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America Wages Financial War on Europe

By Rick Ackerman Posted on October 11, 2012, 12:01 am EDT Last Updated October 11, 2012, 8:43 am EDT

[In the guest commentary below, Rick’s Picks forum regular John Skerencak (aka John Jay) says that although the U.S. economy is but a pale shadow of its former self, its powerful military and corrupt financial system are a dominant and provocative force throughout the world.  Allied with Britain, America is reconquering the old Axis powers (plus France) so that the U.S. and U.K. can emerge from the rubble unchallenged for economic supremacy. RA]

Everyone knows that a major reason for the dominant position of the USA after World War II was that Europe and Asia were left in rubble. The 8th Air Force in Europe and the 20th Air Force in the Pacific did a thorough job.  “Bomber” Harris of England pitched in, and Curtis LeMay’s B-29 fire bombings in Japan were so effective that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were spared so that the new atomic weapons would have pristine targets.  When peace arrived in 1945, the Cold War suddenly broke out, and that took Russia, East Europe, and China out of the picture.  Combined with a strong dollar that was much in demand and a matchless military, US manufacturing made the transition from war to peace and emerged stronger than ever.  This enabled the post-WWII US economic boom.

Flash forward to today.   Now our manufacturing base is in ruins and the dollar is a shadow of its former self.  However, our military is still matchless, our provocateurs are global. Putting aside the issue of why and how our manufacturing and dollar were gutted, the question is…what now?  I look at the spread of financial fraud from our shores to Europe and see two “air forces” carrying the bomb loads: New York and London – a repeat from WWII.  We have teamed up once again to level Europe.  And once again, the peripheral countries go down first:  Greece, France, Italy, et al.  This time, though, Spain and Portugal did not get to declare “neutrality.” Once again Germany is putting up a ferocious fight.

A ‘North African Campaign’

We even have a “North African campaign,” although this one is being waged the old-fashioned way, with real slaughter and destruction.  I am a cynic at heart.  And I have to laugh out loud when anyone from our government talks about “spreading Democracy” to Iraq, Libya, Syria, Egypt, et al.  They won’t even allow true democracy here at home, let alone gift it to foreigners. Are any of those countries better off now?  Those dictators were thugs but they were predictable, stable, and could be dealt with.  And I find it hard to believe that all those popular revolts were not planned and executed form Langley.  The plan was to create fear and chaos, and it worked.

To sum it all up, I think the guys at the top here realized they painted themselves into a corner with all their looting, especially since 1998. It will take too long to restore the dollar and our manufacturing, although factory jobs are beginning to trickle back.  So they have once again decided to level the rest of the world to leave us at the top of the heap. And China might be on the target list for the future.  Japan has conveniently self-destructed this time around.

***

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  • Marc Authier October 13, 2012, 1:10 pm

    What else to add. Its unfortunately the plain and naked truth. Europeans are still quite naive when it comes to their pseudo allies in USA.

  • BIG-BEAR-COMING-OUT-OF-CAVE October 11, 2012, 11:14 pm

    well, well, well, rick.

    your 13,251 dji line in sand,
    is near to going down in flames,
    from today’s dji island-reversal day.

    so tell me, are both your feet now,
    much closer, to your fire-escape?

    with darling apple dropping like a rock
    and (justly) losing battle with samsung
    (over some pennyante bullshhtt stuff),
    plus all apple products going to shhttt,
    ever since perfectionist owner croaked?

    1.
    s&p500 insiders have been selling for weeks, at a 40sell-1buy clip.

    2.
    the u.s.a. industrial markets leaders
    (i.e. industry–those that actually make, or do, something real)
    their 4th q earnings, and projected 2013 earnings, are crumbling, 1 by 1.

    3.
    your incumbent dictator, the african commie politico-bootlicker, is desperate,
    thus pulling out unbelievable, last second, benign ‘govt. stats’ lies, from his hat.

