Spain: who is responsible for the property bubble? - Credit Writedowns
Spain: who is responsible for the property bubble? - Credit Writedowns
As recession takes hold, European citizens are starting to ask questions about how they were led into this, the deepest downturn in three-quarters of a century. The leading Spanish daily El Pais published a very thoughtful article today asking how things had unravelled so quickly and so spectacularly in Spain, previously one of the fastest growing economies in Europe.
The Great Depression of the 21st Century: Collapse of the Real Economy
The Great Depression of the 21st Century: Collapse of the Real Economy
The November 15 G-20 Financial Summit in Washington upholds the Washington-Wall Street consensus.While formally presenting a project to restore financial stability, in practice, the hegemony of Wall Street remains unscathed. The tendency is towards a unipolar monetary system dominated by the United States and upheld by US military superiority.
The architects of financial disaster under the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act (FSMA) have been entrusted with the task of mitigating the crisis, which they themselves created. They are the cause of financial collapse.
The G20 Financial Summit doesn’t question the legitimacy of the hedge funds and the various instruments of derivative trade. The final communiqué includes an imprecise and blurred commitment “to better regulate hedge funds and create more transparency in mortgage-related securities in a bid to halt a global economic slide.”
A solution to this crisis can only be brought about through a process of “financial disarmament” as initially formulated by John Maynard Keynes, which forcefully challenges the hegemony of the Wall Street financial institutions including their control over the monetary policy.
Spiegel: How speculators are causing the cost of living to skyrocket
In late 2003, they invested only $13 billion (€8.4 billion) in the food commodities business. By March 2008, that number had jumped to $260 billion (€168 billion), an increase of 1,900 percent.
“Solar power surface needed to power whole world, EU, Germany”
Alternative energy: the next economic boom?
Solar Power From Africa: The Best Investment the EU Can Make | SolveClimate.com
Its architects claim they can build a supergrid of concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP) that can meet most of Europe’s current electricity needs by using just 0.3 percent of the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) – and at a cost less than oil.The long-term prospects look even sunnier.
For an investment of $400 billion over 30 years, Desertec could eventually power Europe plus two-thirds of the MENA countries by 2050, while dramatically cutting C02 emissions and phasing out nuclear power at the same time.
That’s a sizeable chunk of the whole world’s energy needs. And for only $13 billion per year.
What a bargain, if you consider that building a single nuclear power plant in Europe carries a price tag of around $2.5 to $3.5 billion these days.
When the going gets tough…you are on your own!
photo credit: Busko
It is interesting to see how the social dynamics between individuals are mirrored exactly in the same way in a global and macro-economic scale. Whereas in the good times states cooperate with each other with more flexibility, when the situation worsens, not only each system actor shuts down to outside cooperation, but what is more alarming, they look for scapegoats to explain their own failure. This has already started:
Bloomberg on migration and the UK
Business week: senators target visa loopholes
On a global scale, as the economy worsens -and these emerging forces are pushed to greater extremes by populist politicians- this has historically lead to war.
Will it be different this time?
It may be so, if we consider the cracks already starting to appear at the local level. In the case of the state of Philadelphia, notice that the local government is going against national commercial rules with this decision:
http://www.reuters.com/article/gc03/idUSN2830318520080328
This has no recent-history precedent but may well be a sing of things to come, leading the the splitting of nations into smaller, self-administered regions. Expect the same growing tensions as well within the European Union, as the richer states start to drag their feet on the Union idea as they feel they are subsidizing in excess the poorer states…
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About Javier Marti
As an independent strategy consultant, futurist, speaker and founder of Trendirama.com Consulting, Javier is dedicated to help organizations, small businesses and individuals to optimize systems, increase profits and make better choices in business and in life. He is the author of the book "Mobile, Domains & The Future"
When not consulting for clients, Javier shares his knowledge and experience through information-packed, yet entertaining presentations in a wide range of subjects in English and Spanish.
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