Opinion: (Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, is former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission): “European leaders are working feverishly to create what German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling a ‘fiscal union’ to restore private investor confidence in Europe and rekindle growth. Unfortunately, what she advocates will thrust Europe into a deeper economic crisis and leave European leaders without the fiscal and monetary policy tools necessary to combat recessions.”

My Comment: But no one knows how to solve these problems, or everyone acts as if they do know. In any case, we need more time to become aware that our egoism, envy, and pride are elements of our evil nature and to realize the necessity to unite for the sake of our survival.
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In the News (from BBC News): “A low-caste Dalit boy has been killed in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for sharing a name with a man of a higher caste, police say.

“They said Neeraj Kumar’s father Ram Sumer had been asked to change the names of two sons as they were the same as those of Jawahar Chaudhary’s sons.

“The body of Neeraj, 14, was found on 23 November in a field. Two friends of the Chaudhary family have been arrested.

“Mr Chaudhary denies the involvement of his family in the murder.

“He says the family is being framed by police.

“Dalits, formerly known as ‘untouchables,’ are at the bottom of the Hindu caste system in India.

“Although caste discrimination is illegal, biases remain in many areas.”

My Comment: Is it not astonishing that people see India as a source of spirituality, love and mercy, and the ascent of the spirit above the body? But in fact, India’s society shows opposite relationships: the caste system, neglect, humiliation, and so forth. Delusion, fashion, and sweet self-deception attract people, and they want to stay in the “Indian fairy tale.”

See my talk with an Indian Guru Baba Virsa Singh Ji.
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Opinion: (George Magnus, senior economic adviser at UBS): “The main problem is that European leaders have misdiagnosed the underlying causes of the crisis, ending up with a flawed agenda and inappropriate policies. They attribute the crisis to fiscal profligacy and the lack of adequate institutional fiscal mechanisms, rather than to the large external and competitiveness imbalances between member states. So, instead of coming up with an economic and debt adjustment strategy that distributes reform responsibilities symmetrically between debtors and creditors, leaders continue single-mindedly to pledge institutionalized fiscal discipline as the solution to the crisis. They have, in effect, sealed a pro-cyclical austerity zone.

“But such ECB actions will only gain traction if political leaders are willing to go beyond their austerity-depression pact to prevent zombie economies.”

My Comment: For the time being, I don’t see the correct diagnosis of the crisis and, consequently, the right means to correct it.
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Opinion: (Stella Dawson, Reuters): “Dysfunctional politics threatens to deliver a protracted period of slow global growth, possibly lasting well beyond 2012, which will only deepen the political and economic problems for the West.

“Niall Ferguson, a prominent economic historian now at Harvard, calls this an historic power shift.

“’For the better part of 500 years, it was Westerners on both sides of the Atlantic who could say that they had the best economic system, that they developed the best political system and so forth. And those claims have sounded increasingly hollow in our time,’ Ferguson said in an interview.

“The breakdown in public confidence caused by the financial crisis has revealed a deeper problem. ‘What we’re seeing in government is part of a wider crisis of Western institutions,’ he said.

“Heather Conley, a former U.S. Under Secretary of State for European Affairs, now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said this near political paralysis seen in the United States and Europe is common when governments are at an inflection point.

“’Without decisive direction and leadership, we march in place or attempt to muddle through, uncertain of which path to take. The West is at such a moment,’ she said.

“’Only an external shock I fear will force us to take the uncertain (new) path. Or we will become so frustrated that the West will choose leaders who will take us in a radically new direction.’”
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Opinion: (Joshua Muldavin, professor of human geography at Sarah Lawrence College): “Like China’s leadership, the world should continue to play close attention to Wukan and to the tens of thousands of incidents of rural unrest that occur each year in China, the vast majority resulting from land grabs. Why? Because what happens to China’s peasants is crucial to our collective future.

“The Wukan incident reveals the shaky foundation of China’s rise to economic super power. It is built upon an unresolved land struggle with hundreds of millions of lives in the balance. Anything that negatively alters the quality of life of China’s rural majority has the potential to impact the already fragile global economy, sending ripples across the world.

“The result is the complete loss of land for approximately 75 million peasants who join the over 200 million rural residents migrating around China daily in search of work.

“Land loss leaves many rural families — still the majority of China’s population — without access to enough land to produce their food. …Their rising anger and desperation is seen in other rural areas nationwide.

“Land grabs are part and parcel of growing social inequality in China. …China today rivals the most unequal countries in the world. The 400 million Chinese at the bottom face continual threats to their livelihoods through land loss.

