The ghost of the financial crisis is roaming all over the world. This time it is bringing the fake economies imposed by the “Golden Billion” to an end. West will have to learn how to live on its work instead of exploiting others
The “Golden Billion” has pushed itself to a dead end. If you look at all things connected, then the only conclusion could be that the stupidity of their “leadership” just accelerated what was inevitable. Believing in the possibility of living on the results of other countries and people’s sweat, tears and often blood forever was unreal. I am still determining if they are prepared to accept that. However, they will have to.
Today there is a high probability of a new financial crisis. This is a welcome probability. Such an event will end constant local problems, growing bubbles and inequality in income distribution between and within countries. A ball has formed, bringing the world economy and financial system to an absolute dead end.
For fifteen years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, American and European financial authorities and central banks failed to combat bubbles in the derivatives market. The only thing they have done is print more money. Apparently, to fix problems that are caused by money oversupply. This proved that those who declared themselves the world masters of finances and business have no idea how to do it.
Greed and Corruption – undisclosed “Western Values”
In 2008, the world emerged from the crisis due to the consolidated policy of central banks. Then the release of money supported the crumbling financial system. However, that method set the scene for an even bigger crisis. That crisis could have been avoided with responsible management of finances and economies. However, responsible management contradicts the primary motor of the Western economies (and everything else) – the GREED.
It is important to name one more reason for the current situation – financial and general. It is called CORRUPTION. Why corruption? People who were (and still are) in charge of managing Western (and therefore international) finances and economies knew precisely what they were doing and the possible consequences. However, they failed to take appropriate steps to correct it because of their corrupt relationship with leading Western financial companies. How many tax cuts have they approved in the past fifteen years? Tax cuts that pleased corporations and bribed (corrupted) the electorate.
To clarify, greed is part of Western culture from top to bottom. Almost nobody is immune to it. However, corruption is reserved for the “elite” only. That is the significant difference between Global South and West corruption.
There are limits to exploitation and a constant increase in imbalances
The Fed and the ECB carried out constant quantitative easing (the issue of the dollar and the euro) and pumped the economy with money. The COVID pandemic exacerbated these processes, and geopolitics became a cherry on the cake. Western countries provoked several trade wars. Russia was targeted in 2014. The largest is the US struggle with China, which began under Obama (Trump just accelerated it and was loud about it). The attempt to bring the Russian economy to its knees in 2022 was the last poor decision by Western leaders. It might prove to be the decisive one too.
The lies called the “postindustrial world” and “service economy”
Globalisation is the product of the corrupt policies of an “open market”. In the bad old days, countries used to have import duties and other tariffs designed to protect the domestic economy (mainly manufacturing). Greedy pushers of globalisation declare “protectionism” a dirty word. Why?
Greedy corporations (shareholders) were unhappy with paying decent salaries to their employees in their countries. The labour cost in the Global South was much lower, and work safety and environmental regulations were either non-existent or loose. However, shifting manufacturing to these countries was not viable because of the tariffs set to protect domestic manufacturing. The problem was solved by bribing (corrupting that was named “lobbying”) politicians to change regulations and remove tariffs. The lie of “free trade” and “open market” was born.
It took around one decade to move most of the Western manufacturing to the global south, most of it to China. The “postindustrial world” was declared, and the “service economy” was proclaimed the most extraordinary success!
How can the economy deprived of activities resulting in the creation of new values (agriculture, mining & manufacturing) survive? It can. The “solution” is exploiting the “Global South” – sometimes harsher than in the colonial era. A “petro-dollar” created the first currency in history that turned out to be some commodity. For international payments, the US dollar was required. If you did not have any, you had to buy them just as you could buy any other commodity on the market. I am not going to go any further into that topic now.
The choice between prolonged recession and complete collapse of the Western financial system?
The high inflation makes “quantitative easing” (uncontrolled printing of the dollar and euro) practically impossible. The West will have to accept the fact that “Too big to fall” is the wrong way to “save” rotten parts of its economy (particularly banks). Letting them fall will bring prolonged recession or even depression.
The biggest mistake of the “Golden Billion” was the exposure of its greedy and corrupt nature. That destroyed the last bits of its credibility and the trust in it the rest of the world. De-dolariasaion accelerated at a higher than expected rate. The only way to somehow get out of this is – WAR. That is precisely what the West is trying to do in Ukraine and Taiwan. Russia is fighting not only against NATO but also against the system that kept the Global South in misery for the last couple of centuries. How many of you can see that? Let me know in the comment section.
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