Global power shift to the Bric nations?
By SueN
A global power shift is occurring underneath all of us. With the United States economy still struggling through the muck – and the European economy in complete free fall – new economic powers around the world are seeing this as an opportunity to gain more power in the global marketplace.In a direct affront to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – the BRIC nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – are floating the idea of setting up their own multilateral bank – funded by these developing nations to help finance projects within their own nations. According to IMF projections – BRIC nations are set to see strong economic growth this year – while most of the Western World stagnates. For example – the US economy is expected to grow by less than 2% in 2012 - while the austerity-driven Eurozone is expected to actually contract by a half-percent. On the other hand – BRIC nations like India and China are looking at growth rates of 7% and 8% respectively.
The world economy is changing – and the banksters and corporate CEOs can see it – which is why they’re looting America of whatever wealth she still has left – and taking their business overseas to the developing world. As for the rest of us – if we don’t take back our government and economy soon – then we’re headed for one long slide backwards.
-Thom
Comments
#2
Without question we have to fundamentally restructure our society. Everyone knows, whether conscientiously or unconscientiously, our lifestyle is unsustainable. That is why Hollywood and game creators are fascinated with apocalyptic visions of the future. We know we are heading towards one if we keep living in denial.
To fully deal with climate change, water scarcity, and the end of fossil fuels we need local organic agriculture. Each city, county, state, and nation must become self reliant to the best of their ability.
Imagine if every government contract at every facility required that 80% of their purchases be locally sourced? What if every business could write off 100% of expenses but only if they are locally sourced? With the stroke of a pen we could change policy to address the problems that keep Americans stressed and worrying about the future. I’m so thankful the Occupy Movement is waking people up!
#3
No, I think that this time, we really can say goodbye to the US as we knew it. Since Reagan, the US budget has lost several trillion dollars in tax cuts/handouts to the rich. Much of this money continues to be used to build factories and offices in foreign countries, exporting our jobs. At the same time, we threw away the entitlement to poverty relief, and created a Third World "workfare" replacement workforce here. Last year, people stood up and said, "That's enough"! Remember those mass demonstrations that actually did have the potential to change the course of this country? We blew it. The media (MSNBC, print and online progressive pubs, etc.) quickly worked to reframe the new movement in terms of being of, for and by "middle class workers" alone. The public accepted that. The hundreds of thousands of post-middle class people who eagerly participated (granted, many with visions of policies such as a new WPA) were quickly written out of the story. America's poor were censored out, ignored, shunned. Why fight to protect paid vacations for middle class workers who don't even believe you deserve food and shelter? That's unfortunate. This isn't the first time in our history when the richest few have virtually taken over the country. Historically, the poor and middle classes always united to push back, to the benefit of all. Not this time. So, the poor/post-middle class dropped out, and the movement hasn't been doing a whole lot of moving since.
#4
We are doomed. Greed is running the US and it will not give up one cent of money no matter what the cost. The Waltons have mega BILLIONS but will not sacrifice a dime to save a childs life by giving there employees health insurance. Isn't 1 Billion enough???? This is just a single example of the inhumanity that is the corporate world and now the corporations run this country. We're doomed.
#5
if they do it, i hope they don't creat their money from debt and don't let private banks control it. my bet is it's the same people who currently own our central banking system under a different name.
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#6
Today's question I ponder is: "How severe is the extent of political idiocy in America and did this get worse over the last years?"
If America should be degenerating to a land of ignorants, this would be the end. I am very much concerned about the shallowness in these comment parts. Here are Ron Paul freaks swarming in who are very chaotic minds. These aren't characters, they're hollow windbags. It don't find it just amusing to trash these idiots. I really think they're a pest in a menace.
So are these people just swarming in because they're so radical? Or is this really a nationwide, extensively pathological contagion in this country? If it is: How would we ever compete with upcoming countries like India? Maybe they're reading the Ron Paul freaks here on this blog and laugh about our craziness and this tells them we're about to loose indeed...
#7
I heard the advertising for SolarWorld on Chicagos's Progressive Talk and this made me curious. So I found out, SolarWorld is manufacturing the solar panels in the U.S. indeed, but they are a German venture. SolarWorld is a German project, that just went here.