    I wonder if the fall of the greater rome, went out in the same way—lamely.
    after all, human nature is human nature, and it has not changed ever, 1 iota.

    the 1 yr spx chart of sept 1986-sept 1987,
    is near identical,
    to the sept 2011-sept 2012 chart.

    look at it. it is near identical.

    I wonder if that means anything.

    in terms of repetitive human nature, that is.

  • redwilldanaher October 11, 2012, 2:43 pm

    http://www.naturalnews.com/037508_rigged_awakening_consciousness.html Here Gary, here’s another “conspiracy nut” for you to dismiss…

    • gary leibowitz October 11, 2012, 3:47 pm

      Good one! Everything is rigged against us. Ohhh the big bad mad elite group of people that control the world. Thier control is of sadistic minds spending countless hours a day to think up ways to cause even more harm.

      My favorite is the control over news. Now that is a good one. I guess people that want extreme fringe loney conspiracy theories to be supported can’t find anywhere to confirm this! Now that’s funny.

      As for medical advancements, I guess the life expectancy being much higher over the past decades is a lie. More conspiracies!

      BTW, back to the market. Jobless claims down 30K, but… “A possible issue skewing the number is the adjustment which expected a big swing for the first week of the quarter that didn’t happen. Next week’s report will help clear up this issue.” How is earnings coming along? I haven’t heard any trend change from expectations yet, but it is still too early.

  • mava October 11, 2012, 3:45 am

    If this is how the war can be won, by self-destructing self and then trying to infect the enemy with our own stench and bacteria, then all that the Alexander had to do at the Persian gates is only execute his own army when the winds were cooperative.

    And besides, we are not infecting anyone with our fraud. The fraud was going on there on it’s own. When our markets burped, Europe had realized they were all in on our “securities”.

    More on the substance, this is not how the WWII was won. The USSR bore the absolute brunt of the battle, which broke German spine. The walk in the park Pacific (except Japan), North Africa and “Tour de France” didn’t and wouldn’t have mattered at all. The reason these were even undertaken is because Joe Stalin looked like he was going to bite whole of the Europe off, and then some, say North Africa. Japan (Pacific) and North Sea Hunting were the only contributions that did count for something (as did Land Lease, weapons for gold, from US to Stalin). By the time USSR turned around and went to Manchuria, the job was largely done by the Americans, so it was a walk in the park too, but this time for the Soviets.

    So, I keep wondering. I clearly see the United States played major roles in WWII, the relative significance of which can probably be long argued between Americans and Russians, but may also be judged by the Germans.

    But pray tell, what exactly did the United Kingdom do in WWII? How would the outcome be different if UK was on the side of the Germany? If UK was an US ally in WWII, such that it actually could even be mentioned on the same page with US, then how is it that you’re not mentioning the Puerto Rico as a major ally of today?

    • BigTom October 11, 2012, 4:31 pm

      MAVA – you make good points. Extend that rational to all things that had made america the great country it was. One of my favorites has been how we are told we are all the same and equal in this world, but when it comes to hiring we must promote diversity! And we all know what that means……’They’ have gotten middle america to promote their own demise and it has been working for decades….

  • C.C. October 10, 2012, 7:27 pm

    Sure we have the largest and most powerful military (hardware-wise) in the world, but would we use even a fraction of it against a known ‘enemy’, for the sake of protecting our ‘freedom’ and ‘safety’…? If so, then why are we still diddling around in the Arab world when, after domestic targets were leveled by this known enemy, we don’t own vast swaths of the middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan?

    The sad fact of the matter is, you can have a King-sized military, but without the political will and the support of the politicized public in today’s world, you may as well have nothing. We are an Intimidation force to patsies, not a Real and viable threat to those with economic and military power, even at a fraction of our vaunted technological superiority. Much like the giant mirages created by the telepathic humans in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and chairman Mao’s refrain of ‘Paper Tigers’, we have no stomach for real war.

    No one knows this better than the Chinese and the Soviets. They are content to bide their time, buy gold and simply wait us out until we overstretch and make a silly move in a region where we have no business being. Again.

