Michael Hudson: US imperialism, Krugman, de-dollarization, #socialism, #Palestine, #China. #eu #usa - YouTube — #michaelhudson #krugman #nyt #imf #usd #dollar #history #marx "> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Ef_hbNsBs
#imf
Argentina presidential hopefuls trade barbs in first presidential debate
The leading contenders in Argentina's presidential race sparred during the campaign's first debate on Sunday, exchanging criticisms about responsibility for ...#Argentina #Argentinaeconomiccrisis #Argentinageneralelections2023 #Argentinapresidentialdebate2023 #HoracioRodriguezLarreta #IMF #JavierMilei #PatriciaBullrich #SergioMassa #argentinaIMFdebt #argentinainflation #argentinalatestnews #argentinaparliamentaryelection2023 #argentinapolitics #argentinapoverty #argentinapresidentialcandidates
Argentina presidential hopefuls trade barbs in first presidential debate
#inflation petit rappel:
L’inflation frappe aussi les carburants, l’énergie et les prix alimentaires. Ces derniers ont augmenté de plus de 21% en deux ans. Dans la même période, les marges de l’industrie agroalimentaire ont progressé de plus de 70%. Cette augmentation constitue aujourd’hui la première cause de l’augmentation des prix.
À l’échelle mondiale, le Fond Monétaire Internationale (FMI) rappelle que l’augmentation des profits des entreprises est responsable de la moitié de la hausse des prix.
(english? The #IMF reminds us that half of inflation is due to firms increasing their margins)
Imperialism and the new Cold War
https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2023/09/05/imperialism-and-the-new-cold-war/
The US has about 750 bases in at least 80 countries around the world. It has approximately 173,000 troops deployed in 159 countries.
“Workers of the world and oppressed peoples, unite!”
#imperialism #coldwar #us #military #imf #worldbank #capitalism #socialism #colonialism #neocolonialism #global #classwar
BRICS Dropping US Dollar, Working on New Reserve Currency: #Brazil's Lula | August 24, 2023:
"The #BRICS economic alliance plans to abandon the U.S. dollar in trade settlements and develop a new reserve currency while promoting the use of local currencies, Brazil's president said at the bloc's 15th annual summit in #Johannesburg, #SouthAfrica.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio #Lula da Silva championed a medium- to long-term objective of creating a new reserve currency to fight against the U.S. dollar hegemony. Until then, the coalition will encourage the further utilization of members' national currencies in bilateral trade.
"The creation of a currency for commercial transactions and investments between BRICS members increases our payment conditions and reduces our vulnerabilities," Mr. Lula stated before the summit audience, adding that developing nations should be hit with higher interest rates than what affluent countries experience.
The best mechanism, he noted, is to bolster liquidity, increase favorable financing terms, and abolish conditionalities, suggesting that the “structural readjustment” is an indictment of the policies presented by the International Monetary Fund ( #IMF) and the #WorldBank.
"The multilateral trading system must be revitalized so that it returns to acting as a tool for fair, predictable, equitable, and non-discriminatory trade," he said."
Voor 83 duizend miljard euro in het rood: een ontwikkelingsramp dreigt door nieuwe schuldencrisis
De Volkskrant
Het was begin deze maand een noodkreet van secretaris-generaal António Guterres van de VN: ‘De helft van de mensheid leeft in landen die nu meer uitgeven aan het aflossen van hun schuld dan aan zorg en onderwijs. Dit is een ontwikkelingsramp.’
Na de coronapandemie, de klimaatcrisis en de Oekraïne-oorlog ligt een nieuwe crisis op de loer: een ongekende schuldencrisis. Veel landen in Afrika, Latijns-Amerika en Azië kunnen de rente op hun schulden niet meer betalen, laat staan dat ze hun schulden kunnen aflossen. Zambia kon in 2020 al niet meer aan zijn financiële verplichtingen voldoen. Sri Lanka en Ghana volgden vorig jaar. En nog zeker vijftig andere landen – bijna 40 procent van alle ontwikkelingslanden – staat het water aan de lippen, volgens het nieuwe VN-rapport A World of Debt.
