MONETARY EXPANSION VS. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

Many economists, business people and politicians are finally realizing that the industrial strategies of private sector global monetary authorities, foreign government sovereign wealth funds and global corporations are responsible for global stagnation. Ultimately, new strategies are needed to stimulate global recovery. To get the global economy back on track, customized national monetary and industrial startegies must fit each nation. Unfortunately, the international media is focussed upon national fiscal and political battles brought about by wrong monetary and industrial development strategies during the past 25 years.

However, the obscured route to economic recovery is hidden by the multitude of real issues facing global economic and political progress: unevenly distributed wealth pools, cronyism, corruption, cultural conflicts, ideological asymmetry, environmental pollution, bankrupt states, etc.  The clear path to recovery can only be visualized by backing away from all of these near-term ethical crises.

Before we can address the global economic turnaround, each nation needs to have a vision of future monetary and industrial systems and a realistic understanding of what they have at present. They must also see these in the context of future and present social progress and political environment. And most importantly, they must understand their present situation and future remedies in the context of their faith in an ethical economic system of free-enterprise capitalism and a political ideal of social democracy. (Many nations are so far removed from these ideals that they poison every attempt at international co-operation and economic re-structuring. Astute nations will seek out nations with integrity of these ideals for trade partners and avoid becoming bedfellows of corrupted countries.)

To begin, the monetary crises being experienced in most nations around the world is a separate issue and problem from the industrial development opportunities and issues faced by each nation. Most strategies required for these two systems are quite different because the goals will be different for monetary remedies vs. those for industrial remedies. Both of these essential economic functional systems influence the social progress and standards of living in each nation, but the former is derived from international policies and conventions whilst the latter is driven by national policies and conventions.

It is from these premises that nations will be able to adopt effective economic strategies that will empower them to achieve real growth during the next several decades. Inevitably, countries with a vision for industrial development automatically attract internal and external monetary development. But this will be most difficult if they rush into trade agreements that may weaken their future autonomy. Countries like Canada need to modify their Constitutions (That were written well before the present circumstances became possible.) to protect future governments from international agreements made by previous governments. (Every country needs a back door.)

Redesigning the global monetary system is a clear and present occupation, but this process should not take priority or precedence over industrial development. There are many financial organizations that would disagree with this, but their opinions are more likely based upon hubris than pragmatic respect for the fundamental forces of economic growth. Their idealistic vision leads to a global currency, global government and alas global tyranny, which is by definition global communism.

Globalists would have to impose control over national freedoms in order to force everyone to march towards their vision (Fascism). This would only be feasible via another world war after which presently strong nations are defeated and ruled by the globalist cabal. In fact, revolutions would erupt in every conquered nation. This would not be a path forward for humanity.

In fact, global progress thrives on individuality, diversity, creativity compromise and change. Independent nation states are integral components of a progressive global community. The solution to our present global economic woes lies in individual national initiatives. Surrendering national autonomy in order to prolong the obsolete paradigm of the IMF will merely move the globalist agenda forward.

At the core of solving our global monetary problems is the fact that the monetary system is merely the method used for facilitating the exchange of goods and services. In essence, it is merely a “lubricant” for trade and exchange in goods and services. Once gold was removed as the intrinsic value underlying global currencies, nations and the players in the monetary supply system were empowered to create an unlimited supply of “lubricant” based upon an expanding supply of false promises of intrinsic values. (Many corporate acquisitions, from 1990 through 2006, were driven by the purchase of “recurring revenues”. Unfortunately, these had no intrinsic net worth as they were constructed upon leveraged credit within their consumer markets.)

The present global monetary crises are no more and no less than bundles of leveraged promissory notes and other financial instruments recorded as electrons in financial models and financial statements on computers. Just as paper money represented promises by governments, these electrons represent promises by governments, financiers and industrialists. This is the present evolution of the somewhat tainted capitalist monetary system.

However, this evolution has been driven by the adoption of the USA currency as the global “lubricant”. The promises backing this “lubricant” are not valid anymore as the promises have grown much faster than their national industrial economic growth. A similar evolution has occurred in most nations as their currencies exceed the intrinsic value of their industrial productivity. In most cases, they have borrowed foreign debt reserves they are in no position to service or eventually retire.

In many countries, national debts from all levels of government represent more than 5 years of total family incomes. This actually means that it will take the citizens of all these countries more than 20 years (a generation) of extra taxation just to pay off these financial obligations made by their political leaders. In reality, they are bankrupt and only carrying on because the government is allowed by the global monetary managers to increase their debts. (Can you imagine a bank continuing to increase the loans to  a family to enable the family to make their interest payments for the next twenty years?)

