As the World Economy Turns

What keeps this world economy turning around?

Not the US. America’s private sector isn’t spinning at all. It’s stuck…dead in the water…out of gas…pumped out…

GDP growth is reported at 1%. But that’s almost all government transfer payments and stimulus deficits. Real growth is negative.

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What Corruption Does to the Markets

There’s sand in the gears of the world’s manufacturing machine.

No matter where we look this morning — Asia, Europe, the United States — the pace of “making stuff” is looking sluggish.

In a globalized economy, we now have a curious phenomenon: The synchronized release of manufacturing numbers, globally, on the first of the month.

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A New Global View of the US

“The country is living in debt,” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said yesterday when asked about the Grand Bargain the U.S. Congress is voting on today.”It is not living within its means, shifting the weight of responsibility on other countries and in a way acting as a parasite.”

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The Global Economy is a Very Sick Patient

The following interview was first published in The Edge Singapore on May 30, 2011 by Assif Shameen.

Richard Duncan, author of the seminal The Dollar Crisis: Causes, Consequences, Cures, an international bestseller that predicted the recent global economic crisis with extraordinary accuracy, commands a lot of respect among Asian policymakers. Armed with a Master’s degree in international finance, the affable American economist is a veteran of the region.

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Currency Manipulators Created $7 Trillion, Causing the Global Economic Bubble

The single most important development affecting the global economy over the past decade has been the creation of $7 trillion worth of paper money by central banks in developing countries. This explosion of money creation drove up the price of stocks, bonds and commodities – and drove down yields – all around the planet. It caused the Fed to lose control over interest rates and over the economy. In short, this new money (along with the US trade deficit which played a role in its creation) caused the global economic bubble that imploded in 2008.

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Thoughtless Vandalism Could Also Set This Vehicle Ablaze

At the G20 Summit, US and European politicians were at odds over the best steps forward. Nonetheless, given a weak global economy, government leaders are usually in a hurry to be seen doing something…

Not unlike vandals in Toronto, who — with little regard for the usefulness of their efforts — were arrested by the hundreds. This truck, for example, would benefit from a little less action on opposing sides. 

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Soros: Collapse of Financial System “Real? and “Far From Over?

Billionaire investor George Soros, who earned his fame in the ’90s when he made $1 billion betting against the pound, has just leveled criticism against the entire financial system. Today, at a conference in Vienna, he vividly described the global economy going down, driven by vast government deficits.

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The Safety Downsides to Globalization

China, “workshop to the world,” produces low-priced goods that have overwhelmed the global economy with value… except for some notable exceptions.

Historically, it’s a nation that’s not always held to the same health or safety standards to which US manufacturers, for example, are obligated to uphold. Occasionally it’s resulted indisastrous consequences.

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