Aren't we getting anything done anymore?
I see only ONE chance for upcoming November: We gotta vote the Republicans out of the House. Then Obama has a chance to do something for infrastructure, education and downsizing our military (not shut down department of defense stupid uncle Paul, just downsize reasonably!).
#8
Quote Robert Roudebush:We are doomedWhat is this? Suicidal ideation? If you are doomed, then it's because of your negative thinking. The negative mood is killing us.
You're not just expressing you negative mood. Other people read that and get depressed too. You're spreading out negative thought by this public medium. Don't you feel a bit responsible for what you write here? Our words can actually influence our nation's mood -- to the better or worse.....
#9
I'm waiting to see what will happen with Occupy this summer. but I fear the last part of your post: the rape of America before everyone leaves. That funny guy, Reagan, really let the dogs out, didn't he?
It amazes me that I'm living cheek by jowl with people who think everything the TEEVEE tells us is accurate or that we're "safe" with a bunch of psychopathic monsters running the show.
It's pretty clear to me that we don't elect presidents anymore after 2000, it should be clear to all when the SC appointed our first dictator. I surely don't think Obama is going to "save" US in any way,shape or form.
Nope, it's the big boyz with bucks ( that we gave them....gladly) and they've carved up the world and assigned roles to various countries. I watch for supply chains to be broken as they were in Japan from the tsunami/ Daichi meltdown..... this will happen more and more.
The US has been assigned the role of "strong arm" for the multinationals and other corpartions to bnring countries in line and the buck boyz are waging fiancial warfare, a VERY effective strategy for bringin nearly everyone under control.
We don't have a government anymore, we have a clearing house for contractors and it looks like we may be entering the second phase of WWIII ( the first part was largely under the radar) Iran, here we come. and Social Security, there it goes......And they've messed up the climate so bad that you can't even grow a garden even if you have good soil
I really wonder if "they" have a planet picked out to go to?
PS: why can't you get a spell check on this thing?
#10
Quote KassandraTroy:P.S.: why can't you get a spell check on this thing?I like you Kassandra!
I have my Google-Chrome spellchecker activated, but it doesn't work here. So admin, could you possibly change that? The spellchecker of my Google browser works on Blogspot's, WordPress' and other blogs, as in email, but not on this blog.
I know the libertarians don't care if they come across sloppy (they think messy means freedom -- just let it go, close your eyes and run against the wall LOL), and I really like it. Because then everybody can see: Liberals regular people/ libertarians idiots. This is not just calling names, it's watching people and accepting the fact. We have a severe libertarian surge of lunatics. Maybe it's because of lead poisoning?
We gotta point those idiots out, so people who are less experienced can see: Aha, idiots, don't take it seriously. Better skip that nonsense....
#11
Quote Robert Roudebush:We are doomedThis is scary! This is scary! This is scary!
I have to get back to this again -- I just didn't click the reply button here, so please read the next comment......
#12
Quote Robert Roudebush:We are doomedIf you constantly tell yourself: "I'll get cancer, I'll get cancer, I'll get cancer......."
.....after all you really might get cancer! Because psyche pretty much works like that: The things you predict don't come true because they had to, but just and only because you predicted them. You can actually judge and kill yourself by negative prediction.
It is generally known as "self-fulfilling prophecy" and can be very-very fatal. Does America need nationwide psychotherapy? Stop negative thinking? Stop national depression?
#13
We should be clear about who looses and who gains in this global ecomonic struggle. It is not we Americans against those others around the globe. It is about the global power elite against the rest of us all over the globe. In America, as more or less everyone prospered, the excesses of our owen elite were excused. The cost of our trust was that when America's elite saw the advantage of sidelining this nation in favor of other parts of the world they acted in their own best interest. If we have learned from our mistake of letting the power elites have their way, we should encourage and solidify with the world's people in putting a check on the excesses of power, everywhere.
#14
Historically, it was in the power elites' best interests to let the United States, the major "emerging economy" of the 19th century, to take over as much of North America as possible.
