The World Cannot Be America’s “Blood Donor”

Charles de Gaulle once criticized the United States for “enjoying the privilege of printing money while not crying over the deficit.”* Now, the abuse of this super-privilege has led to worldwide protest. Americans absolutely cannot let these protests go in one ear and out the other, because if that is the case, it will ruin the position of the U.S. dollar in the world.

The Federal Reserve has once again printed $600 billion, and the Americans cannot understand the effect that this move has on other countries, especially newly emerging economies that are now under export risks and inflation pressures. But, apparently, Americans are determined to globalize, and see globalization as a benefit to the United States. President Obama defended plans for the printing of more money, stating that strong growth in the United States and new job opportunities are America’s greatest contribution to the global economy’s recovery. I really hope that at today’s G-20 summit meeting he does not repeat such nonsensical words.

The G-20 summit was mostly about forging a consensus on the global financial issue, because originally, rich Western nations as well as newly emerging nations had to walk their own road. Globalization, however, has forced these roads to weave into one. Most rules pertaining to globalization are American-made. The Americans were the first to start the anti-financial crisis movement, and the G-20 summit was started by the United States. Suddenly everything seems to be controlled by the United States, but confusion is still present. Whether it is by logic, or by what the facts have shown, there is only one conclusion: The United States itself has confused its “leadership” with social order.

America is the global settlement and reserve currency issuer, which allows the U.S. to call itself “Ruler of the Finance Empire.” “Rulers” in such a position quietly find it difficult to avoid benefiting from the advantages accrued from “ruling.” Why else would one want to be the “Financial Empire Ruler”? However, even if the U.S. is the real ruler, such exploitation should not be made public, which is what the spot printing of $600 billion does. It is an act of force against dollar-dominated global assets.

The problem is not only this 600 billion, but the public demonstration of the U.S. using world economic regulations to make criminals of themselves! In other words, in addition to the dollar currency’s normal function, it also acts as the United States’ blood transfusion, keeping the United States “immortal.” No matter how much the United States is suffering from disease, as long as the U.S. starts the printing press, the United States can be safe. The United States has said that as long as it’s getting better, the world will follow. But how healthy is the U.S. becoming? What it eats is not medicine; it requires all the countries of the world to be “blood donors.”

The United States dares to do what it does because essentially there is no one in the world who can restrict them. So the world cannot merely be angry but must also act to create powerful financial leverage over the U.S. dollar behind the back of the United States. Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund chairman proposed to set up a “super-sovereign” of a new international reserve currency in order to replace the dollar. France, Russia and second-world nations have raised the issue of America’s outsized power before but did not form a truly cooperating force. The United States was ultimately unmoved, and then started using every trick to break apart any opposition against the U.S. At the G-20 summit, the United States succeeded in softening India’s position. Japan is a major investor in U.S. dollar assets, and yet Obama publicly expressed support for printing more money.

Genuine global economic democracy is urgently needed but difficult to attain. It is hard to say which currency will overtake the dollar in the future, or if there will be an improvement to real democratic resistance to the U.S. dollar, or if new “Republican money” will replace the dollar. But from here on out, the U.S. and its dollar will continue to be isolated and stubborn, and the world’s resistance will become more acute. With Wall Street, there can be no peace. Wall Street will never have awareness of these problems, so I invite the White House to figure it out.

*Editor’s Note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be verified. French economist Jacques Rueff, adviser to Charles de Gaulle, is famously quoted for saying that the U.S. enjoys “deficits without tears.”