    • j October 10, 2012, 7:33 pm

      Right on! China and Russia are buying gold…whats the US fed buying, mortgage backed securities!!!!!

      When the dust settles the US will be left holding a bag of paper iou’s

      Good Luck!

  • ter October 10, 2012, 7:09 pm

    An extraordinary essay, even by this site’s high standard. Your analogy is precise. The essay and your first set of comments are models of succinctness. Every sentence is telling. I differ slightly as to the source of the North African provocations. Yes, they originated in D.C., but only partly from Langley (the paramilitary support). The political agitators in Egypt, Iran, Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and elsewhere were trained and funded by another organization with “Democracy” in its name.Those are and were the “color revolutions”. We’ll see another in Iran next year,
    assuming war hasn’t begun, when Iranians elect a new president. Will “green” be again the color of the “spontaneous”, “grassroots” efforts to change the regime? Instilling fear, chaos, the destruction of stable, if imperfect, nations is the objective. The function of the US armed forces is to intimidate governments initially unwilling to follow orders–our substitute for diplomacy and foreign aid bribery. When threats fail to coerce, they commence unwinnable wars, conducted by political generals who know little of strategy, which drag on for years, enriching the corporate bloodsuckers supplying fuel, food, transportation, ordinance, shelter, mercenaries, et al., bankrupting us, and providing the rationale (TERRORISM) for the abolition of domestic civil rights, and, not so eventually, martial law.
    Memorably thoughtful insights. Thank you.

    • John Jay October 10, 2012, 8:15 pm

      Thanks to you all.
      And now, we have troops in Jordan.
      More Democracy, coming right up!
      I would love to hear a real time strategy session from where all these decisions are being made in DC or Langley.
      Right out of “Dr Strangelove” I would imagine.

  • BigTom October 10, 2012, 6:55 pm

    Interesting tid bit on ww11 history. I remember Curtis Lemay briefly as one of the top general at what I remember as the early stages of the vietman war era. Thinking back the press had then painted him as a dangerous ‘hawk.’ not to be trusted with any major military leadership role. Imagine that, a warrior who wanted to destroy his enemy?

    You are exactly correct in that democracy was not at all our intent on the destabalization of North Africa, though the press and the WH presented that version to the world and the world ate it up. Thugs did once rule there but then there was also relative peace. Though you heard little in the press some of those rulers, such as Gadaffi, actually helped their people a great deal. Unfortunately that is the only kind of leadership that can keep peace with those people in that part of the world. And now that
    destabalization is creepy crawling it’s way into Europe.

    And I agree, the people of China will not escape these dark days either. Though I have just read this a.m. that GM is moving to it’s 55 story headquarters in Shanghai, and that GE is moving its 115 year old X-ray division from Wisconsin to Beijing which makes that last sentence perhaps confusing. But something tells me the people no matter where they live including those of the U.S./UK axis will not escape this horror unfolding at the present. As Mario says above, ‘there are 7 billion people here on the planet.’ And also the ruling elite looks down their noses at these people with the attitude of ‘who wants em?’ and not in the ‘who will take em’ sense either. Look into the weather beaten and leathery face of those people like Christine Legarde to see if you would ever get a ‘thumbs up’ from the likes of her when you are down. She was once involved with fleecing hundreds of million of euros from the French people while finance minister of France. Now she is in a top position at the IMF….ha, to the chosen elite who escape any kind of punishment for their crimes wherever they are, we down here at this level are all of the expendable proletariet class…
    JJ – thanks for your views today…..

  • John Jay October 10, 2012, 6:35 pm

    Gary,
    The time has come to embrace the madness.
    If you can’t beat them, join them.
    Game the system as best you can.
    Ron Paul proved America is not ready for real change, and he was likely the last train out of Dodge.
    I have changed my mind on an number of issues.
    I now welcome wealthy foreigners who get into the US on EB5 Visas.
    Southern California has so many destitute illegal aliens,
    ten or twenty thousand who are vetted for wealth can only prop up this bankrupt state.
    After the Consuls bit the dust at Cannae, Trebbia and Trasimine, even the Romans changed their strategy with Hannibal.
    Knowing when to give up on a lost cause is essential to one’s survival.