De nieuwe schuldencrisis is moeilijker op te lossen dan die van de jaren tachtig van de vorige eeuw, omdat de schulden niet alleen uitstaan bij westerse landen en banken, maar voor een groot deel ook bij China. Sterker nog: China is voor veel landen zelfs de grote buitenlandse kredietverlener. En dat land is geen lid van de Club van Parijs, de organisatie die sinds 1956 tracht te bemiddelen bij het herstructureren van schulden. Daarom kan niet in één keer schoon schip worden gemaakt met een groot herstructureringsprogramma waarbij de pijn over de crediteuren wordt verdeeld. (...)
(Tekst loopt door onder de foto.)
In Negombo, Sri Lanka, liggen honderden vissersboten werkloos aan de kade. De reden: de brandstof is door schaarste onbetaalbaar geworden. Beeld Aurélie Geurts voor de Volkskrant.
Volgens het VN-rapport zijn de kosten van schulden voor ontwikkelingslanden vier keer zo hoog als die voor de VS en acht keer zo hoog als die voor de eurozone.(...)
De G20 zou daartoe tijdens de top in India die in september plaatsvindt, een aanzet kunnen geven. Vervolgens moeten het IMF en de Wereldbank de uitvoering ter hand nemen. Maar China heeft weinig zin in die route, omdat de dienst binnen het IMF en de Wereldbank wordt uitgemaakt door de VS en andere Oeso-landen. Daarom heeft China via het Zijderoute-initiatief ook een eigen ontwikkelingsprogramma opgezet, dat lijkt op een eigen versie van het IMF en de Wereldbank. Die is nu een van de grootste kredietverleners van de wereld geworden – met name in Afrika.
Hierdoor moet van land tot land een oplossing worden gevonden. (...)
China is bereid mee te doen aan het verlengen van de terugbetalingstermijn, zogenoemde rollovers, en geeft ook noodleningen. Maar het land laat zich niet door het Westen in de kaart kijken. ‘Er worden ook eisen gesteld, zoals mijnconcessies of orders voor infrastructurele projecten. Doel van China is de economische en politieke invloed te vergroten’, zegt schuldenexpert Henrique Alencar van Oxfam Novib in Den Haag. (...)
Het IMF heeft inmiddels wel een speciaal fonds van 100 miljard dollar opgericht dat landen helpt om klimaatverandering en pandemieën het hoofd te bieden. Maar de behoefte aan geld stijgt sneller dan de beschikbare middelen. Als China, banken en beleggers hun kredietkraan dichtdraaien, kunnen het IMF en de Wereldbank het gat niet overbruggen. (...)
Tags: #nederlands #schulden #schuldencrisis #ontwikkelingslanden #arme_landen #imf #g20 #vn #china #wereldbank #afrika #zijderoute-initiatief #oeso
The #IMF record for facilitating multi-billion #dollar transfers of cash into Ukrainian bank and then individual #oligarch pockets, has been documented in this archive. Under US control at the Fund’s board of directors, the chief executives, country directors, and Kiev residential representatives of the IMF began practising their blind-eye reporting on the #Ukraine with the Igor Kolomoisky pyramid (Privatbank) and the Victor Pinchuk pyramid (Credit Dnepr).
The #cashflow directed by Ukrainian President Petro #Poroshenko and IMF managing director Christine #Lagarde was a fraction, less than a tenth, of the cashflow now directed by #Zelensky and the Fund director since 2019, Kristalina #Georgieva.
#Profits are driving #inflation. When will politicians and the Bank of England admit it?
by Richard Murphy
As the #IMF has just reported:
Rising #corporate profits account for almost half the increase in Europe's inflation over the past two years as companies increased prices by more than spiking costs of imported energy. Now that workers are pushing for pay rises to recoup lost purchasing power, companies may have to accept a smaller profit share if inflation is to remain on track to reach the European Central Bank's 2-percent target in 2025, as projected in our most recent World Economic Outlook.
