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The Biden administration and two looming crises: an economic and financial crisis and a hegemonic war
Besides the lingering COVID-19 pandemic and the on-going climate crisis, which will be accompanied by an energy crisis, not to mention the coming migration crisis, the world could be facing two man-made major crises in the years to come, i.e. an economic and financial crisis and a hegemonic war crisis. Continue reading
The war between Russia and Ukraine has been brewing since 1991
The tragic and illegal war of aggression launched by Russia (pop. 146 million) against Ukraine (pop. 44 million), its neighbor, on Thursday, February 24, 2022, has raised much emotion and many reactions in the West, and for good reasons. Continue reading
The United States: A push toward moral decline, political extremism, political divisions and violence?
Poll after poll indicates very deep political divisions among Americans, with indications that such divisions are deepening, and even widening as a consequence of the pandemic. Indeed, according to the most recent NPR/Ipsos poll, seven in ten Americans believe the country is in crisis and is at risk of failing. Continue reading
Disorderly retreat from Afghanistan: The U.S. has become an overextended military empire posing a serious threat to its long-term security
In 1987, British historian Paul Kennedy (1945- ) wrote a geopolitical book about how great powers rise and fall, in which he studied how economic and military factors can accompany or cause previously dominant nations to lose their great power status. His main conclusion is that sooner or later a great hegemonic power will become overextended and its economy will struggle to keep its big military machine going. Indeed, an empire can increase its resources by launching wars abroad, at least for a while. However, sooner or later, a situation of permanent war and the military occupation of foreign lands result in more costs than benefits. Continue reading
The economic aftermath of the war against the pandemic: Inflation, recession, deflation, stagflation or secular stagnation?
After forty some years of disinflation and declining interest rates, there is some confusion about whether or not this long disinflationary decline is about to end, to be replaced with a creeping up of real wages, prices and interest rates. Continue reading
Unregulated digital cryptocurrencies vs regulated national currencies: Is there a danger?
A few years ago, after the 2007-2008 financial crisis, some clever people, whose identity is hidden behind the appellation of ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, devised a decentralized electronic system of payments, which is independent of the existing traditional banking system. It is based on a new form of digital ‘currencies’ or ‘electronic currencies’, the ‘cryptocurrencies’. Some observers have called the cryptocurrency innovation a sort of a new 21st Century digital gold rush. Continue reading
The relationship between income and wealth disparities and negative real interest rates
Has a forty-year trend reached an apex? Indeed, official measures of economic disparities are at an all-time high. Continue reading
Donald Trump’s legacy: Four chaotic years in the White House and a tumultuous departure
On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, the ugly face of fascism in action was seen in Washington D.C., when an unruly pro-Trump mob, incited and inflamed by an angry speech by outgoing President Donald Trump, stormed and rampaged through the U.S. Capitol, in an obvious attempted coup. This marked the lowest point in Mr. Trump’s chaotic presidency, a presidency ending with an attempt to stoke the fires of insurrection in the vain hope of remaining in power. Continue reading
The U.S. presidential election: A referendum on Donald Trump’s character or a campaign on law-and-order?
Traditionally, Labor Day marks the last stretch in the U.S. presidential campaign leading to the election this year to be held on November 3. Continue reading
Could the current serious economic recession evolve into a full-fledged global economic depression?