  • mac October 10, 2012, 5:23 pm

    – bravo RA, for letting the concerned speak out!

  • gary leibowitz October 10, 2012, 3:37 pm

    To suggest we have the same clout that we had after WWII is stretching it. The combination of a deep depression followed by war created a huge need for domestic buildup. That war was fought overseas allowing us to reap the rewards afterwards. That will not be the case today if we were to have a global war. The 50’s were the golden era for just that reason. As for the military, China is outspending us and has a huge standing army. Our short nations history has been glorious in its fast ascent. I believe we have seen the height of our power both economically and militarily. How fast we descend is anyones guess. We are no longer in a position to dictate our future fate, no matter how we try and manipulate the situation.

    The other problem I have with this piece is suggesting that democracy has not been at the forefront of the middle east rebellions. By all accounts it is an internal affair unlike the 70’s when we tried to keep in place the “known” dictators. You even suggest we should follow the same policy we did in the 70’s, by supporting the “known” dictators. It didn’t work then and will not today.

    • John Jay October 10, 2012, 5:02 pm

      Gary,
      I will let the situation in Iraq, Libya, Egypt, and Syria speak for itself.
      Do you see any evidence of “Democracy” taking hold in those countries now that the Dictators we supported are gone?
      I see a bloodbath as would be warlords fight it out for control.
      Supporting known dictators or sowing chaos, it all serves our plan to maintain the status quo as best we can. And that does not include “Democracy” even back here in the “Homeland.”
      As far as China’s large standing army goes, it is nuclear cannon fodder if push comes to shove.
      Something I believe Kruschev told Mao during the Cold War.
      And China is not “outspending” us in the military department by any stretch of the imagination.
      China in 2012: 100 billion dollars
      USA in 2012: 700 billion dollars
      And who knows what weapons we have in the Black Ops department, off budget and hidden?
      We are not going to expose our Top Secret weapons in Afghanistan or Pakistan. I am also sure the drone the Iranians captured is already obsolete.
      I don’t know if Europe adopted our Ponzi Debt model via GS machinations or some other reasons.
      The results are the same.

    • gary leibowitz October 10, 2012, 5:21 pm

      First off you describe our country as a hidden secret society where the real money spent on military is much larger, yet China’s numbers are real? Hmmm. I think you have it backwards. The official spending on the military has been increasing for China. How many nukes is needed to destroy each other? I believe they have a sufficient amount.

      The notion that democracy hasn’t taken form since it is a messy affair doesn’t change the facts that dictators were taken out. The end result is unknown, but the process has started. Will it eventually end in a democracy, oligarchy, or another form of dictatorship remains to be seen. The struggle for change is there. How they determine their form of government is theirs to decide. You are correct in calling me out on the use of the word democracy. I should have said they are revoting for change. They have very little experience with our notion of democracy so I can’t say how it will end up. I do believe it is their fight, not ours. Religion and strict adherence to its doctrine might win out against our form of democracy. It is their choice though.

    • gary leibowitz October 10, 2012, 5:30 pm

      BTW, revolution are messy, as ours was. We had the advantage of living under Englands rule and laws. Thet have no reference point. It is always better to fight for freedom than to accept life under oppression.
      Will capitalism and the power of accumulating money win out over religious fervor for penance? Time will tell.

  • j October 10, 2012, 3:27 pm

    America wages financial war on the WORLD!…QE to infinity will continue the devaluation of the US$ and everything priced in US$’s will be revalued higher regardless of demand. The worlds reserve currency is exporting inflation around the world.

