[PEN-L:1249] Re: New from Chossudovsky

[Dennis R Redmond <dredmond@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 4 Dec 1998, valis crossposted from Michel Chossudovsky:

> The formation of new "global alliances" between European and American
> capital has rapidly changed the balance of power in the World market. With
> the merger boom, British and German banking interests have (inter alia)
> joined hands with Wall Street leading to the formation of powerful
> financial giants.

What British banks? HSBC made its mint in Hong Kong, not London; the rest
of the UK banks are pretty small beer compared to the Continental giants
of France, Switzerland and Germany. The EU isn't joining forces with Wall
Street, so much as buying them out, one by one. Today Banker's Trust,
tomorrow Merrill Lynch... Wall Street can crow all it likes,
but the credit which is financing the Bubble comes from Europe
and Japan.

> Whereas the former Soviet Union has been defeated
> as a superpower, the onslaught of the Asian currency crisis has
> significantly undermined the economic dominion of Japan in the Asia-Pacific
> region.

Japan is mightier than ever, with unbelievable market share in
everything from robotics to autos to lithosteppers, and they're sitting on
$3 trillion in liquidity. Despite the Asian crisis, they're piling on
humongous trade surpluses and are magnanimously loaning the US enough
money to keep us purchasing Japanese exports. Sure, SE Asia has gotten
stomped, but they were never core economies to begin with, and are now
even more dependent on the technology and goodwill of Japanese creditors
than ever before.

> In turn, the Euro-American banking conglomerates are shareholders in the
> World's largest industrial corporations (eg. Deutsche Bank has a sizeable
> stake in Daimler-Chrysler)

The EU has around $12 trillion in total assets; the US banking system,
around $4 trillion; EU banks have long-term holdings of industrial
enterprises, US banks have short-term holdings in equities or other
marvels of speculation.

> Of crucial importance is the concurrent "democratisation of central banks."
> Under the present setup, creditors and speculators control money creation
> including the financing of State economic and social programmes, the
> payment of wages, etc. In other words, what is at stake is not only the
> cancellation of enormous public debts held by private financial
> institutions but also the "re-appropriation" by society of monetary policy,
> --ie. the democratic control by society of money creation and the process
> of financing economic and social development.

Yes, OK, this is fine as a moral position, but what does this mean in
practice? How do you cancel the public debt without rupturing the
entire economic system? Why not just issue a hell of a lot of more
debt, and then tax the daylights out of the rich?

-- Dennis