A farmworker in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Poor countries heavily dependent on foreign aid have received some debt emergency relief by official global lenders during the pandemic. But that opportunity can also open channels for corruption, the author says, making transparency imperative.
75 years ago Germany surrendered to allied forces finally ending the ravages of the Second World War.
Today, as the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of this victory, why not think very seriously about finally winning that war once and for all?
If you’re confused by this statement, then you might want to sit down and take a deep breath before reading on. Within the next 12 minutes, you will likely discover a disturbing fact which may frighten you a little bit: The allies never actually won World War II…
I admit upfront that this is a hard newsletter to read. It is about debt. There is a bloodless quality to the way that we talk about the debt of the poorer nations. There is nothing poetic here. The numbers are alienating, their outcome shocking.
There’s been a concerted effort recently among the oligarchs I like to call The Davos Crowd to demonize cash. From hedge fund manager Ray Dalio pronouncing ‘Cash is trash’ earlier this year to the fear-mongering surrounding COVID-19 making people fearful of dealing in cash because it might be tainted the anti-cash rhetoric has been amped up to eleven.
A combination of politicians and unelected technocrats (such as economists, central bankers, and officials of international organizations) wield political authority over the global economy.
In pursuing the strategy toward China of “integrate, but hedge,” the United States and its G-7 allies attempted to manage China’s global financial role, giving the world’s second largest economy a greater stake in the existing system while attempting to prevent alternative or antagonistic emerging market economies from gaining power.
One of the most important developments in the global economy over the past thirty years has been the integration of China into the global economic system and its governing institutions.
“Hide your brightness; bide your time,” cautioned Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of modern China who was the country’s supreme ruler from 1978 until the 1990s.
