Discussing the global economic crisis, the context, and the history of the U.S. financial meltdown, Paul Jay continues our interview with William Engdahl, political economist and author. “I think it’s a symptom but not a fundamental cause of the crisis,” says Engdahl of the stagnation in wage increases in the United States. He continues to explain that, “if you go back to August 1971, when Nixon decoupled the dollar from gold, the United States went into what’s called in the Banking world ‘a Fiat Money System.’ Initially, after the decoupling, the U.S. dollar was backed by oil, but over the years, the United States became “increasingly dependant on the dollar being backed by the U.S. military power projection in the world. F16s and Abraham tanks instead of gold.” Engdahl continues to explain that, “this allowed the U.S. administrations to run deficits like no other nation in the world was able to. I think that is what now is reaching its limits.” As the U.S. financial dominance in the world comes to an end, Engdahl says he fears that, “certain powerful actors will turn to the U.S. military power projection around the world,” and that, “this is the real danger of a World War III.” He points out that the team Obama has brought into his administration is a, “really hawkish continuation of the old [Bush] team.”
BioF William Engdahl is an economist and author and the writer of the best selling book "A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order." Mr Engdhahl has written on issues of energy, politics and economics for more than 30 years, beginning with the first oil shock in the early 1970s. Mr. Engdahl contributes regularly to a number of publications including Asia Times Online, Asia, Inc, Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Foresight magazine; Freitag and ZeitFragen newspapers in Germany and Switzerland respectively. He is based in Germany. Comments from Registered Members | (Register or log in to make your comment.) | Unikorn 2009-02-09
I associate myself completely with the comment by "DJ2008". Let's not forget that, even considering Obama's proclivity for including NeoLiberal & NeoConservative globalists in his administration, the alternative to Obama was unthinkable.
TRNN seems, to me, to be on exactly the right track, and this instant focus on global economics reflects the single most important issue before the people of the world at present.
It is disappointing, however, to see off topic postings by the fringe "heavy breathers" that permeate cyberspace; they have brought down many well-intentioned efforts with their incessant rantings and paranoid imaginings, as anarchists are want to do.
A little moderation would go a long way towards attracting "comments" that are in keeping with the quality and subjects being aired herein. | DJ2008 2009-02-09
William Engdahl shines a much-deserved and rare light on the "New Great Game" in the Caucasus, South Asia and former Soviet 'stan states. He knows perfectly well what the Brzezinksi contingent behind Obama are planning in those regions and provides the level of detail that no other press source does. Bravo TRNN for puttin him on again. Also, look into getting Henry Liu and/or M.K. Bhadrakummar on as well. | sevenahm 2009-02-08
I agree with you gegenwarst but I think the reason TRNN stays away from the 9/11 controversy is because it is so unthinkable, and it is also arguable. Bush & Cheney's confessions of authorizing torture are not really arguable and deserve prosecution, but even there the mainstream of Americans wants nothing to do with it. In order for TRNN to maintain its credibility it must stick close enough to the mainstream to try to gradually sway opinion so that 9/11-type false flag operations, or suspected operations, can be properly investigated without everyone ostracizing the investigators.
I agree with AnHonestActivist - the way to save our is to return to our own borders and reduce our military expenditures by a factor of 10 or so, restructure the monetary system, eliminating the Federal Reserve which has no reserves except what it creates out of thin air. For the military reduction to work, we also need to re-engineer our energy system to be self-sufficient. | AnHonestActivist 2009-02-08
Just like many of the great "empires" of the past, America's reign in this world is coming to an end due to it's own reckless policies. But it may not be too late to reverse this trend. A good start would be for our government to quit wasting away the trillions of $$$ it spends every year on the military, and close down many of the 700+ military bases it has all over the world. And more importantly, abolish the Federal Reserve, tie the U.S. dollar back to the gold standard, and implement a much more responsible fiscal policy. Because if it continues down the reckless, spendthrift path that it is currently on, the value of our dollar could weaken to such a point it won't even be worth the paper it's printed on. And if that happens, then Americans can start throwing the "D" word (depression) around again, but this time with much more validity. | sunrise 2009-02-08
please check the following web-site:
http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/haarpintentional-weather-manipulations
1. http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO409F.html
http://www.rense.com/general50/hrp.htm
://www.eastlundscience.com/PATENTS.html
1. http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/index.html
| sunrise 2009-02-08
thanks for your remark, gegenwarst 2009-02-08, please check HAARP that US try to use military might to control the world resources and stays as an empire by use the "HAARP" to control the "weather" of the world and control the population and exercise mass destruction of murdering hundreds of millions of population by creat earthquake, hurrican, drought. "weather change" "weather control" is US new alternative to control the world still.
| gegenwarst 2009-02-08
The Obama administration needs another 9/11 “terrorist” attack to justify its agenda in Central Asia and the Persian Gulf; of course, this event in reality will be carried out by the CIA working in partnership with Mossad and MI6, to later on be blamed on “Islamic fundamentalists.” In fact, a controlled nuclear explosion (a dirty bomb) targeting a major urban concentration in the US seems to be the weapon of choice (civilian casualties surpassing the four digits). Moreover, this attack may take place in an area of little or not significant importance in economic terms; instead, the main goal of this attack is to inflict a deep psychological impact on the brute and ignorant American populace in order to gain their unconditional support. September 11th, 2001 was a good example of what false flag operations are all about. Wondering why TRNN doesn’t want to air documentaries about the anomalies of 9/11/01 considering the fact that they proclaim themselves to be an “independent media.” | niebuhr 2009-02-08
Engdahl gave no reason for why the US would use its military might to get what its dwindling financial power fails to achieve. There's reason to believe that their military hardware will fail too. Look at the row with Iran, and the miserable failure of achieving any significant war aims in Iraq and Afghanistan. About the only thing that is achieved is the boots on the ground. And they are now talking of pulling out of Iraq and they are certainly thinking of a better (read cheaper) way to stay in Afghanistan. Clearly, not only is there limit to military power, but it is also very expensive to launch wars. With much of its economy going down the drain, it's extremely unlikely that the US can afford another war. | wildpett 2009-02-08
Another excellent interview. This is a systemic problem, correctly recognized by Engdahl caused by leaving the gold standard. There is just to many paper dollars around, and they will go to their intrinsic value, 0. When that happens, the big hammer hits and will cause realignements in the global economy. |
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