The U.S. Is Just About Bankrupt, Yet No One Seems To Care

April 18, 2007

By Jim Kingsland
jimkingsland@gmail.com

While I am greatly appreciative of the blogosphere for the wide selection of thought - whether left, or right - it is getting to be quite redundant. The mantra of "Democrats evil, Republicans good" and vice versa gets a bit old. I find it to be constant and tiresome sniping while the world flies by and problems all around us become worse and remain uncorrected and literally unattended. Beyond politics there's a nascent but snowballing financial collapse in the making. It should be rooted in the core of political discussion, but ends up being widely ignored because of the complexities involved.

There's no shortage of coverage for our biggest national disaster: The War in Iraq. Every day lives are being wasted with no solution, or end in sight. I'm not here to discuss my opposition to the war which is a subject that has been well covered by pretty much anyone with functional brain cells. We're losing, or have lost and if the stars become aligned in the wrong direction we'll likely go after Iran and probably see our first aircraft carrier sunk since 1945. But I'm not going to get into the war and politics since it's so well covered already.

What concerns me, because of lack of coverage, is the growing financial storm that's occuring in this county with so many (unless they've lost their house) unaware. While subprime meltdown has made the nightly news, something that doesn't make the news to give widescale sense of appreciation and urgency is the sagging fortunes of the U.S. dollar and the near insolvency of our county.

That's why I and this diary will be here. Folks need to be jolted out of the mindless, partisan bickering to understand that great structural problems threaten to tear the country apart from the inside. The question needs to be asked - "Why are we letting this happen to ourselves, and Why are we allowing our politicians to perpetuate the problems by allowing them to do nothing?"

The dollar this year has tumbled vs major currencies with the exception of the Yen where the Yen has also slumped. The Treasury and even Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke have warned of future liabilities from social security, medicare, pensions, etc in excess of $50 TRILLION dollars. The country is pretty much bankrupt, yet all I hear on the radio whether its Rush or Air America, or read on the web is that one side is evil vs the other side.

It goes even deeper. The U.S. has lost its edge in many ways - China, for example, is on the verge of becoming the top exporter in the world and already is to Europe. European markets have overtaken our markets in value, etc. The U.S. has suffered a major fade economically just since the turn of the century - yet we're led to think that the Bush economy is "best ever".

I have a blog where I chronicle events in the markets:

http://buttonwood1792.blogspot.com/

I hope you will take a look. You will see that the chart of the dollar looks like a bankruptcy chart.

The next 3 to 6 months will be crucial. In all likelihood, we're headed for recession. How many realize that?? Most are so overly complacent, really clueless, and thus feel they have the luxury or being able to engage in the usual partisan discourse when they should be removing the wool from their eyes provided by liars like Bernanke and Paulson that all is well. All is not well. Will the body politic do something?

Half the battle is to recognize there's a problem. The present power base - both dems and repubs - don't want you to know what can hurt you. But there's a lot out there that can hurt you financially. I hope to shed some light and keep you informed.

U.S. Empire Slides Toward Coup, Bankruptcy in `Blowback' Sequel

By Michael Glennon

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- In Chalmers Johnson's unrelentingly grim view, today's dire global conditions are largely the fault of an arrogant, increasingly militarized U.S. bent on expanding its global empire.

If, as you read the preceding sentence, you find yourself nodding in agreement, you may well admire ``Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic.'' If you prefer a more nuanced and evenhanded consideration of U.S. responsibility for the world's woes, Johnson's arguments will sound overheated.

For an Asia specialist who taught at the University of California for 30 years, Johnson sounds surprisingly like Michael Moore. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, in his view, has become the ``private army'' of the ``Boy Emperor from Crawford, Texas.'' America doesn't have allies; it has ``satellites.'' The U.S. Air Force has become an ``overlord of the globe,'' and the whole country is headed toward a possible military coup or, more probable in Johnson's view, bankruptcy.

Johnson appears to welcome such an outcome. ``We will have to learn what it means to be a far poorer nation and the attitudes and manners that go with it,'' he says in this final piece of the trilogy on the American empire that began with his bestselling ``Blowback.''

