Random Rambling:#6

"An ideology does three things: it justifies the economic dominance of a ruling group; it is transmitted through that group's control of the media and education; and it describes the experience of millions of people accurately enough for them to accept it as truth. But it does not have to be logical..."
http://www.newstatesman.com/north-america/2008/11/financial-system-world-summit
In an unusually interesting Newsnight interview; a Brit, a Dane, an American and an Indian chap, representing Asian interests, shone a light upon the dark goings-on behind closed doors at the G20 summit this weekend and is reflected further in this excellent article by Paul Mason:

This summit can be clearly seen as a further step along the path towards a New World Order; which is neither a conspiracy nor a theory: it is hard fact.
Americans would far rather lead this Order into the Golden Dawn of a New Age, kicking and screaming if necessary, and view this meeting with caution as they're in the middle of a changing administration. This is why they insist no permenant deals can be arranged, but the EU position was stated very clearly by the ex-primeminister of Denmark when he said the American government would not be allowed to dictate terms of the future Gloablised econominc structure as Wall Street did to the American public towards the congressional bail-out plan with a mixture of hype, fear and blatant propaganda that would've made even Goebbels blush.
The American recklessness within the economic market must become curtailed by legislation and a responsiblity to citizens within this New World. Europe has an opportunity to enhance its position in the market and facillitate the merger of the Oriental markets within the Western system to bring about a far stronger economic society than currently employed by the dollar. A stronger Europe could appeal to both Western and Eastern markets and help to bring about a far greater standard of living to countries within the EU; especially those who endured over half a century of Russian occupation. The recent deployment of missiles along the Polish and Czech borders can only threaten this spirit of harmony if Cold War attitudes are allowed to take hold at the highest levels of government.
Economic trade must be regulated with a spirit of greater co-operation rather than the 'kill-or-be-killed' ideology of American bankers like Morgan Stanley, as the growing population of the world requires a far more subtle control mechanism than the 'gun-boat' philosophy of Imperial Law. Asian economies are being asked to balance the economic framework but they will not do so under the American plans and this is again emphasised by European bankers who prefer the UK strategy of Gordon Brown. A 'bite-and-hold' plan rather than a sweeping drive towards a Global system.

A compromise plan could be provisonally drawn up where the spirit of Free Enterprise, favoured by most Americans, is structured within a regulated, European-style, economic system which allows a greater degree of flexiblity for the Global market to anticipate and withstand the ebb and flow of wealth across a world that has no economic borders, unlike the nation state which still rules in a more localised framework.

A greater degree of International law is becoming clearly seen as inevitable but the manner of its form is not so well defined: Europeans refuse to submit to any means of Federal administration and a Confederation of Nations is slowly emerging in its stead. The part-nationalisation of the banking sector in Britain and Europe is much more palatable to European attitudes and would help consolidate the Euro's attraction to India and the Far East as a lucrative alternative to using the dollar. Americans may have to get used to the idea that being the sole Super-power does not entitle it to dictate economic or miltary policy to the rest of the world without causing severe consequences within its own markets.
A greater degree of co-operation throughout the worlds economic sector will provide greater stability which in turn, it is to be hoped, will stimulate a greater flow of wealth to the poorer nations and ease the burden of debt but the signs are not promising.

"Between 1947 and 1973 (the article goes on to say) the income of the poorest fifth of US families grew 116 per cent, higher than any other group. From 1974 to 2004 it grew by just 2.8 per cent. In the UK, the share of national income received by the bottom 10 per cent fell from 4.2 per cent in 1979 to 2.7 per cent in 2002...The real wages of the average American male worker are today below what they were in 1979; and for the poorest 20 per cent, much lower. In 1979, personal household debt was 46 per cent of America's GDP; now it is 98 per cent. In the UK, real household incomes grew, but slower than in the postwar boom, until early this decade, since when they have fallen. The debt pattern, however, followed the US; 30 years ago British households were in debt to the tune of 20 per cent of GDP, now it is 80 per cent...In 1960s America, the pretax profits of financial firms made up 14 per cent of corporate profits; now they make up 39 per cent. Most of this profit is not generated from financing productive business: the world's total stock of financial assets is three times as large as global GDP. In 1980, it was about equal to GDP...The new power of finance capital not only creates asset bubbles, as with the dotcom, housing and commodity bubbles of the past decade, but it allows speculative capital to descend on individual companies, countries and industry sectors, smash them and move on. The current economic plight of Hungary is a case in point...the growth of personal and financial insecurity, the destruction of social capital and the resulting rise in crime...the four stark pages of membership graphs at the end of Robert Putnam's celebrated book 'Bowling Alone' show the decline of almost every voluntary association in America during the neoliberal age...the relentless commercialisation of all forms of human life: the privatisation of drinking water that provoked the people of Coch abamba, Bolivia to revolt in 2000; the creation of a private army of 180,000 military contractors in Iraq, unaccountable to international law. In these and many other instances, the functions of the state have been turned over to private companies to the financial detriment of taxpayers, the material detriment of consumers and the loss of democratic accountability."

This World Order could, with a greater spirit of co-operation, become a great benefit to us all IF people would only see they are not powerless in this matter: Hobbes' 'Leviathan' illustrates the ideal of a Common-Wealth for the people and, taken with Lincoln's famous declaration on the blood-soaked field at Gettysberg, can provide the moral outline for the conduct of Nations in the Global future which awaits us all...

...in Peace:)