AlterNet: The Spectacular, Sudden Crash of the Global Economy

[marmar]

The Spectacular, Sudden Crash of the Global Economy

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted February 24, 2009.

In a short period of months, the entire system of global capitalism has screeched to a halt. No one knows what happens next.



The worldwide economic meltdown has sent the wheels spinning off the project of building a single, business-friendly global economy.

Worldwide, industrial production has ground to a halt. Goods are stacking up, but nobody's buying; the Washington Post reports that "the world is suddenly awash in almost everything: flat-panel televisions, bulldozers, Barbie dolls, strip malls, Burberry stores." A Hong Kong-based shipping broker told The Telegraph that his firm had "seen trade activity fall off a cliff. Asia-Europe is an unmit­igated disaster." The Economist noted that one can now ship a container from China to Europe for free -- you only need to pick up the fuel and handling costs -- but half-empty freighters are the norm along the world's busiest shipping routes. Global airfreight dropped by almost a quarter in December alone; Giovanni Bisignani, who heads a shipping industry trade group, called the "free fall" in global cargo "unprecedented and shocking."

And while Americans have every reason to be terrified about their own econopocalypse, the New York Times noted that everything is relative:

In the fourth quarter of last year, the American economy shrank at a 3.8 percent annual rate, the worst such performance in a quarter-century. They are envious in Japan, where this week the comparable figure came in at negative 12.7 percent — three times as bad.

Industrial production in the United States is falling at the fastest rate in three decades. But the 10 percent year-over-year plunge reported this week for January looks good in comparison to the declines in countries like Germany, off almost 13 percent in its most recently reported month, and South Korea, down about 21 percent.

Chinese manufacturing declined in each of the last five months; according to the Financial Times, "More than 20 (million) rural migrant workers in China have lost their jobs and returned to their home villages or towns as a result of the global economic crisis." The UN estimates that the downturn could claim 50 million jobs worldwide, prompting Dennis Blair, the U.S. National Intelligence Director, to warn Congress that, "instability caused by the global economic crisis had become the biggest security threat facing the United States, outpacing terrorism." .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/128412/the_spectacular%2C_sudden_crash_of_the_global_economy/

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Republicon occultists know what happens next. Smirk." - Ronald Reagan's Dead Republicon Astrologer*

"Shock & awe, baby, cosmically timed with Saturn opposite Uranus.

"For us Republicon Homelanders who are following the lead of Rush 'DraftDodger' Limbaugh in DESIRING America to fail, it's totally a Wide-Stance, Diaper-Clad Wet Dream. Smirk."

- Ronald Reagan's Dead Republicon Astrologer*


* Courageously channeled from the vast netherworld of wide-stance Republicon occultism by a Drug-free, Organically-fed American Virgin.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Would this be too simplistic?

Credit is like ghost money, people pretend it's actual legal tender. And the problem now is nobody's pretending it's money anymore. And there aren't enough concrete hard assets to pay debts due and owing or to lend people to purchase.

[ixion]

3. "econopocalypse"

That describes it very well.

[midnight]

4. This is interesting information. Does it not make you wonder about the parallels in the

disaster mentality that goes hand in hand with some elected groups. Take for instance 9-11. Even though they are forward, they appear to do nothing and let it occur. Same with Katrina, and the banking/economy. The reason for this next disaster is to feed their fear paradigms, and other services that will soon become available for those who can pay for them.

[izquierdista]

5. What "global economy"?

I'm going to have to call bullshit on that too often repeated phrase. There are many capitalist who have gotten rich off of selling products made in third world sweatshops, but at least half of the world's population does not have the money to participate in this "global economy". From tribes in New Guinea to Russian peasants to subsistence farmers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, this "economic crisis" means nothing as they get their food from the back yard and their building materials from the local forest and concrete plant. About the closest they get to the "global economy" is sweatshop made clothes that they got from a third-hand store.

These 20 million Chinese returning to their villages? They might find their lives better off, for they certainly didn't end up with much take home pay from their stint in the factory in the city. They might be a little more reluctant when offered a factory job again when the economy heats back up. After all, they have heard the wise man's words: "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, can't get fooled again".