    Germany wages financial war on Europe….they run the european economic engine…..you know who must be dacing in Hell as Germany takes command of Europe without firing a single bullet

    • Robert October 10, 2012, 5:40 pm

      THAT is the one “elephant in the room” that not enough people are paying attention to…

      The supply of the world’s reserve currency is increasing by 85Billion per month (40Billion via QE3 MBS purchases, and 45Billion via direct Fed takedown of new US Treasury issuance), and yet everyone seems to think that US interest rates are safe and secure here in “zero to 2.4%” land…

      Fools. I sincerely declare and admonish ANYONE that thinks that this is sustainable, as a complete and utter fool.

      Reality is backed by the force of truth, and truth is the most powerful force in the Universe.

      Reality and truth are in the process of shredding the lie that has been disguised as reality; and yet the forces of human ego are fighting this truth to defend the preservation of the lie.

      Well, I’m going to spoil the whole book for you and tell you how it ends: Truth and reality win.

      If you do not recognize Satan’s influence over this planet, then you are wholly unprepared (and probably ill equipped) to avoid the fallout from it.

      The only thing that can happen to those who understand truth is that they may be killed as collateral damage, but that’s ok: Death as a collateral consequence of someone else’s evil actions is still a noble death.

      Death that comes as a result of undying support for evil intentions is not noble.

      ergo, fighting to preserve the basis of “civilized” insanity is a fool’s errand.

      The choice to be fool, or not, is entirely and 100% up to you the individual.

      In the great “us versus them” debate, the only rational position is to be allegiant to neither team.

    • j October 10, 2012, 6:21 pm

      Its all about “Confidence”

      Manipulate all you want be it gov data, market values or FASB 157 ruling allowing toxic bank holdings to be valued at make-believe-values vs market value….the global powers at be are walking on very, very thin ice as once the citizens of the world lose confidence the system implodes….Trillions of dollars have been tossed at the global system since 2007 and the lead balloon is barely afloat….once confidence is lost in the almighty US$ its game over and all the history buffs will be speechless as a new chapter in history unfolds….the whole system is built on Confidence….how confident are you?

    • mario cavolo October 11, 2012, 8:08 am

      Hi Robert,

      Appreciate your set of thoughts. I wonder though…the interconnectedness may create a stabilizing, maybe I should say “normalizing” effect too.

      I mean, as I’ve noted before, today 50% of S&P500 earnings are international….whoa. So think of how that is tied into and impacted by the currency situation. I am believing less and less than one particular asset class can move too far outside the value bounds of the “global scope” which is so intricately linked. Hmm…..

  • mario cavolo October 10, 2012, 7:02 am

    Hi JJ, I think your points play in well to the idea that the U.S. policy will create an ongoing set of choices to make sure the USD doesn’t go too high in value. They really need that sucker to stay down and in that way, yes, its very much a cold war, an economic war now, and it is for economic survival, lest, at huge expense. One might think that the announcement by the FED to continue an open-ended QE3 would result in the dollar doing a steady decline as a currency. Against other currencies it is not, so then where is it showing up?…in reduced purchasing power / inflation of course. No suprise. I’ll bet that ten years from the EURO will still be 1.3 and the USD will still be at 80! If the Fed and the ECB both issue $500 billion more in bonds over the next year, its a wash? To look at currency valuation indexes alone tells us nothing. How much will everything cost???!!!!! That’s where we’re headed, I’ve said it for years. What’s the difference for a middle class worker between a deflationary struggle and an inflationary struggle?! In either case, the average Joe simply doesn’t have enough currency in his pocket to purchase what is needed. If the struggle is deflationary, even more jobs will be lost. Either way, more and more people on the dole, more and more people relying on bloating govt programs. Yes, one way or the other, the top 1% wealthy are going to finance supporting the rest of the world. They’ll not do it through higher taxes, they’re being placed in that position in the society through govt policies which reduce currency purchasing power.

    Let me put numbers to it. Say the average top 1% er has 10 million. (Hah, that’s tiny, they are earning that much PER YEAR) But if we have ongoing inflation/curency devalution to the tune of 100%, Their 10 million still has the purchasing power of 5 million, so they’re still more than ok. I doubt I am explaining myself clearly enough but I think you get the point.

