Europe's financial armagedden

[Mark Stapleton]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?con...a&aid=10698

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?con...a&aid=10670

It's hard to believe it's really happening. The eastern European countries, whom experts predicted would escape the global meltdown, are starting to fall like dominoes. Hungary hopes an IMF loan will stave off collapse while Latvia, Lithuania and others wait on death row. Their problem is heavy reliance on credit from international lending institutions, which has now evaporated. Their currencies are in freefall. Ukraine's stock market has lost 75% of its value in a year. Even Russia is in trouble, despite--and because of--it's status as a net energy exporter. The slowdown with its resultant fall in commodity prices including oil, has caused a drastic revenue shortage. Russia relied on American-led global consumerism more than it realised.

The potential for social dislocation throughout Europe boggles the mind.

As has been noted here and elsewhere, it's the end for free market capitalism, especially the extreme variety formerly practised by Wall Street. The lunacy of a dogma which rewards greed and punishes honesty is now abundantly clear. The recent public denunciation of greed by the American political establishment as the root cause of these problems is a huge belly laugh. I would guess the US political and power establishment has already been told that the rest of the world wants Obama elected full stop. This should put an end to any last ditch plans for vote rigging or false flag stunts by the GOP and their backers.

Edited October 28, 2008 by Mark Stapleton

[John Simkin]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?con...a&aid=10698

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?con...a&aid=10670

It's hard to believe it's really happening. The eastern European countries, whom experts predicted would escape the global meltdown, are starting to fall like dominoes. Hungary hopes an IMF loan will stave off collapse while Latvia, Lithuania and others wait on death row. Their problem is heavy reliance on credit from international lending institutions, which has now evaporated. Their currencies are in freefall. Ukraine's stock market has lost 75% of its value in a year. Even Russia is in trouble, despite--and because of--it's status as a net energy exporter. The slowdown with its resultant fall in commodity prices including oil, has caused a drastic revenue shortage. Russia relied on American-led global consumerism more than it realised.

The potential for social dislocation throughout Europe boggles the mind.

As has been noted here and elsewhere, it's the end for free market capitalism, especially the extreme variety formerly practised by Wall Street. The lunacy of a dogma which rewards greed and punishes honesty is now abundantly clear. The recent public denunciation of greed by the American political establishment as the root cause of these problems is a huge belly laugh. I would guess the US political and power establishment has already been told that the rest of the world wants Obama elected full stop. This should put an end to any last ditch plans for vote rigging or false flag stunts by the GOP and their backers.

I have replied to this posting on two other threads: The End of the American Empire and The Corruption of New Labour: Britain’s Watergate.