The Sick Man of the North Atlantic

Money, observed the witty British thinker Malcolm Muggeridge, is the homogenized form of power. No more money, no more power.

The great imperialist Winston Churchill led his nation into World War II vowing "never to preside over the fall of the British Empire." Yet he ended up doing just that in 1945 after Great Britain emerged from the conflict bankrupt and demoralized. The British Empire, which in 1939 had controlled one quarter of the earth's land surface, quickly disintegrated and ended on the trash heap of history.

Six decades later, the United States has also gone bankrupt thanks to a national orgy of borrowing, and the sharp decline of manufacturing and its replacement by the non-productive, business of parasitic finance as America's leading industry. Add two ruinous, $1 trillion foreign wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a government whose stunning incompetence and brazen ignorance was exceeded only by its reckless imperial arrogance.

The financial panic that has gripped the globe, and the ignominious collapse of once mighty Wall Street, proved the American colossus had feet of clay, as arch foe Osama bin Laden had predicted in the 1990's.

Washington's furious printing of untold billions of new dollars to prop up its sinking economy, finance this year's staggering $1 trillion deficit, and pay gargantuan foreign debts looks very likely to unleash a storm of dangerous inflation that will infect the world's financial system.

Recall the great economist John Maynard Keynes warned that the quickest way to destroy a nation was by wrecking its currency through inflation. Germany in the 1930's offers one of the most horrible examples of a great nation laid low by inflation and then thrown into the arms of political extremists.

The world balance of power is already shifting. For one example, Pakistan's new president, Asif Zardari, went cap in hand to China last week, seeking $4 to 6 billion in emergency loans. Pakistan is on the verge of bankruptcy and may shortly default on its debt, risking economic, social and political chaos.

Normally, Washington would have been counted on to come and bail out its rented Pakistani politicians. But the United States, which has been paying that nation's politicians and army $1.2 billion per annum to support the occupation of Afghanistan and fight tribal opponents, has no cash to spare for Islamabad. So Pakistan is turning to China, which has $19 billion in foreign exchange reserves -- the world's largest.

Both John McCain and Barack Obama have been vying with one another to promise more troops for Afghanistan. But now, it seems likely the U.S.-led occupation of Afghanistan will be adversely affected by Washington's new status and pauper and the world's biggest debtor nation -- the Sick man of the North Atlantic.

Bankrupt people, companies, and nations have to sell assets to meet their debt obligations. China and Japan alone hold over $1.5 trillion of U.S. government securities in the form of U.S. Treasury notes and bonds (which are really just fancy IOU's from Uncle Sam).

Nervous Chinese and Japanese central bankers now want real assets rather than more paper. They have their own mounting problems. So there is talk of America's Asian creditors demanding their IOU's be converted into shares in U.S. corporations and property.

Sovereign wealth funds from the Arab oil states and Singapore may soon demand chunks of premier U.S. corporations and property.

In the 19th century, European imperial powers forced loans on China, Egypt, the Gulf, Iran, and Latin America. When the locals could not pay off these debts, parts of their territory were seized, or their ports bombarded. Russia was forced to sell Alaska to the U.S. for next to nothing when it could not repay its debts.

China's coast was carved up by the British, French, Germans, Russians, Americans and Japanese. These imperial foreclosures created the trading "concessions" of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tsingtao, Tianjin, and Port Arthur.

Now, it's payback time for China. How ironic that the Chinese Communists have ended up with a sound financial system while the Wall Street bandit capitalists have gone bust and have gone to Washington with their begging bowls.

To help pay its monster debts, I suggest Washington consider selling Louisiana back to France. Canada, whose banking system, once sneered at by Americans as "boring and stodgy," remains solid, ought to pick up Florida for a song. Switzerland would do well to spend some of its gold horde and buy Vermont and New Hampshire.

Mexico will want to buy Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Russia, of course, will buy back Alaska and Washington State. China will purchase California. San Francisco will become `New Shanghai' and Los Angeles, "New Beijing."

Japan will buy up Washington state, Oregon, Montana, and Hawaii. Holland will repossess New York State, and Germany will buy German-settled Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The German Central Bank will quickly restore order there.

Pakistan's move into China's financial embrace is a harbinger of things to come. Unless the U.S. quickly repairs its economy, its world power could slip away as quickly as post-war Britain's, leaving China, Japan, Russia, the EU, the Arab oil states, and India as the world's new super-powers.

