The IMF is not a disinterested observer of global financial and geo-political affairs. Its role has been in support of the post second world war global financial hegemony of the western central banking system. This has included an overt and covert reliance on war and subterfuge to prevent independent national economic and political initiatives, as witnessed in Libya and now Iran.
Thus when the IMF frames the issue with hand wringing concern about "fragmentation" and the decline of so-called "free trade", which is a misnomer for a tightly controlled and unearned 'rent'-extracting' global trading system, one might applaud this as trending in the right direction: towards alternative systems and diverse approaches and away from de facto totalitarian and monopolistic global financial control systems.
Countries seeking resilience via independent means of suppling critical materials in so far as this is practically possible seems like common sense re-asserting itself over globalization's implicit totalitarian ideology.
Furthermore, the rapid advent of robotics, alternative energy production and storage capabilities, and AI, etc opens up a vast new paradigm of potential societal development and experimentation in which again "fragmentation' can more positively be framed as diversity of approaches.
The IMF as a global power of questionable virtue belongs in the dustbin of history.
I couldn't agree more. IMF loans usually cause more damage to countries than actually helping them. The IMF is also silent on the US punishing the citizens of Cuba by embargoing fuel oil to power electricity and their economy. Our treatment of Cuban citizens is nothing short of criminal. The US government pretends it has never heard of the Golden Rule.
Once again, thank you for your analysis. I have been following Geopolitics for many years now and most analysts would explain Geopolitics almost as an entity of it's own and I was frustrated that most of them would not include economics as part of the reasons, caused or resulted from Geopolitical changes going on or status quo that needed to be maintained. I also follow influencers concerning the stock markets and am also frustrated from their negligible reference to Geopolitics as an integral part of the stock market and the economy. Before I discovered your channel, I was wondering why are all these analysts/influencers not putting more importance on the interdependence of Geopolitics and the markets/economy as they are totally dependent on each other to be able to understand either of these subjects. Thanks to your reports and interviews you are bringing these two subjects together as they are inevitably intertwined. This is the only way to make any senses of what is going on in the world, not only today, but as it has always been since one subjects explains the other.
Thanks, Lena. The US manufacturing state is in such sad shape that pretending we can go it alone or only with a few "cooperating" countries is unrealistic. I am seeing more products which used to be manufactured here for decades now suddenly made in a country overseas. An example would be oil filters. One went to Mexico and the other to Thailand. No doubt some US jobs were once again lost.
The US is also very dependent on China for rare earths as well as input parts for our manufacturing plants. We are becoming a country which largely is a service economy.
As for the financial markets, there are ETFs, ADRs, and other similar stock innovations which include companies around the world. It would be hard to imagine if the stock market only dealt with American companies.
You're analysis is pretty close to the mark. The world is entering a new phase where the United States is no longer the top dog anymore. Americans had better start getting used to a lesser standard of living for all but the top 10%. Asia and Eurasia are making more regional trade deals leaving the west cut off in a lot of ways and I expect this to become more so over the next few years,
What the IMF see as fragmentation is more like a regional fragmentation, not individual nation states. But it's still existential for global banking institutions that are managed by the west.
Excellent video. Thanks Lena!
The IMF is not a disinterested observer of global financial and geo-political affairs. Its role has been in support of the post second world war global financial hegemony of the western central banking system. This has included an overt and covert reliance on war and subterfuge to prevent independent national economic and political initiatives, as witnessed in Libya and now Iran.
Thus when the IMF frames the issue with hand wringing concern about "fragmentation" and the decline of so-called "free trade", which is a misnomer for a tightly controlled and unearned 'rent'-extracting' global trading system, one might applaud this as trending in the right direction: towards alternative systems and diverse approaches and away from de facto totalitarian and monopolistic global financial control systems.
Countries seeking resilience via independent means of suppling critical materials in so far as this is practically possible seems like common sense re-asserting itself over globalization's implicit totalitarian ideology.
Furthermore, the rapid advent of robotics, alternative energy production and storage capabilities, and AI, etc opens up a vast new paradigm of potential societal development and experimentation in which again "fragmentation' can more positively be framed as diversity of approaches.
The IMF as a global power of questionable virtue belongs in the dustbin of history.
I couldn't agree more. IMF loans usually cause more damage to countries than actually helping them. The IMF is also silent on the US punishing the citizens of Cuba by embargoing fuel oil to power electricity and their economy. Our treatment of Cuban citizens is nothing short of criminal. The US government pretends it has never heard of the Golden Rule.
Once again, thank you for your analysis. I have been following Geopolitics for many years now and most analysts would explain Geopolitics almost as an entity of it's own and I was frustrated that most of them would not include economics as part of the reasons, caused or resulted from Geopolitical changes going on or status quo that needed to be maintained. I also follow influencers concerning the stock markets and am also frustrated from their negligible reference to Geopolitics as an integral part of the stock market and the economy. Before I discovered your channel, I was wondering why are all these analysts/influencers not putting more importance on the interdependence of Geopolitics and the markets/economy as they are totally dependent on each other to be able to understand either of these subjects. Thanks to your reports and interviews you are bringing these two subjects together as they are inevitably intertwined. This is the only way to make any senses of what is going on in the world, not only today, but as it has always been since one subjects explains the other.
Thanks, Lena. The US manufacturing state is in such sad shape that pretending we can go it alone or only with a few "cooperating" countries is unrealistic. I am seeing more products which used to be manufactured here for decades now suddenly made in a country overseas. An example would be oil filters. One went to Mexico and the other to Thailand. No doubt some US jobs were once again lost.
The US is also very dependent on China for rare earths as well as input parts for our manufacturing plants. We are becoming a country which largely is a service economy.
As for the financial markets, there are ETFs, ADRs, and other similar stock innovations which include companies around the world. It would be hard to imagine if the stock market only dealt with American companies.
You're analysis is pretty close to the mark. The world is entering a new phase where the United States is no longer the top dog anymore. Americans had better start getting used to a lesser standard of living for all but the top 10%. Asia and Eurasia are making more regional trade deals leaving the west cut off in a lot of ways and I expect this to become more so over the next few years,
What the IMF see as fragmentation is more like a regional fragmentation, not individual nation states. But it's still existential for global banking institutions that are managed by the west.