Sally,
There's nothing Obama can do domestically except perhaps appoint a
task force to start making plans for emergency welfare after the
double whammy that will probably start this morning when Wall Street
opens after Labour Day.
Obama, like all major politicians, is trapped in a dilemma not of his
own making -- of something he is probably not even dimly aware
of. This was the Geneva Conference of 1922 when the major powers
decided not to return to the gold standard of pre-WWI, but to a
pseudo currency standard which then allowed governments to print
money without any underlying discipline. This led to a housing crash
in America, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression
which then swept into all of Europe.
Obama, like Bush, must however take responsibility for turning down
the persistent attempts over several years by China, Russia, India
and several more emergent countries to establish a new world trading
currency that would remain stable and be fair to all countries. Since
Nixon cut off the last remaining link between the dollar and gold in
1971, America has led the whole world into world-wide currency
inflation. This has now compounded to the point when America, Western
Europe and Japan are on the verge of a condition that is already
being called the Great Recession -- a milder name for a far worse
condition than the 1930s.
When the price of gold rises high enough to equalise money supply
(money in use at all levels) then it can once again serve as the
stable substratum for all national currencies even though, as in the
centuries before 1914, it was an invisible substratum and only held
as a reserve in case of panics. Four years ago, when the Chinese
realized that America would probably never agree to go to the
conference table, it started planning the Pan Asia Gold Exchange
(PAGE). This started operations for Chinese buyers on the Internet on
1 September and is probably already responsible for a 5% rise since
last Thursday (gold is even rising almost $20 an ounce as I write
this and will certainly be higher when you read this). On 1 January
PAGE will go world-wide with depositories and regional collection
points in Europe, America and elsewhere. Even if an optimum price for
gold is not reached in the next three months then it's likely to soon
after the New Year.
China, of course, was not involved in the 1922 Geneva Conference
because, at the time, it had been carved up by military force into
several large trading zones by the Germans, British, French and
Portuguese (and not long afterwards by the Japanese), and scarcely
existed as a nation. But, as the many American corporations which
have set up in China will affirm, China is now asserting itself as a
powerful economic force. If America can't rid itself of its addiction
to printing money, then gold will have to reinsert itself with help from China.
The best thing Obama could do right now as the Great Recession begins
to bed itself in is to read a few books of economic history. Oh, and
while he's at it, get Bernanke and Geithner to read them, too. Then
they can fly to Beijing, or Hu and Wen can fly to Washington, and get
something sorted out.
Keith
At 18:47 04/09/2011, you wrote:
'President Obama's promised jobs plan needs to be
unrealistic and unreasonable, at the very least. If he
can crank it all the way up to unimaginable, that would
be even better.
'This is a moment for the president to suppress his
reflex for preemptive compromise. The unemployment
crisis is so deep and self-perpetuating that only a
big, surprising, over-the-top jobs initiative could
have real impact. Boldness will serve the nation well -
and, coincidentally, boost Obama's reelection
prospects.'
Columnist Eugene Robinson
Washington Post
August 30, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3tpq9kj
What would FWers propose?
Sally
_______________________________________________
Futurework mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/2012/08/
_______________________________________________
Futurework mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