"Wages have driven only a small part of inflation in #Europe. I also suspect that is true here [in the #UK] too."
Thieves’ Paradise in Kiev — IMF Admits It Doesn’t Know How Much Ukraine Has Received of $35 Billion in Promised Foreign Cash, or Where the Money Was Spent
#Thieves ’ #Paradise in #Kiev — #IMF Admits It Doesn’t Know How Much #Ukraine Has Received of $ #35 #Billion in Promised #Foreign #Cash , or Where the #Money Was #Spent #civil #war #US #NATO #Russia #EU #Europe #politics
Haiti's problems are caused by its white war lord oligarchs. Occupations and invasions serve their interests, not those of the masses of Haitian people. I had a great convo with @jafrikayiti who explained the long and sad history.
Jafrikayiti, also known as Jean Saint-Vil, is an Ottawa-based author, radio host and social justice activist who publishes in English, Kreyòl and French on his blog Jafrikayiti.com . He recently wrote the article entitled, To Solve the Crisis Permanently, Force the US to Stop Backing Notorious White Warlords in Haiti in Black Agenda Report. He joins us from Ottawa to discuss his article on the white Haitian oligarch class and provide analysis on events in Haiti. This is the first part of two-part interview. We will hear Part 2 next week.
#Haiti #Capitalism #Volonialism #Politics #Economy #Poverty #IMF #Grance #US #Inhumanity
UN-Backed Banker Alliance Announces “Green” Plan to Transform the Global Financial System
November 5, 2021
The most powerful private financial interests in the world, under the cover of COP26, have developed a plan to transform the global financial system by fusing with institutions like the World Bank and using them to further erode national sovereignty in the developing world.
...This alliance, called the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero ( #GFANZ), was launched in April by John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change; Janet Yellen, US Secretary of the Treasury and former chair of the Federal Reserve; and Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance and former chair of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada. Carney, who is also the UK prime minister’s Finance Advisor for the #COP26 conference, currently cochairs the alliance with US billionaire and former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg.
On its creation, GFANZ stated that it would “provide a forum for strategic coordination among the leadership of finance institutions from across the finance sector to accelerate the transition to a net zero economy” and “mobilize the trillions of dollars necessary” to accomplish the group’s zero emissions goals. At the time of the alliance’s launch, UK prime minister Boris Johnson described GFANZ as “uniting the world’s banks and financial institutions behind the global transition to net zero,” while John Kerry noted that “the largest financial players in the world recognize energy transition represents a vast commercial opportunity.” In analyzing those two statements together, it seems clear that GFANZ has united the world’s most powerful private banks and financial institutions behind what it sees, first and foremost, as “a vast commercial opportunity,” the exploitation of which it is marketing as a “planetary imperative.”
GFANZ is composed of several “subsector alliances,” including the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative ( #NZAM), the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance ( #NZAOA), and the Net Zero Banking Alliance ( #NZBA). Together, they command a formidable part of global private banking and finance interests, with the NZBA alone currently representing 43 percent of all global banking assets. However, the “largest financial players” who dominate GFANZ include the CEOs of #BlackRock, #Citi, #BankofAmerica, Banco #Santander, and #HSBC, as well as David #Schwimmer, CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group and Nili Gilbert, chair of the Investment Committee of the David Rockefeller Fund.
Notably, another #Rockefeller-connected entity, the Rockefeller Foundation, recently played a pivotal role in the creation of Natural Asset Corporations ( NACs) in September. These #NACs seek to create a new asset class that would put the natural world, as well as the ecological processes that underpin all life, up for sale under the guise of “protecting” them. Principals of GFANZ, including BlackRock’s Larry Fink, have long been enthusiastic about the prospects of NACs and other related efforts to financialize the natural world and he has also played a key role in marketing such financialization as necessary to combat climate change.
.....
[...]
