
PCR is talking about the repeal of the glass steagle act which gave banks the authority to do anything they want. and the only regulations since then went in the bankers favor....you dont get it.
These regulations are intended to destroy small scale opposition and to serve as a significant barrier to entry for new organisations. The costs are marginal to existing trans-national corporations.
PCR is just learning like we all are...but he is an honest and humble man. Unlike most that post here. His intelligence is to be liked. Because it comes from his heart and his learning to help try and figure this all out. And to try and help the common man. and humanity. He was fed up and planned to retire, but many, including me, convinced him to keep going. He wanted to quit this fucked up game, and all the posters who second guess him that dont have a clue. I applaud his efforts at such an old age when he should be retired and enjoying his kids and grandkids and letting it all go...My love to PCR for not giving up.
With luck Iran now realises this, China realises this and Russia has learnt this.
Well said Sir, globalism was a scam built on slave labour outsourcing meme, to feed the unilateralist hunger of Pax Americana's scions; the NWO Oligarchy, who pretended they towered like a colossus...over the Rogue state world.
Its as much an impossible equation as imposing USD RESERVE hegemony built on unlimited debt print and PRETENDING, that in this MONOPOLY context of the Money line that holds the world by its NUTS, the notion of "Invisible Hand" of Markets is VALID.
You cannot be Tarquin and Brutus, two headed Janus, and rule the Republic. You have to choose.
Crossing the Rubicon has awesome consequence. That's History.
Despite everything, Russia’s president and foreign minister continue to speak of the US and Washington’s EU vassal states as “our partners.”
no partners anymore.
last week V.P. called US adversary.
He should say enemy instead. Together with Tel Aviv.
all planned, usa and russia in bed together
http://redefininggod.com/nwo-schedule-of-implementation/
Nuland, Rice and Powers - the three b(w)itches of Macbeth.
One of PCR's best essays in my opinion. He hits a lot of truths.
He also displays a fair amount of economic ignorance, and so do you by your statement.
ergh? I didn't mention economics in my statement and PCR's article hardly touched on the subject.
Economic Theory has been Betrayed on every level since the early 80's.
Newspeak and all the other Orwellian concepts integrated to facilitate Looting On The Grande Scale.
The Golden Era for looters!
The whole world has been looted by fiat scrip and deficit spending. The super-genius of blackhearts contrived to create the derivative and cast it forth as a financial instrument rather than the weapon of mass destruction they actually are. Think neutron bomb, that instead destroys all infrastructural operations for only cost of some laserjet boilerplate and some commission~! Who needs to spend money on weapons if you got Power Of The Pen? Then there is the Big Lie of tanks in the streets... Hankie Paulson used it to Loot Trillions. Set the pattern for all the untold trillions since looted. Recall that all derivatives are now backstopped by US Taxpayer; or at least half of the 1.9 Quadrillion in existence that US firms are party/counter to.
None of what is going on has any relation to Economic Theory other than the touts continue to claim it as so in their pigeon-drop scheme.
Roberts sees the forest for the trees. There is no such thing as "investment" anymore; hasn't been for 25yrs. What's yours is meant to be theirs, as they see it, define "the law" and play the game. Why would Iran ever see its $100B again? It was hypothecated to the moon, Alice...
PCR: "Despite everything, Russia’s president and foreign minister continue to speak of the US and Washington’s EU vassal states as “our partners.” "
I have noticed this myself for many months and wondered why. One explanation I came up with is that Moscow is playing the long game by waiting for a change of heart in the West leading to an end of sanctions and believes it's best not to inflame the current madness in Washington.
Meanwhile, it gives Moscow the moral hi-ground.
Maybe Russia has figured out that US will get so entangled into its own financial web that simple patience is the best strategy.
American hates the term ''partners'' . They prefer, our slaves, and our allies IF THEY KISS America's ass. IF NOT then they are enemies.
