Leaders of developed countries are claiming that the global economic crisis has reached its end. According to President Obama it is over, even though in a few short months the number of unemployed in the U.S. reached the record figure of 16.9 percent of the work force (foro.univision.com, 27 September 2009).
We will come out of this pit slowly, and the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) published positive signs: The OECD states “signs of recovery are now becoming clear in all the large economies, particularly France and Italy” (www.oecd.org, September 2009).
Alan Greenspan, ex-director of the Federal Reserve and financial guru, forecasts a rate of growth of three percent for his country. The light appears at the end of the tunnel. Or better said, it seems like those who are spreading optimism today are the same people who, in 2008, said that everything was fine, that nobody had anything to fear and that there was absolutely no danger of a recession.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) – about which very little or nothing is said – has other opinions that deserve our attention. The central bank of the world’s central banks coordinates their operations at a global level and is the most prestigious financial institution on the planet. It is not accountable to any government and every other month its headquarters in Basel welcomes representatives from the central banks to analyze the prevailing situation. The BIS guarantees them “confidentiality and secrecy that exceeds that of any other triple A classified bank” (James Calvin Baker, The Bank for International Settlements, Greenwood Publishing Books, 2002). It is worth paying attention to its warnings, as they do not often make mistakes. The BIS was adamant that since 2003 there was a deep imbalance in the global financial system, but those who were busy rapidly building up their gigantic coffers did not want to listen.
In its most recent report, the BIS signaled that there is a risk of another financial bubble to come, even worse than the crash in the housing market which forced the White House to give billions of rescue dollars to the banks. It warned, amongst other things, that investment in derivative markets in the second quarter of 2009 rose by 16 percent; these markets entail “large systematic risk” in the international finance sector (www.bis.org, 14 September 2009).
Specialist Andrew Gavin Marshal points out that the day after this report was published, William White, the ex-head of the BIS economic department advised “in trying to help out the economy in the short term” the actions of the U.S. government “may be sowing the seeds for a future crisis” and causing an even deeper and prolonged recession (www.globakreasearch.ca, 8 October 2009).
The so called “economic stimulus package” from the White House is no small thing. “The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve, invested, loaned or spent $12.8 trillion in the rescue package, a sum 14 times higher than the amount of cash in circulation. The country’s GDP in 2008 was $14.2 trillion” (www.bloomberg.com 31 March 2009). This evaluation was in March. Four months later, the sum of the package almost doubled. The major banks used the money to grow, buying smaller banks and buying up profitable units. They are also putting the money into the stock market to speculate and inflate their stocks. Driven by an unquenchable thirst for maximum profits, they do not want to learn anything from the current crisis and the growing bubble.
Gerald Calente is head of the Trends Research Institute and often hits the nail on the head with his analysis: He predicted the 1987 collapse of the stock market, the implosion of the Soviet Union, the Russian economic crisis of 1998, the 2001 recession and the collapse of the housing market in 2007. The New York Post asserted that “if Nostradamus were still alive, it would be very difficult for him to compete with Celente.” Last May he announced the “the mother of all bubbles” was coming, caused by “the stimulus package,” which he defined as “phantom dollars, printed out of thin air, backed by nothing and producing almost nothing” (geraldcelentechannel.blogspot.com, 13 May 2009).
When this bubble bursts there will not be resources to inflate another and Celente thinks that this could push the U.S. to launch a war of unthinkable proportions. Could this be the reason that Obama wants to send another 45,000 troops to Afghanistan, raising the number of troops there to more than 100,000 (www.telegraph.co.uk, 14 October 2009)? All of this just to fight the remaining Al Qaeda terrorists, which according to estimations from White House are under 100? (AP, 6 October 2009). What a waste.
What’s even MORE telling, USA fell into recession in December 2007, according to official gov data. So ALL through 2008 EVERYONE in USA was lying through their teeth and saying nothing was wrong. This was ALL because USA was having presidential elections of course.
USA has been a military industrial complex economy ever since WWII that got their out of the great depreciation. They have had to have a war ever 10 years to keep their economy going starting in the 1950s. Simple check up on history proves that beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Of course USA will want a major world war right now. Their economy is NOT improving and they need a distraction. A major war is JUST the ticket.