Any nation-state that meets these four requirements is fully exposed to a global loss of faith in its economy, debt, balance of payments and currency. There’s an entire sub-industry in journalism devoted to the idea that China is poised to replace the U.S. as the “global empire” / hegemon. This notion of global empire being something like a baton that gets passed from nation-state to nation-state is seriously misleading, in my view, for this reason: There is only one global empire: finance. China and the U.S. both exist within the Empire of Finance. Virtually every mercantile nation with access to global markets lives, works and thrives/dies within the Empire of Finance. Every nation that allows capital to flow into
Topics:
Charles Hugh Smith considers the following as important: China Gross Domestic Product, Featured, newslettersent, The United States
This could be interesting, too:
Marc Chandler writes Sterling and Gilts Pressed Lower by Firmer CPI
Ryan McMaken writes A Free-Market Guide to Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
Wanjiru Njoya writes Post-Election Prospects for Ending DEI
Swiss Customs writes Octobre 2024 : la chimie-pharma détermine le record à l’export
There’s only one global empire, that of Finance. If you want global hegemony, you must accept the dominance of global finance and pay tribute. If you don’t want to submit to the empire, then you cannot be a global hegemon.
When the Empire of Finance collapses under the weight of its debt, perverse incentives, exploitation and inequality, the financial system of every nation-state within the Empire of Finance will collapse, too. Being the hegemon within the collapsing system won’t protect the hegemon from collapse. Every nation-state that has submitted to the Empire of Finance will collapse.
These charts are snapshots of an unsustainable global financial system.
|
China Debt - Breakdown, 2002 - 2016 |
Debt is outracing “growth” everywhere, including China:eeeeeeeee |
China Debt to GDP, 2003 - 2017(see more posts on China Gross Domestic Product, ) |
To the moon, baby! There’s no upper limit on debt–until there is. |
Global Debt 2016 |
There’s no limit on the sale of claims on future energy, income and “wealth”–i.e. bonds: |
Global Bond Market, 1990 - 2017 |
The global economy, by one (flawed) measure (GDP): |
Global Economy by GDP |
As for hegemony and empire–be careful what you wish for. Life outside the financial bubble is much more contingent and risky than life inside the bubble–until it pops.If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.
Tags: China Gross Domestic Product,Featured,newslettersent