“Beijing’s success in quelling daily unrest around the country, mainly through the use of local officials as scapegoats, fails to address the fundamental problem: a development path built on an eroding foundation of unjust land grabs, environmental destruction, social polarization and the resulting vulnerability of the country’s poorest and most marginal people. Until these structural issues are addressed, the Wukan incident will only be a harbinger of things to come.”

My Comment: In this case, too, we see that only the gradual creation of correct social relations of mutual guarantee will be able to bring peace and prosperity to this fragile society.
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In the News (from BBC News): “The Japanese word “kizuna,” meaning bonds or connections between people, has been chosen as Japan’s kanji of 2011.

“The kanji, or Chinese pictorial script, for ‘kizuna’ emerged top of a public poll for the character that best summed up the year.

“For Japan, 2011 was dominated by the earthquake and tsunami in March. The disasters led to unprecedented numbers of Japanese helping one another.

“In April the then prime minister Naoto Kan thanked the world for its help in a letter entitled ‘Kizuna – the Bonds of Friendship.’”
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Opinion (Avery B. Goodman, a licensed attorney, a member of the roster of neutral arbitrators of the National Futures Association and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority): “Bloomberg reports that Bank of America has shifted about $22 trillion worth of derivative obligations from Merrill Lynch and the BAC holding company to the FDIC insured retail deposit division. Along with this information came the revelation that the FDIC insured unit was already stuffed with $53 trillion worth of these potentially toxic obligations, making a total of $75 trillion.

“Even if we net out the notional value of the derivatives involved, down to the net potential obligation, the amount is so large that the United States could not hope to pay it off without a major dollar devaluation… But, if such an event ever occurs, Bank of America’s derivatives counter-parties will, as usual, be made whole, while the American people suffer. This all has the blessing of the Federal Reserve, which approved the transfer of derivatives from Merrill Lynch to the insured retail unit of BAC before it was done.”

My Comment: Naturally, whoever has the money and power uses the power to save money. It’s not only the American people that will pay for the devaluation of the dollar, but the whole world. Obviously, this is the plan: All shall not perish, but generally lose. No wonder, the FDIC is busy….
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In the News (from Finmarket.ru): “The 1 % of the richest in the West dominates political decisions. Income inequality has become increasingly important in political and economic life in the U.S. and Europe.

“The main question is how to tax the 1 % of the richest (​​those whose annual income exceeds half a million dollars). A tax on super profits has become one the reasons for discord between Democrats and Republicans. The ratio between the income of the richest and the poor is 14:1 in the U.S., and 6:1 in the EU.”

My Comment: Everything is measured relative to the rich and the poor, and that is why the question arises: What should the ratio between them be to produce protest actions like “the Arab spring” in the U.S. and Europe?
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In the News: “China and Japan have unveiled plans to promote direct exchange of their currencies in a bid to cut costs for companies and boost bilateral trade. The deal will allow firms to convert the Chinese and Japanese currencies directly into each other. Currently businesses in both countries need to buy US dollars before converting them into the desired currency adding extra costs.

“‘Given the huge size of the trade volume between Asia’s two biggest economies, this agreement is much more significant than any other pacts China has signed with other nations,’ Ren Xianfang of IHS Global Insight was quoted as saying by the Bloomberg news agency.” (Source: BBC News)

“In contrast, the EU shows helplessness in general politics against speculation, wars in Africa and Asia. It is useless to demand for Germany to create the United States of Europe so that the ECB acts as the Federal Reserve in the U.S. because the Germans and the British do not want to lose their sovereignty unlike the people of southern Europe.” (Source: L’Occidentale)

My Comment: For the time being this also shows the lack of a common firm decision. Due to its absence, the Asian market only tries to isolate itself from the rest of the world in hopes of reducing their losses. But the future will show that without uniting all world economies into one single system, the crisis cannot be overcome.
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In the News (from Panorama.it): “2012 will be very difficult for the global economy.

“BRICS countries will be in the most unfavorable situation mainly because a currency crisis may break out within their borders, which has been underestimated for too long.

“To counter the financial crisis of 2008, central banks in developed economies eased their monetary and fiscal policies, and most of the “hot” Western capital has been directed to countries with emerging economies in order to support their growth. But now there is a danger that that old credit bubble will burst.

“The financial balance of BRICS can fail because the dollar continues to rise and the credit institutions of the Old World are suffering from poor liquidity.

“What’s more, the Chinese real estate bubble may implode, causing the fall of commodity prices, which so far were moving the growth of emerging economies.

“The crisis will break out when they run out of foreign currency reserves. If the global recession brings energy prices down, it will adversely affect the national economy of Russia. For China, the biggest danger lies in the real estate bubble that can burst at any moment. If the U.S. and Europe fail to cope with the situation, the world should prepare for the worst.”

My Comment: The crisis will force us to rethink our attitude towards ourselves and the world.
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