This may not be so awful. All power, as Briton's Lord Acton famously said, corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As the world's sole super-power, the U.S. under the Bush administration became totally corrupted by imperial hubris, financial fraud, lust for resources, and greed.

A world with more balanced, diffused power may be preferable. But such profound historical change is always dangerous and unpredictable. Right now, China looks like top dog. Chairman Mao will be smiling.

Meanwhile, Americans are now paying the price of imperial hubris and national financial fraud. Pity the next president who will inherit the Augean Stables filled by George Bush and the Congress over the past eight years.

Comments

[WorkingClass]

I live in Louisiana. I will welcome the French as liberators.

[TRIATHLON]

OBAMA DOLLAR DECLINE AND INFLATION (PART ONE A)

The (DNIP) Democratic Nominee for the Imperial Presidency, started out as a Chicago, South Side Social Activist and that is the mold that still remains. (D-IL) US/Senator Barrack Hussein Obama is what amounts to a modern day Robin Hood in United States terms, with plans to rob from the wealth and distribute the money among not just those who are needy, but to build an economic solid floor to replace the destroyed safety net.

Now, to those countries that have always had Socialism this is nothing to be concerned about and over the years it has been factored into their economic structure, but in The United States of America, the concept has always been what you earn is what you keep, but over the almost (3) three centuries creeping tax"s have taken their share with ballooning cost of local, state, and federal governments.

[TRIATHLON]

OBAMA DOLLAR DECLINE AND INFLATION (PART ONE B)

The (DNIP) is a hard-core Social Order Restructuring Activist, who intends to use Wealth Redistribution, thru Progressive Income Tax, combined with an Aggressive Affirmative Action Program. The United States Military position around the world is at best weak, its geo-political position is below weak, and its market system is in meltdown, the value of the American Dollar is based upon little to nothing, and now The United States may in fact be facing serious Social disruption.

Creating and building a Social Net for those in need in a society a "Hand Up System" for the weak of the society is cost effective and socially correct, but the total Wealth Redistribution of large sums of wealth for the building of not a social safety net, but a social hard wood floor, for a "Hand Out System" of government is far beyond aiding the weak it"s a system of handing out the dole to those who should be providing to the support of the government system.

[TRIATHLON]

OBAMA DOLLAR DECLINE AND INFLATION (PART TWO)

The United States Dollar does not have a built in social value as other Socialist Countries do, and the shock to the value of the loss of value to the Dollar will be felt around the globe, as the Dollar is not based upon a Gold Standard, Oil Wealth, Mineral Wealth, and with the massive layoffs not even on its productive value system.

The World at this time should see that with all things tied together the United States is in total and complete decline, but with the Aggressive Social Restructuring Plans of Obama, causing an internal social upheaval, the concerns of the World and its relationships with the United States will only decline along with the value of the Dollar.

[TRIATHLON]

OBAMA DOLLAR DECLINE AND INFLATION! (END PART)

Under an Obama Social Order Restructuring big government agenda there will be, more tax , with a lesser value dollar, effecting income, property values, business inventories, business investments having a collectively negative effect on everyone. Obama has an ideological commitment to higher taxes, more government, with government moving into the role government providing support in the form of a solid floor "Hand Out" vice with a social safety net "Hand Up" for those who need its support. And with this type of support will come strings and government controls, with government moving into the role as the head of the family, making decisions for us. Now, they do this in Socialist Countries but we have long been a Capitalist Country, and this will be a massive social and economic shock that will affect the Economic Structure of The United States domestically and Abroad.

[bennettkw]

Triathlon is proof why America really needs to work on improving its educational policies for the poor and needy. The wealthy and powerful will get theirs but lack of education and access to a keyboard can be a truly dangerous thing. Ignorant fact-free pontificating with regular lies and not-so-subtle racism is not pretty. My only hope is that the majority of Americans totally reject this sort of attitude when they go to the polls next week. While this generation of poor, uneducated fo.ols may be lost, hopefully we can play some role in ensuring that their children are better educated. I know that they won't be happy about that. Similar folks were unhappy during the civil rights and women's rights movements but it happened anyway and we are much greater nation today as a result.

[BBackSoon]

At the very least I believe that Bushco will not be able to rewrite the history of his presidency any more. At one time he might have been able to put a favorable spin on his administration but that time is past and he will surely be remembered as a failure too bad we can"t be assured he will be remembered as a convicted criminal.