There's no denying that President George W. Bush and other U.S. policymakers, past and present, have much to answer for. ``Nemesis'' reiterates a sadly familiar list of shameful misdeeds committed by American leaders or at their behest.

Damning Record

Johnson recalls the manipulation of intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq; the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib; ``extraordinary renditions'' of some terror suspects and the mistreatment of those held at Guantanamo Bay; CIA complicity in coups in Iran and Chile; and criminal behavior by U.S. troops stationed in overseas military bases -- the ``all- encompassing imperial `footprint.'''

Unfortunately, Johnson undercuts his often compelling arguments with selective use of supporting evidence, occasional logical lapses and a chronic use of hyperventilating language. Consider these assertions on the very first page of his book:

``Arrogant and misguided American policies have headed us for a series of catastrophes comparable to our disgrace and defeat in Vietnam or even to the sort of extinction that befell our former fellow `superpower,' the Soviet Union,'' he writes. ``Such a fate is probably by now unavoidable.''

Inevitable Collapse?

Johnson sees signs of rot everywhere. In today's America, he asserts, constitutional checks and balances are in tatters. Government power is concentrated in an imperial presidency protected by the CIA. Congress is corrupt, addicted to lobbyists' money and pork-barrel spending. The judiciary is cowed. Unchecked militarism has spawned a war economy that will inevitably collapse.

For Johnson, no historical comparison is too extreme. The slavish devotion of White House officials to presidential prerogatives reminds Johnson of how Chinese communists deferred to Mao Zedong. He applies Hannah Arendt's description of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann as a ``desk murderer'' to Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

The U.S. today, ``like the Roman Republic in the first century BC, is threatened by an out-of-control military- industrial complex and a huge secret government,'' Johnson writes. Rome's Republic, he reminds us, was destroyed and replaced by the ultimately unsustainable Roman Empire. Something similar might be in store for the U.S., he warns.

What About Nancy?

Though readers already prone to agree with Johnson may be amused, his rhetorical flourishes are likely to distract -- and alienate -- others.

What does the future hold? There is some hope, Johnson says, if Americans, like the British after World War II, come to terms with the inherent weaknesses of an imperial strategy, ``and keep our democracy by giving up our empire.''

Yet Johnson doesn't place much faith in the potential for political change, writing that he can't imagine ``any president or Congress'' defying the interests of the overpowering military-industrial complex. It makes you wonder if he has ever met Nancy Pelosi.

``Nemesis'' is published by Holt (354 pages, $26.00).

(Michael Glennon is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this review: Michael Glennon at glennon.michael@gmail.com .

Last Updated: February 9, 2007 00:12 EST

National Bankruptcy faces US but also UK & EU

November 28, 2006

Germany Goes Bankrupt Too!
by Martin Hennecke

Regular readers of websites like this one will already be well informed of the onrushing financial collapse and national bankruptcy of the United States, as this topic is receiving ample coverage nowadays from an abundance of writers and economists, including unmistakable warnings from many former senior government officials and central bankers as well as from the very institutions that are presently in charge, such as the International Monetary Fund, the Bank of International Settlements or the US Federal Reserve. So I will save myself repeating the obvious here, suffice to say that anyone who is new to the real world and would scoff at such notion may want to start educating himself/herself by reading some introductory books such as Bill Bonner's 'Empire of Debt', or browse the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' report 'Is the United States Bankrupt?' published earlier this year.

What a large number of even the more educated US Dollar bear-and US financial crisis expectation camp however do NOT seem to be aware of is the global nature of the problem. It is completely wrong to assume, for example, that the Euro or the British Pound are inherently 'hard' and healthy currencies that would provide protection from a plunging US Dollar. It is not known by most, that in fact the majority of the Western 'developed' world and not just the United States is facing national bankruptcy shortly ahead, and that this has been officially predicted by the world's leading rating agency, Standard & Poor's.

US, Germany, France and UK face junk debt status

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