Then, in the 20th century, since the European Empires had been decimated in the two World Wars, it was in the power elites' best interests to let the United States overthrow foreign governments to spread the American Empire.
Now, like all great empires, the American Empire is in decline.So it is now in the power elites' best interests to refocus their attention (and investments) to other emerging economies like Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa which by the way, combined, account for almost half of the World's population.
The United States of America is becoming moot.
#15
If Bill Maher can put up $1M for Obama's Super Fund...maybe I'll vote for him again. Yes, that's right, I am voting for Bill Maher...I mean Obama. And maybe that is not even a good reason to vote for him any more than John Q Nobody liking a candidate for any other non-sensical reason...flashy pixels on a TV set that tweak the predilections of years of brain-washing propaganda. Like fish attracted to flashy bait, many people will snap up on all of that advertising with cute jingles or treacherous digs against the opponents. Not that I think Obama will be any different in the next 4 years. But I would sure hate it if a Republican got that spot. With people like Newt Grinch croaking at us with stupid inanities and Mitt wearing his magic underwear, Ron Paul sure sounds like a better alternative except he scares the heck out of me on the social programs that he is bound to trash. And that is a real deal breaker....so I would never vote for Ron Paul even though I believe he is right on the money about the fallacy of foreign wars. But it really doesn't matter what these people say, anyway, because they are all just trying to say anything just to get elected. What they do after they get elected is what counts.
"Voters are not yet supporting a radical position to restructure the whole system. But at least they are coming to see that small marginal reforms won’t work, or are simply trick promises, like President Obama’s promise that banks would renegotiate mortgages for homes in negative equity as part of the quid pro quo for the bailouts they received from Treasury Secretary Geithner. There’s been no quid pro quo, merely talk.
People see that law enforcement is missing when it comes to the banks and Wall Street. So simply restoring the criminal justice system would be progress. It used to be that if you ran a fraud, if you cheated people, if you lied on your income tax and falsified statistics, then you would be sent to jail. But the Obama administration has appointed Eric Holder to represent Wall Street. He has not thrown any bankers in jail, recognizing that they are the major campaign contributors of the party, after all."
"So what began as anger has become a gathering awareness that Mr. Obama was simply fooling voters instead of leading the change he promised. That’s what politicians do, of course. But people hoped that he might be different. That was the gullibility he played on. He has turned into the nightmare they thought they were voting against."
"Moving to the right of the Republicans, he started his administration by appointing the Simpson-Bowles Commission staffed by opponents of Social Security. He recently followed that up by appointing the Congressional Super-committee of Twelve to come out with an even more anti-Social Security, anti-Medicaid and anti-minority position that the Republicans could get away with. If they would have tried to pass such a right-wing policy, the Democratic Congress would have refused to pass it. But they don’t know how to deal with a Democratic president who appoints Wall Street lobbyists to his cabinet and acts like Margaret Thatcher saying that There Is No Alternative (TINA) to making Social Security recipients, labor and minorities pay for Wall Street’s bad gambles and bank losses. He has helped Wall Street capture the government – on behalf of the 1%."
"The man whom Mr. Obama asked to be his mentor when he joined the Senate was Joe Lieberman. He evidently gave Obama expert advice about how to raise funds from the financial class by delivering his liberal constituency to his Wall Street campaign contributors. So the problem is not that President Obama is well meaning but inept – an idealist who just can’t fight the vested interests and insiders. He’s thrown in his lot with them. In fact, he really seems to believe the right-wing, pro-Wall Street ideology – that the economy can’t function without a financial system that guarantees “savers” (the top 1%) against loss, even when the bottom 99% have to pay more and more."
"And on a personal level, Mr. Obama knows that his fund raising comes mainly from Wall Street, and the only way to get this money is to sell out his constituency. You’ve got to give him enough credit to recognize this obvious fact."
"The upshot is that we now have a political nightmare. Yet Mr. Obama still seems to be the best that the Democrats can offer! This is why I think the protestors are saying they are not going to let the Democrats jump in front of the parade to try and mobilize support for their party. Like the Irish say: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” They realize that the financial system is broken and that neither party is trying to do much about it. So the political system has to be changed as well as the economic system."
http://michael-hudson.com/2011/11/reforming-the-u-s-financial-and-tax-sy...
