It is a worldwide crisis and it is very serious. It is striking that the ways that Western countries are approaching the crisis [entirely contradict] the model that they enforce on the Third World when there is a crisis. So when Indonesia has a crisis, [or] Argentina and everyone else, they are supposed to raise interest rates very high and privatize the economy, and cut down on public spending, measures like that. In the West, it is the exact opposite: lower interest rates to zero, move towards nationalization if necessary, pour money into the economy, have huge debts. That is exactly the opposite of how the Third World is supposed to pay off its debts. That this seems to pass without comment is remarkable.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Chomsky on Obama's Foreign Policy and the Economy
At counterpunch, an interview with Noam Chomsky on Obama's emerging foreign policy. (Hint: It's not good.) I think the most original analysis comes in the end, however, when Chomsky briefly discusses the economic downturn and Obama's response to it:
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Chomsky hits the nail on the head. I will say that I am glad that Jeffery Sachs isn't presiding over a US version of 'structural adjustment', however.
What's equally remarkable is that after the imposition of neoliberal models that ravages third world economies and societies, the useless idiots that championed all the free-marketeering responsible for these calamities have the nerve to act *surprised* and indignant when countries (e.g. Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, etc.) vehemently reject neoliberalism and search for other alternatives to global capitalism.
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