So far, it can be said that central banks and governments in most advanced economies have acted correctly to prevent the economic lockdown of large segments of the economy from turning into a total economic disaster. They have, at least, saved the day. Continue reading
In times of crisis, how to prevent an economic meltdown and avoid privatizing profits and socializing losses
Here we go again: Another financial bubble burst and another financial crisis threatening to disrupt the real economy! This time the trigger is the health pandemic of the coronavirus crisis, the most serious in a generation, which is paralyzing the real economy and triggering crashes in the financial sector. Continue reading
An American drama: Republican senators sabotaged Donald Trump’s impeachment trial
The die is cast. History will record that Republican senators in the U.S. Senate used their majority to sabotage the impeachment trial of Donald Trump and, in so doing, de facto exonerated him of abuse of power and of obstruction of Congress. Continue reading
The decline of democracy in the 21st century
Democracy, as President Abraham Lincoln phrased it at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1863, is “the government of the people, for the people, and by the people.” It is a political system that guarantees an individual’s basic human rights and freedoms (of thought, conscience, speech, religion, assembly, petition and of the press, etc.). — It guarantees due process and equality before the law. — It makes the government accountable to the people and it forbids a government from subjecting individuals to arbitrary prison, slavery or bondage, etc. — In a democracy, a person is able to speak his or her mind and express political preferences with reasonable safety. Continue reading
Donald Trump: An American tragedy not only for the U.S., but also for the world
The election of New York far right businessman Donald Trump in November 2016 has turned out to be a tragedy for the United States and also for the world, as more blunders, disasters and catastrophes unfold under his inexperienced, impetuous and incompetent stewardship. Continue reading
Financial capitalism gone amok: Ultra-low interest rates and price bubbles
Don’t look now, but there is a new monetary craze going on in some parts of the world, and it is the new so-called ‘unconventional’ monetary policy adopted by some central banks to push interest rates to ultra-low levels, and even into negative territory. For some time now, some central banks and some governments have been pushing nominal interest rates down, so much so that a few countries have negative short-term interest rates and, when inflation is factored in, even more deeply negative real interest rates. Why suddenly such an unconventional monetary policy? Their rationale is a fear that the economy could otherwise be saddled with an overvalued currency and be faced with a too heavy debt burden, and this would hurt their economic growth. Continue reading
The Trump-Bolton duo is just like the Bush-Cheney Duo: Warmongers using lies to start illegal wars
History repeats itself. Indeed, those who live by war are at it again. Their crime: starting illegal wars by committing false flag attacks and blaming other countries for their own criminal acts. On this, the Donald Trump-John Bolton duo is just like the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney duo. It is amazing that in an era of 24-hour news, this could still going on. Continue reading
Trump-Barr’s manipulation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report: The political cover-up of the century?
We live in a very corrupt era. A case in point is the current and scandalous manipulation of the Mueller report by the Trump administration, with hardly any outcry from people in authority. Indeed, of the close to 400 pages (excluding tables and appendices) of the Mueller report delivered to the U.S. Attorney General on Friday March 22, 2019, not a single page has yet to be made public either to the elected Congress and/or to the American people to see for themselves the real content of the full report. Continue reading
Donald Trump’s 20 biggest follies
American President Donald Trump has done a lot of unheard of things since his 2016 election, most of them have been controversial and some have been utterly scandalous. The latest one to date was his shutting down of part of the U.S. government for 35 long days, on a whim, with the intention of bullying the newly elected Democratic majority of the House of Representatives. However, this time he hit a wall—a democratic wall—as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called his bluff and defeated him at his own game. Continue reading
About politicians who befriend criminals in power
As a politician, Donald Trump is the image of the United States government, which attempts to maintain the American military-industrial complex. He needs “enemies.” He seems to need “enemies” to establish his own political identity and to possibly deflect attention from his own flaws. He has no adversaries; he has “enemies,” whom he brands “enemies of the people.” Continue reading
The enigma of Orwellian Donald Trump: How does he get away with it so easily?
In this day and age, with instant information, how does a politician succeed in double-talking, in bragging, in scapegoating and in shamefully distorting the truth, most of the time, without being unmasked as a charlatan and discredited? Why? That is the mysterious and enigmatic question that one may ask about U. S. President Donald Trump, as a politician. Continue reading
Is Donald Trump a new Herbert Hoover with his policy of isolationism and protectionism?
American president Donald Trump seems intent to isolate the U.S. economy from neighboring economies, and even from the world economy, and thus to break with three quarters of a century of closer economic cooperation between countries, established after World War II. There is a clear danger that the international economic system could become structurally unsettled for years to come, which does not mean that such a system is not in need of reform. Continue reading
The winning war the NRA is waging on American kids
American schools have increasingly become shooting galleries in a war that the National Rifle Association (NRA) is winning, with the help of venal politicians and clueless Supreme Court Justices, against American students and teachers. In the U.S., criminals, crazies and angry types alike can buy attack weapons of any kind, at will. As a consequence, when students and teachers go to school in the morning, they and their parents are never certain if they are going to come back home, after school. If you follow the news, you may have gotten the impression that American schools have become a lottery of death. Students and teachers have become the innocent pawns whose lives are being cut short to please the fanaticism and the gun idolatry of the NRA. Continue reading
In provoking Iran and allies alike to please Netanyahu, is Donald Trump the most-pro-Zionist American president ever?
