roland.francis wrote:
The seeds of America's misery were sown by two recent events. Globalization,
its attendant outsourcing and decimation of industry and the Wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
Neither achieved any desirable results either for the US or the countries
they were supposed to improve.
One was driven by corporate greed which went unchecked and further led to the
global
financial crisis and the other by American political naivete and deceit.
Roland,
The basis of capitalism is the efficient use of land, labour and capital.
A capitalist is forced to set up operations where the above is the cheapest.
Either that or die. This is the sole reason why the owners of capital, or those
that control capital, are moving their operations to the developing world. The
result of this, as you already know, is that the workers in the country where
the capital is raised, lose their jobs. This is what capitalism is all about.
Canadian manufacturing and financial companies are also, like their
US counterparts, moving their operations to Mexico and India. It makes a lot of
sense from the capitalist view point.
Socialism on the other hand, is more tuned to full employment for the workers
in the country.
Secondly, the US adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan were financed by loans. It
was all shock and awe. George Bush (43) did the right thing by declaring
victory early, but forgot to leave those countries. The result? The US is
borrowing more money, by the day, and pouring it into those two countries.
Obama has now declared that victory will be announced in Afghanistan in 2014.
Have you ever heard of any war where the victor knows the exact victory day
years into the future? And then leaves?
As for the financial crises in the US, it is self made. Laws that were in place
for decades, were removed by the financial lobby. This allowed the companies
that sponsored the change in laws to take a lot of risks and make a lot of
gains. Temporary. The party ended in 2008. Anyone who paid top dollar for a
house then, is in pain. The most badly effected are the seniors and those who
depend on interest from their savings. These people have been hit really hard.
In Canada we are thankful for a leader like Jean Chretien in those troubled
times. An experienced,
honest and shrewd politician, he couldn't do much about outsourcing but kept
the financial system
well regulated. He refused to get Canada involved in the wars despite
tremendous American pressure
brought to bear on him.
US style 40 year mortgages where the mortgage holder paid only interest and no
capital back, had just started to make an appearance in Canada when the state
owned mortgage insurance company asked the govt to ban these mortgages. Canada
is lucky for this, else we would have ended in the same boat as the US, Spain,
etc. In addition, financial laws that were in place since the depression of the
1920's, were left untouched. This helped save our financial industry too.
Canada survived what America could not. Our natural resources, innate fiscal
prudence and socialist policies helped.
I agree.
But God bless America and bring it back to its pre-eminence.
I don't think God's blessing (or the lack of it) has anything to do with the US
financial mess. The US is not dependent on God's help either. There is no place
on earth like the US for innovation and discoveries. It will bounce back. In
the meantime, there is a lot of money to be made from the financial crises.
Mervyn
