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Northwoods Peace Initiative (We're Not Dead Yet) February 4 |
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Dear Peacemakers,
This one has been a long time coming. Without going into details, let's just say we've been on a sabbatical of sorts and now it is time to sort out the BIG MESS we seem to have gotten ourselves into. So here we are, a year into "change we can believe in", and it all seems to have fallen a bit short. If anything, Obama is setting himself up for a big fall by assuring us, at the state of the Union, that the big banks had to be saved for the good of the country and that the worst is now behind us-- NOT!! We are witnessing nothing short of the fall of the American Century. Unfortunately, the world has become so technically and psychically entangled that it is impossible for one country to fail without the rest of the world being seriously impacted. Iceland was the first to go, Dubai gave markets a good scare (until their big brother Abu Dhabi threw them a life line), and the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) who are approaching default sized debts roiled markets today. As they say, if the US sneezes, the world gets pneumonia, if the US falls it's all over but the crying.
While the content of this newsletter has become increasingly focused on economics the emphasis is still on the need for peacemaking. Military spending is a huge part of why the US is bankrupt. If the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't bad enough, the US is still thinking the unthinkable about Iran. In a recent article in the National Review, notorious neocon Daniel Pipes extolled President Obama to redeem his administration by bombing Iranian nuclear sites. Even the credit rating agencies are worried that extreme sovereign debt could lead to civil unrest. Here in the US economic despair is fueling the same kind of nationalistic backlash that happened in Weimer Germany. Hunger and homelessness are mirroring levels seen in the 1930's as it becomes increasing clear that we are in a DEPRESSION!! Societe Generale, the central bank of France, is sending information out to their clients about preparing for global collapse.
As the US enters its twilight, China is clearly on the rise. It has already surpassed Japan to become the world's second largest economy. With the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world they are buying natural resources all over the planet, bringing them back to China, and putting them under a tarp for a rainy day. Now when China sneezes, global shipping declines by half and when their bank regulators put on the brakes, stock markets crash. They are bypassing global oil markets through buying directly from suppliers and there is nothing the West can do about any of it short of waging war.
There are hours of reading packed in this little tome so I better stop before you all go blind. But before we go it is important to remember that Bill Clinton set the global meltdown up when he repealed the Glass Steagall Act. The result was a global speculation binge that killed the banking system. Even the most mainstream economic news agencies are calling it all a conspiracy. There is no putting Humpty Dumpty together again. So let's stop fooling ourselves with hope that is nothing more than wishful thinking for happy endings in spite of overwhelming evidence that the endgame is over. Hope is rolling up our sleeves, standing shoulder to shoulder with friends and neighbors, and actively and preemptively building new tomorrows starting today. We may even be surprised at who our allies are. Good luck to us all.
Mike and Barb
Northwoods Peace Initiative |