There are presently warmongering characters (Netanyahu, Erdogan, Trump, etc.) in charge in some countries, and they show no respect for international law, whatsoever. The most dangerous among them is, of course, the U.S. President Donald Trump. Continue reading
Donald Trump: Is he too dangerous to be head of state?
US President Donald Trump (1946-), as a politician, has succeeded in attracting voters who are dissatisfied or partially dissatisfied with their economic or social situation, especially working class white voters without college degrees. Income inequality and wealth inequality is growing in the United States, and the balance leans toward the winners, even though the losers are more numerous and have not been compensated through job training or social services. In other words, many Americans are disillusioned regarding their chance of living the American dream and about the way the system and public policies disadvantage them. Trump attracts also single-issue voters. Continue reading
For all practical purposes, the American system of government is failing
How and why
On January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), 34th President of the United States, (1953–1961), and a five-star general, gave a Farewell address that has echoed through the years. He not only warned his fellow citizens about the danger of a “military-industrial complex,” which could “endanger our liberties or democratic processes,” but he also issued a wish in saying that “we want democracy to survive for all generations to come.” Continue reading
Politics 101: The influence of money on U.S. foreign policy
The cases of Iraq, Libya, Syria and Iran
Just as Republican George W. Bush invented the pretext of “weapons of mass destruction,” in 2003, to deceive Americans and the rest of the world and to justify a military invasion of Iraq, Donald Trump seems to follow in Bush’s footsteps in actively searching for a pretext for another military confrontation in the Middle East, this time against Iran. George W. Bush had even claimed, at the time, that religion was behind his military interventionism when he said, in the summer of 2003, in a bout of hubristic delusion, that “God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq.” Continue reading
The economic implications of Trump’s trade & tax policies
Sudden changes in trade and tax policies, the likes of those considered by the Trump administration, could be very disruptive to macroeconomic equilibrium, especially if they result in a sudden burst of inflation and in rapid interest rate hikes. Indeed, raising taxes on imports, repatriating large corporate profits parked overseas and increasing the fiscal deficit, when the economy is running at close to full capacity, can result in both demand-led and supply-led inflation. This could come much faster than most people expect, if all these measures are implemented in the coming years. Continue reading
The American military empire: Is Trump its would-be emperor?
By now, most observers have finally realized who President Donald Trump really is. After close to eight months in the White House, Trump has clearly demonstrated that he has serious character defects in his public role as an American “showman” president. His behavior, so far, has been more than bizarre. It has been clearly aberrant and frightening. Continue reading
A thought for the Fourth of July: Can the U.S. Constitution accommodate a rogue president?
On Monday, June 12, in his first public cabinet meeting, Trump is seen accepting a North-Korean-style pledge from his sycophant cabinet members, on live television, after he had praised himself profusely. This was eerie: Watching all these secretaries humiliating themselves in lavishly praising the self-appointed ‘Great One.’ They all echoed Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, who said: “We thank you for the opportunity and blessing to serve your agenda.” This was quite a totalitarian show, rarely seen in a democracy, but common in a dictatorship. Continue reading
From the Trump administration, expect an erratic flip-flop foreign policy, a return to gunboat diplomacy and more illegal wars of aggression
Another terrible war crime against Syrian civilians has taken place in Syria, on top of multiple war crimes committed in that country torn apart by six years of a civil war marked by foreign interventions. On Tuesday, April 4, 2017, a chemical attack killed more than 70 people, including women and children. No neutral official investigation has yet taken place, but two versions of events have surfaced. Continue reading
The imperial presidency of Donald Trump: A threat to American democracy and an agent of chaos in the world?
When 46.1% of Americans who voted, in November 2016, to elect a real estate magnate in the person of Donald Trump as U.S. president, they did not know precisely what they were buying, because, as the quote above says, we really know how a politician will behave only once he or she assumes power. Americans surely did not expect that the promised “change” the Republican presidential candidate envisioned and promised was going to be, in fact, “chaos” and “turmoil” in the U.S. government. Continue reading
Donald Trump’s reckless gamble with Iran to distract from his domestic political problems
Posted on January 10, 2020 by Dr. Rodrigue Tremblay
I have long suspected that Donald Trump would do anything to save his political skin, and I mean anything, including murder and assassination—if threatened with impeachment,—and even commit an act of war against a foreign country. Well, as I feared, he just did that against Iran. Continue reading →