In favour of public banks
Jul. 15th, 2011 07:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gusl"The Global Debt Crisis: How We Got in It and How to Get Out"
Is US federal debt in USD? If so, this means that the US can use its privilege to get out of this by just printing more money... the side effect being that very soon we might not be able to afford imports anymore.
When Brazil had a huge foreign debt in the '80s, there was no easy way to get out of the red because the debt was in USD and maybe also that inflation was working against us. In 1983, after a decade of heavy spending on infrastructure, Brazil got a bail-out from the IMF, who imposed conditions like privatizations(?), deregulation of markets(?), and control of the public deficit. I have heard theories that the cause of the crisis, on top of mismanaged/reckless spending by the government, were foreign interests who benefited from enslaving developing countries by crippling them with debt, so as to keep the source of cheap labour from becoming expensive, and who had influence over the IMF and the developing countries' governments.
In 2008, Brazil became a net creditor for the first time in its history. I don't know how much of this can be attributed to the fiscal discipline that the IMF imposed on us... but it would sure be nice if the rest of the world had imposed a similarly strict fiscal discipline on itself.
<< Japan retains its status as the third largest economy in the world although it has a debt to GDP ratio of 226%. Japan has “monetized” the national debt, turning it into the national money supply. The government-owned Bank of Japan holds Japanese government debt equal to 100% of the nation’s GDP; and because the government owns the bank, this loan is interest-free and can be rolled over indefinitely. An interest-free loan rolled over indefinitely is the equivalent of issuing money. >>
Is US federal debt in USD? If so, this means that the US can use its privilege to get out of this by just printing more money... the side effect being that very soon we might not be able to afford imports anymore.
When Brazil had a huge foreign debt in the '80s, there was no easy way to get out of the red because the debt was in USD and maybe also that inflation was working against us. In 1983, after a decade of heavy spending on infrastructure, Brazil got a bail-out from the IMF, who imposed conditions like privatizations(?), deregulation of markets(?), and control of the public deficit. I have heard theories that the cause of the crisis, on top of mismanaged/reckless spending by the government, were foreign interests who benefited from enslaving developing countries by crippling them with debt, so as to keep the source of cheap labour from becoming expensive, and who had influence over the IMF and the developing countries' governments.
In 2008, Brazil became a net creditor for the first time in its history. I don't know how much of this can be attributed to the fiscal discipline that the IMF imposed on us... but it would sure be nice if the rest of the world had imposed a similarly strict fiscal discipline on itself.