Speaking to the World Economic Forum in 1998, Secretary General Kofi Annan made this shift explicit:« “The United Nations has been transformed since we last met here in Davos. The Organization has undergone a complete overhaul that I have described as a ‘quiet revolution.” . . . A fundamental shift has occurred. The United Nations once dealt only with governments. By now we know that peace and prosperity cannot be achieved without partnerships involving governments, international organizations, the business community and civil society. . . . The business of the United Nations involves the businesses of the world.”»
[...]
https://youtube.com/watch?v=AufJunNmisk
At 13:01 into the above video it stated our #SS numbers are issued through the #UN by the #IMF. James Rink published a chart defining the first number in an SS series (post#5). We are mapped via our genetic potential. The number is a type of #barcode and we're the #product.
The Western media accuses #China of luring us into a debt trap. #TuckerCarlson says environmental, social and corporate governance programs killed us. Everybody blames the #Rajapaksas, the corrupt political dynasty that ruled us until massive protests by angry Sri Lankans chased them out last month.
But from where I’m standing, ultimate blame lies with the Western-dominated neoliberal system that keeps developing countries in a form of debt-fueled #colonization. The system is in crisis, its shaky foundations exposed by the tumbling dominoes of the #Ukraine #war, resulting in food and fuel #scarcity, the #pandemic and looming insolvency and #hunger rippling across the world.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/opinion/international-world/sri-lanka-economic-collapse.html #srilanka #economy #crisis #imf #pakistan #bangladesh #tunisia #ghana #southafrica #brazil #argentina #sudan #uk #usa #russia #india #oil #energy
Pakistan is in a political and economic death spiral that could push it over the same cliff as #SriLanka, as internal conflict, regional instability, and global uncertainty all threaten the survival of the #state.
#Pakistan has struggled to recover from the #pandemic and is now grappling with another spike in #COVID-19 cases. But the country faces life-threatening challenges similar to what Sri Lanka faced before the island government collapsed amid 50 percent #inflation; food, fuel, and medicine shortages; power cuts; and, in May, its first failure to make an interest payment on a foreign loan. For Pakistan, life support is a drip feed of loans from foreign friends and emergency injections from multilateral lenders.
Some of Pakistan’s economic woes are internal and even self-inflicted, with subsidies thrown around like confetti, for instance, as successive governments have failed to boost exports that would benefit the working class to balance high-end imports for the #military and political elite.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/05/pakistan-sovereign-debt-imf-inflation/ #economics #crisis #war #ukraine #usa #imf #taliban
Back in February, #Russia invaded #Ukraine, turning #Europe’s main wheat-growing region—a key source of grain and cooking oil for the #MiddleEast and #Africa—into a war zone. Global food prices had already been rising steadily for a year, pushed up by supply chain snarls brought on by the #coronavirus #pandemic. The war sent them soaring anew, to the highest levels since 1961, when the United Nations began tracking. On top of this, global public-health authorities warn that weather extremes related to #climatechange are wilting crops and shrinking harvests in alarming ways—setting the stage for what could be the worst #hunger #crisis in generations.
At a meeting of the United Nations on May 18, Secretary-General António Guterres reported that the number of “severely food insecure people” had doubled in just two years, from 135 million before the pandemic to 276 million today, “with more than half a million experiencing #famine conditions—an increase of more than 500 per cent since 2016.” At the same meeting, David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program, added that without an immediate reduction in the price of food and other necessities like energy, which is also soaring, the number of people experiencing famine could soon balloon to 49 million in 43 countries, a scale of misery not seen since #China’s Great Leap Forward Famine of 1949-’51.
https://www.motherjones.com/food/2022/06/russia-war-global-hunger-crisis-united-nations-wheat-shortage-climate-change/ #war #un #usa #india #imf #argiculture
#Poor #countries forced to cut #PublicSpending to pay #debts, campaigners say | #Economics | The Guardian
#nytimes as #imf megaphone: stop worshipping endless "growth" (which isn't possible anyway; this planet is finite) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/business/imf-world-economic-report.html
