Continued from Last

I will continue from where I left last time. As I told, mornings have become colder. It takes a while to warm up in the morning. In few days it will start creating trouble and then it will gradually become a challenge to get myself out of bed in the early hours and go for walks. Anyway, that something usual. We were discussing about the unusual stuff that is grappling the whole world - the infamous economic slowdown. In my last post I was very keen to compare this slowdown with the one that destroyed the capitalist world in 1930. It is still considered a misnomer in the countries which were worst affected that time.

But the capitalists of today are dreaded to accept the fact that this economic crisis is going to be similar as the one in 1930. In a recently published article in Monthly Review magazine (a leftist publication from the USA) it has been very categorically compared with the great depression of 1930. William Tabb(Professor, queens College, City University of New York), in his article (which is actually a Lecture given in the University of Vermont, has told it very clearly how this crisis is going to be worse than even the 1930. In his Lecture, he has mentioned great examples how things went wrong in the US, which finally culminated into this economic massacre. This lecture also mentions about how charmed Nicholas Sarkosy is with the US model of capitalism and says that the capitalism is a system that has enabled the extraordinary development of western civilization. And Sarkosy goes on to say that Anti-capitalism is no solution to counter this crisis. I was today discussing this factor with my father, who himself is a great follower of Marxism and the result was that this needs to be tackled in a completely different way. George Bush (Junior) the outgoing president of the USA has, in a way, succumbed to the fact that the dirty and ugly face of capitalism and free markets is not going to help even the Americans. This was very evident in few of his recent actions and gestures which he'd shown in his outcry. Even in low town, Bush has started talking about the concept of nationalization of banks and financial institution. No wonder, he is shitting bricks in this event of crisis. No big deal that Americans become the most conservative souls in this world and change their outlook towards life. Until now, Americans don't have the habit to save monies. Now probably they will.

In the same lecture Professor Tabb has also sighted two very relevant examples of how two very developed nations (one Asian and another European) dealt with the internal economic recessions and came out of it. The Asian nation was Japan, which took resort to the Paulson Approach (The much coveted US$ 700 billion bailout plan), which received severe criticism within the USA. In 1990s, Japan, like USA, didn't realize the size of the crisis and started bailing out the financial institution financially. Today, Japan may not be into a state of crisis but it’s also true that it is not the same Japan which ruled the world of manufacturing and technology. It banking system is still not in the best of health. Tabb's second example, the European country was Sweden. In case of Sweden, it took over and reorganized the banks under state ownership. In 1985, Sweden deregulated its credit markets, leading to the same situation as the US is in today. As a result, the bubble burst leaving 90 percent of the banking sector with massive losses, including the countries largest banks. In the way to restructuring, Swedish authorities decided to intervene and then the growth came back on track. If this is any learning, America should be following this model. I think it already, in somewhat way, is coming on the track to this way. George Bush says that the Paulson Approach is only there for some institutions and not all. In fact the buying out of AIG (America's largest insurance player) is the first step. But it is futile to expect too much from this nation, which is sold to capitalism. The people of this Model nation (for the rest of the world) don't think the way I or Professor Tabb is asking them to think. Soon after the crisis shows the signs of decline, this nation will again start boasting of its capitalist regime and ethos. It will really not remember the miseries which it is reeling under today.

A few days ago, I was talking to an American lady (online), who happens to be a Life Sciences teacher in the state of California. She was almost in tears and said the government has kept its people in dark in terms of expenditure and engagements in wars around the world. But she was not really known to the real reasons why America has fallen prey to this economic recession. Americans won't even agree to become communists, is a cast in stone. But at the same time it will not be able to stand above the rest of the world. If you've noticed that there is a very uncomfortable silence on the issues such as Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs. American intervention in Afghanistan is also in a cold bag. Probably Americans want to just leave Iraq on its own at this stage and just get the hell out of that region. Probably Americans won't be interested into anything else but to save itself from the crisis as of now.

This is probably the best time to mobilize a new world order. As American goes into deep depression and feels vulnerable to spend even a single penny without reasoning and as the oil prices keep falling due to drastic shortfall in the demand (specially from the Americans), its the best time to create a new world order. The oil and gas reserves (apart from the traditional gulf nations where the resources are diminishing) are now concentrated in countries where America can't dare command. The Venezuelan oil reserves and Russia's gas resources can be exploited in order to create this new world order. I wish America crumbles and this new world order emerges wherein India is forced to change its political and economic affiliation with the USA.

Today, Manmohan Singh is calling the US capitalism the "Casino Capitalism", the meaning of which is very clear and straight. America gambled and lost the entire bet. Now when it recoups to gain force, its time to shift the epicenter of world's political and military power to forces which are friendly to the human beings and not anti humans like the America.