This state of affairs is allowed to continue because the world still contains tremendous physical wealth and 6 billion potential workers and consumers. The problem is that this leverage is creating carrying costs that no amount of increased productivity or economic industrial development can sustain.

In most bankruptcies, second or third tier creditors take over intrinsic assets that can be sold to buy out other creditors. The remaining intrinsic assets are then sold to a new entity that uses them to begin a new enterprise. In this way, the old creditors recover some value for their loans, obtain tax credits for their other operations, and accept a somewhat reduced level of overall earnings. This enables the capital-based system to renew itself.

This is the process the global monetary system is trying to work through at present. But, a fundamental corrosive issue is that the USA currency is no longer unquestionably viable as the global reserve currency. The Euro is similarly “questionable” overseas as most of its’ underlying currencies are overburdened by debt obligations. This is further compounded by poor industrial growth potential due to deficit economies in many major and smaller nations.

Deficit economies are not new to the monetary system. South American bailouts were commonplace during the last century. Also, corrupted or absconded industrial development systems submerged competitive economics in many countries which then promulgated excessively costly government sectors ruled by moribund political entities. The monetary and industrial development systems and their political systems that exist around the world in the early 21st century are in reality far from the ideals of ethical free-enterprise capitalism and social democracies. These systems are even more polluted than much of our environmental systems.

A major player in how the monetary system will remodel itself is the role of the social media in its historical struggle with the ancient class system that is now embodied in “cronyism” within the monetary institutions. This contemporary phenomenon is replacing the protest movements of the last century and can not be easily subdued by riot police. It also puts increasing pressure upon politicians to act with greater social conscience and even integrity.

Monetary renewal has historically been accomplished through the bankrupting of the middle classes and a portion of the wealthy classes. More recently, government programme rationalizations have also deprived the lower income masses, but the social media is proving this to be a less viable alternative. Nowadays, social upheavals brought about by financial crises are more likely to be addressed by international monetary re-structuring (debt forgiveness, term extensions, interest rate reductions) than by government social support constraints. (Greece, Spain, etc.)

The fact that there is substantial international currency inter-dependence has had a material impact upon the ability of the USA to hold back price inflation and hide asset devaluations. No country holding $USA, which is almost everyone, sees any benefit in raising the value of their currency against the US dollar.

It has been apparent since 2006 that the USA`s only viable option to continue to service its massive and growing debt load has been to increase its money supply. Historically, when a nation did this they experienced rampant inflation as other countries increased their selling prices of goods and services. But since their`s is the de-facto ``global currency``, everyone has increased their money supply in order to devalue their own debts.

This has created all sorts of alarm bells rung by traditional economists and monetarists. But a case can be made that the tight money policies of the previous thirty years produced a monetary system short of liquidity for sustaining the rapid global economic development of the period. In response, the monetary institutions reacted by increasing their capital leverage while increasing their debt portfolios. One could argue that the debt crises of to-day were caused by a shortage of monetization of capital productivity.

Economists who recognize this cause and effect are thus not alarmed by the monetization of global debt that is needed to restore global capital liquidity. In fact, the much larger monetary supply is essential to increase the size of the middle classes around the world and to finance the infrastructural systems of globalized societies and cities that will emerge this century.

Interestingly, it was an autocratic government (China) that realized the importance of industrial development and infra-structure modernization as the secret to social progress and international autonomy. They initially funded their own internal growth and then acquired massive foreign reserves that are being used to finance foreign investments under their control. It would appear that basic capitalism can be the bedfellow of almost all political philosophies.

As Canada (and many other nations) proceed into the next two decades, it will be imperative that they protect the national autonomy of the industrial infrastructure built over the past 50-100 years. Foreign takeovers of their internationally competitive industries and institutions will only decrease the country's international competitiveness and turn them into a debtor nation over the mid- and long-term. Although many recognize global religious warfare on the horizon, few recognize the global business warfare that is presently in full progress between nations vs. nations and between nations vs. corporations.

Canada, just like other autonomous nations, is entering an age of intense pressure to adopt global economic, financial, political and cultural philosophical pretenses. Also, the global media is becoming increasingly monopolized by singular powers that see national autonomy as a threat to global homogenization. Our path must be towards developing our national sovereignty, our internal vision and our innate strengths in order to maintain and sustain our heterogeneity.

The lessons from our past must never be forgotten. The French Revolution didn't stamp out Aristocratic Priviledge. WWI did not stamp out Imperialist Expansion. WWII did not stamp out Fascism. Rwanda did not stamp out Genocide. Afghanistan did not stamp out religious extremism.

We must prepare ourselves to defeat all of these evils, which are embodied in globalization. We must seek out nation partners who share our vision and values. The CFP has laid out a viable vision and clear pathways to follow. Please contact us with your words of encouragement and support.