#16
A couple of your posters had some good thoughts but I tend to think along the lines of the poster who said that the people who are setting up this bank are the same people who are in control of our central bank.
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When there is one big bank planned for the developing countries it is always useful that it is being done behind the scenes by the people who have been in control of the worlds money for years.
#17
Want to know how to make Clarissa Smith go to DEFCON 1 and ICBM ready to launch a socialist propaganda rant?
Just say RON PAUL HAS GREAT IDEAS! And she’ll pull out her sacred Obama dagger and cut your tongue out while screaming Ron Paul is a lunatic!!! Then look up to heaven and pronounce “I Clarissa The Destroyer have silenced the non-believers”.
…. Clarissa darling, … the elitist to call anyone who disagrees with your ideology lunatics.
You vilify anyone that doesn’t agree with your narcissistic - one size fits no one - leftist loonery.
And I say that with affection because I admire your dedication to demonstrating absolutely no objectivity. ...... I’d have to tie one hand behind my brain and walk around blindfolded in a coal mine for a week to be so self absorbed with my own point of view.
If you want retain credibility, you have to balance your rhetoric attacks with some substance.
How about a short list of truthful facts of what you think Obama has done for America in the last 3 years. That would help all us peasants try and be as enlightened as you?
I think that’s a fair request if you think your guy is better than all the rest?
No rush, take your time; I’m sure you will have to do some research to find some points that might stand up to scrutiny or debate.
Good Luck
:)
#18
I’ve been watching Europe denigrating financially for years. It’s disturbing. Looks like Spain is teetering next.
George Soros is in the middle of it along with the global elitist bankers and other shadowy figures. They want to collapse the financial systems of the west, and then try and draw the world into some kind of global government control. Probably under UN control. Countries will still seem sovereign, but in truth they will have no sovereignty. Greece has lost its sovereignty and others may follow soon.
#19
Palindromedary
If Bill Maher can put up $1M
Very well written.
I agree with much of what you said. Especially that America is not ready for radical social changes that circumnavigate the constitution. This doesn’t surprise me.
Liberals live in a bit of a bubble. They don’t seem to consider the flyover states that are almost all conservative. Or the fact that the country is mostly center right. You can’t force through a far leftist agenda with that kind of opposition.
That’s why the democrats lost so many seats in 2010.
And the unprecedented number of lawsuits from states against Obama’s policies kind of underscores the massive amount of opposition there is to his policies. Won't be long before the supreme court hears Obamacare.
If nothing else, Romney has an impressive resume, and may get the economy rolling again. Plus he's a decent family man.
#20
TruthAddict
Without question we have to
I see problems with the “grown local production model”. You have huge population centers, like LA, or New York with a winter season. …. Anyway, producing all the food goods and services locally would be quite a feat considering most of the surrounding farmable land is owned by someone. In fact all the land except state and federal lands are owned by somebody. So unless you confiscate other people’s property where is your community going to get its farm land, housing and manufacturing infrastructure?
Just so you know, I was around during the Vietnam war and we had people talking and doing the exact thing you’re talking about. Starting communes, living off the land and sharing the bounty, all that good stuff.
But most of those people figured it was a hard primitive life and they grew up and became people like Steve Jobs, or maybe your doctor, or the manager of your local bank. Or people like country singer Willie Nelson.
What I’m saying is you’re not going anywhere that hasn’t been gone before.
The only communities I know of in America who are successful on the level you are disusing are the Amish. And one reason they are successful is their religious disciplines.
If America suffers a catastrophic event and infrastructure collapses nationwide, we may be forced into the model you are suggesting. But you will find little mainstream voluntary support for these ideas in today’s world. Remember, the world is not the occupy movement even though when you’re in the center of it you think the world is turning around it.
They thought the same thing back at Woodstock …. But actually that was a pretty big occupation that went down in history.
Keep thinking, I hope you come up with something :)
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hi thom
I am retire carpenter living in social security ,what i think is the bankster have sold us out to any one with security....
i am scare