Or so says Niall Ferguson - Harvard financial and historical guru. The recession crunch is going to get much worse before it gets better, and the intensity of the seemingly short-lived "Buy American" scare is only the tip of the iceberg. It started yesterday when Abu Dhabi snapped up Nova Chemicals at bargain-basement pricing. Financial power is quickly moving to the world's creditors - often major sovereign wealth funds - and away from its debtors - us.
"It's revenge of the sovereign wealth funds. They got burned. And this time, no more Mr. Nice Guy."
This is a provoking interview with Niall Ferguson, one of North America's top public intellectuals, and I recommend it for a Tuesday morning read.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
There Will be Blood
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2 comments:
First of all, posting at 6.40 a.m, it makes you look so industrious.
Second, this past week President Obama in his radio address spoke of building a U.S. educational system so that the Americans can compete and win in the global economy. As I heard that all I could think of, "What happens to the losers?" This is not only "buy American" it is let America wipe out the competition. In a time of global downturn to take such an attitude seems a kind of defacto protectionism that cares little for those who suffer most from economic downturns.
Heh - actually the time-date stamping on the blog is a little off, and I haven't gotten around to correcting it. I doubt very much I posted this at 6:40 am.
The counter response from an Obama person might be that competition in the global economy isn't necessarily zero-sum - thus there are not clear "winners" and "losers"; but people who "win more" and "win less". Of course, when push comes to shove and you suss out the theory, it really does play out in the ways you're suggesting.
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