PCR: "China’s new rich are buying up residential communities in California, forgetting the experience of Japanese-Americans who were herded into detention camps during Washington’s war with Japan. Chinese companies are buying US companies and ore deposits in the US. These acquisitions make China susceptible to blackmail over foreign policy differences."
This is true. The sensible way forward for China, Russia and Iran is to get their assets out of the West, particularly the US but Europe too.
it's not east vs west stupid. it's we, the poor bastards, vs the bloody vampire squid and its evil slave masters. wake up wake up.
"Unregulated naked capitalism, has proven in the 21st century to be unable to produce economic growth anywhere in the West. "
What unregulated capitalism is he talking about? The predominantly fascist system we've had ever since FDR?
The banking system is the most heavily regulated industry in the country except for electrical utilities. It is practically run by the govt and the govt-created Federal Reserve.
Market economies have brought us the prosperity of the modern world. The slide into a statist society has been destroying it.
Greece is the epitome of a failed entitlement-socialist-regulated state.
Roberts is an idiot.
Roberts, like many ZH'ers, uses words without a rigid adherence to accurate meanings, particularly when it comes to the conditions that define a real free market economy. A true free market needs as some of its conditions, specie money selected by the market, regulation which is only concerned with consumer saftey, and minimal to no taxation or redistributive confiscation of producers property. I did not realize that Roberts was this economically ignorant.
"Unregulated naked Capitalism" is a meaningless phrase. I would more describe the current global economic environment as a hybrid feudal/fascist system with a declining mix of free market habits that is inhabited by a population that is clueless about what a free market is and which is operated by some very smooth operators. The feudal/fascist system cannot produce wealth above the level of that which supports existential serfdom and will eventually equilibrize at that level.
The West is the best.
"The Greek government gave no thought to how to go about leaving the euro and putting in place a monetary and banking system independent of the euro."
You can say that again. Don't know how a socialist mind could even form those kinds of thoughts.
Pretend & extend is the American way forward. American policy wonks, and American Economists, will lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. Unfortunately, for Americans, this attitiude will result in their collective undoing when the entire World turns against the USA en masse for the tyranny they are pushing. Personally, I would nuke the American Government if I had the technology.
American hates the term ''partners'' . They prefer, our slaves, and our allies IF THEY KISS America's ass. IF NOT then they are enemies.
PCR, as always, has applied his knowledge, pertinent experience and honesty in putting together an outstanding essay. He only needs a wider audience to make a greater impact on national policy. Unfortunately our main stream media are more interested in trashy movies and celebrity voyeurism.
One of the mysteries of the Greek rollover is Tsipras' sudden change of direction after the referendum. I suspect the answer lies in a veiled threat of "Ukraine - ization." The only question is who was the messenger. Was it Vicky Nuland or General Breedlove? Take note of the fact that 65 retired Greek military officers and a former minister of defense wrote a letter emphasizing the importance of Greece staying in Europe.
like Russia needs any lesson from Greece. PCR's lead premise is fatally flawed and proceeds downhill from there. Russia's lesson comes from WWII, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, & Bush I. Not Greece.
The fact that Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian etc oligarchs all keep substantial assets in London, NY, Suisse, HK says all u need to know what they think of their own govt's.
PCR comes closest with " dismiss Victoria Nuland, Susan Rice, and Samantha Power" and Obama has with Kerry.
but to say Chinese are "unaware of the risks of investing in the US" is flatout incorrect. Witness the closure of their stock market and death to short sellers chants.
as for the French $9B fine, DB libor probs, UBS tax issues and lets throw in FIFA whilst we're at it; the one thing you can say about Amerkans to paraphrase Churchill, is after trying all the other alternatives, we get it right in the end. That is the difference between us and the ROW. I mean OJ finally went to prison right? Milken too right? Enron's smartest guys in the room right? We get it right in the end.
One thing we have not got right yet is the truth about 9/11. This was the watershed event that enabled the military/industrial complex to take over America. Those who executed those demolitions are guilty of mass murder, treason and multiple lies. Yet they run free to this day, and some even benefit immensely from the event.