    Cheers, Mario

    • mario cavolo October 10, 2012, 7:10 am

      And by the way, the U.S. will NOT harass China, their banker. And by by the way…

      Ford’s September sales up 35% in China…”To accelerate its growth in China, Ford plans to introduce 15 new vehicles in the country by 2015. (Hello?) The company has said it plans to double its production capacity in China to 1.2 million vehicles by 2015, the company’s most rapid expansion anywhere in 50 years.” (Hmm?)

      While there is surely a degree overbuilding going on here, it is just cyclical, as I have stated without reservation, China’s domestic market including domestic consumption has plenty of balls to it. Quietly, that’s how they do things here, quietly, because it is a way of life in China to keep secrets, to hold back information, to not let others know how much you DO have. That is the opposite of the Western approach to such matters and it continues to play out. Well, JJ, in my view, no chance China is on anyone’s target list, except that of a fool.

      Cheers, Mario

  • Jill October 10, 2012, 5:23 am

    John, I am confused about what you mean. Are you talking about a literal military war? Or an economic war destroying the world through debt?

    If the latter, it seems the American middle class is well on its way to being destroyed too, so the financial destruction is not confined to other countries outside the U.S. It’s just the bankers vs. everyone else who becomes deeper & deeper in debt to them. Perhaps one day everyone realizes that there are a lot more of the rest of us than there are bankers, so we don’t need to put up with this.

    • John Jay October 10, 2012, 3:17 pm

      Jill,
      I see the US engaging in economic warfare with the old European powers, using the debt based consumption model to get them to self destruct. Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, France are already reeling.
      I see the US engaging in outright warfare in the MENA.
      AfPakIraq have seen our military there for many years.
      Libya, Egypt, Syria etc. all toppled by “Spooks” from our many covert operations.
      We are everywhere stirring up trouble, either politically, militarily, or both.

      Mario,
      China will be in our cross hairs from now on.
      We are already working on encirclement via Vietnam, the Philippines etc.
      China’s holding of our debt is now small relative to that held by SS, the Fed, and friendly powers.
      If they dump it to “punish” us there will be plenty of buyers at 30% to 50% on the dollar.
      The rise of the machines is going to play havoc with China’s employment situation in the future.
      High shipping costs and increasingly efficient robotic factories will mean manufacturing will become regional not global.
      China has already said they plan to replace millions of workers with robots.
      There is now a low skill US robot for 22k that can do many varied assembly line tasks at a cost of $4 an hour.
      “We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars doing this kind of work in China,” says Brooks, who serves as Rethink’s chief technical officer. “We want companies to spend that here, in a way that lets American workers be way more productive.”
      Link:http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-18/smarter-robots-with-no-pesky-uprisings#r=lr-fs
      In the future China is going to need to rely solely on domestic demand to fuel her economy.
      Technology is putting an end to the “let’s offshore it for the cheap labor” business model.
      And robots mean no jobs for China’s teeming masses in the future. The question will be, how will China manage a transition to this new reality?
      Everywhere on this planet there will be less and less need for the 7 billion people on Earth.
      They won’t have jobs once the welfare is shut off, a la Spain, Greece, etc.
      And they won’t be buying many consumer goods with no money.
      A new economic reality is taking hold.
      I have lowered my own expectations for the USA.
      And I now will be glad to see wealthy foreigners move here to prop up our creaky economy.
      And that is most of the wealthy in China.
      “Entrepreneurial, well-connected or just plain corrupt, it does not matter how they made their fortunes, there is mounting evidence to show that China’s super-rich are heading for the exit. ”
      Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18966261

    • mario cavolo October 10, 2012, 4:42 pm

      Nice set of comments JJ….

      “Everywhere on this planet there will be less and less need for the 7 billion people on Earth.”

      Ahh that says it all….


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