ARTICLE - Sri Lankan Guardian - here.
Published On:Thursday, July 10, 2014
Posted by Sri Lanka Guardian
At Issue Is Who Shall Rule The World
Interview With Michael Hudson
( July 10, 2014, Moscow, Sri Lanka Guardian) RT: Could you
summarize for us the tried and tested steps that will lead from IMF
loans, to Ukraine's best assets ending up in private Western hands - the
IMF's 'knee-breaker' role as you memorably described it as?
Michael Hudson: The basic principle to bear in mind is that finance
today is war by non-military means. The aim of getting a country in debt
is to obtain its economic surplus, ending up with its property. The
main property to obtain is that which can produce exports and generate
foreign exchange. For Ukraine, this means mainly the Eastern
manufacturing and mining companies, which presently are held in the
hands of the oligarchs. For foreign investors, the problem is how to
transfer these assets and their revenue into foreign hands – in an
economy whose international payments are in chronic deficit as a result
of the failed post-1991 restructuring. That is where the IMF comes in.
The IMF was not set up to finance domestic government budget deficits.
Its loans are earmarked to pay foreign creditors, mainly to maintain a
country’s exchange rate. The effect usually is to subsidize flight
capital out of the country ..
...
RT: Anything else you would like to add?
MH: What is at issue is whether economies throughout the world will let
financial leverage dismantle the power of elected governments, and hence
of democracy. Governments are sovereign. No government actually needs
to pay foreign debts or submit to policies that negate the three
definitions of a state: to create its own money, to levy taxes, and to
declare war.
At issue is who shall rule the world: the emerging 1% as a financial
oligarchy, or elected governments. The two sets of aims are
antithetical: rising living standards and national independence, or a
renting economy, austerity and international dependency.
PART only -- FULL article here.
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COMMENT
Full article well worth a read ... too long to post here & poster's too ditzy to summarise. :)
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