Why Are So Many Americans So Wrong About China?

Posted by Matt in March 15th, 2010 | no comment

Published in China, Banking Sector, China Today, Coastal Provinces, Communism, Corruption, Economic Crisis, Foxnews, Gap, Leadership, Loans, Nationalism, New Leaders, Pendulum Swing, Shanghai Banking, Taiwan, Transparency, United States

Today, China is heading for another pendulum swing towards economic crisis and anti-Western nationalism. The Shanghai banking sector is filled with corruption, lack of transparency and bad loans. The gap between the booming coastal provinces and the still poor interior remains huge. Communism as an ideology has been displaced by surging nationalism.
A major economic crisis [...]

UK Economic and Debt Crisis Approaches Dangerous Tipping Point

Posted by Matt in March 15th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Financial, Cataclysm, Debt Crisis, Economic Crisis, Elites, Matter Of Time, Political Establishment, Precipice, Probability, Sinks, Sovereign Debt, Sustainable Solution, Tipping Point, United States

It seems to this observer that it is only a matter of time before the UK sinks into an irreversible sovereign debt cataclysm, with the United States not far behind. Anyone who believes that the same political establishment and financial elites that have led both nations to this hellish fiscal precipice can now lead us [...]

Greece’s economic crisis could signal trouble for its neighbors – washingtonpost.com

Posted by Matt in February 9th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Economy, Financial, Debt Crisis, Economic Crisis, Economic Problems, European Countries, Government Spending, Greece, Neighbors, Sovereign Debt

But the underlying economic problems facing Greece and some other European countries mean that radical cutbacks in government spending and more social pain are likely to follow as these countries move to avert a sovereign debt crisis, in which nations find themselves unable to pay on their obligations.
Greece’s economic crisis could signal trouble for [...]

Russian Protests Grow as Economic Hardships Persist – The Jamestown Foundation

Posted by Matt in February 4th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Russia, Decline, Economic Crisis, Economic Downturn, Economic Hardships, Gdp, inflation, Jamestown, Jamestown Foundation, Leadership, Political Discontent, Populace, Prime Minister, Propaganda, prosperity, Protests, Recession, Russia, Stagflation, Stagnation, Vladimir Putin

The economic downturn in Russia seems to have transmuted into growing political discontent within the populace and the governing structures. Since last summer, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been proclaiming publicly that “the worst of the recession is over and growth is resuming” (Interfax, June 9). The populace believed the vocal state-run propaganda, hoping that [...]

Russia’s Reversal of Fortune | Foreign Policy

Posted by Matt in January 16th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Russia, Contempt, Economic Crisis, Economic Hardship, Incomes, Kgb Agents, kremlin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Minded Society, Nationalism, Policy Reversal, Repression, Reversal Of Fortune, Russian State, Social Contract, Soviet Empire, Soviet Leaders, Uncomfortable Truth, Vladimir Putin, Yegor Gaidar, Yukos Oil Company

Vladimir Putin’s social contract has been premised on an authoritarian state delivering rising incomes and resurgent power. But the economic crisis is unraveling all that. And what comes next in Russia might be even worse.
…
But the chances of a liberal renaissance as a result of Putin’s social contract unraveling are highly unlikely. There is nothing [...]

U.S. Dethroning Russia as Gas King | The Moscow Times

Posted by Matt in January 12th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Energy, Cubic Meters, Economic Crisis, Energy Ministry, European Union, Foreign Markets, Gas Output, gazprom, Influx, King Business, Lost World, Moscow Russia, Moscow Times, Natural Gas, Producer Gas, Russia Business, Russia Moscow, Shale Gas, United States

Russia has all but lost its title as the world’s biggest producer of natural gas to the United States, and Moscow appears unlikely to reclaim the No. 1 spot until Gazprom manages to capture new foreign markets.
Gas output dropped 12 percent to 582 billion cubic meters last year as demand in the key market, the [...]

Nations in the red threaten stability

Posted by Matt in January 8th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Financial, Budget Deficits, Economic Crisis, Economic Stability, Finances, Financial Crises, Greece, Ireland, National Governments, Tax Increases, Trillion, United States

The world economic crisis has entered a new stage where the overstretched finances of the United States and other national governments have become the biggest threat to economic stability.
While the prospect of an unprecedented string of U.S. budget deficits exceeding $1 trillion is causing much angst, the problems are even worse for smaller countries [...]

Russia: Stuck in a Year of Events and Little Change – The Jamestown Foundation

Posted by Matt in January 4th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Russia, Approval Ratings, December 28, Democratic Freedoms, Dmitry Medvedev, Economic Crisis, Economic Reforms, Gazeta Ru, Human Rights, Jamestown, Jamestown Foundation, Levada, Opinion Polls, Present Day, Prime Minister, Reformers, Russians, Stalinism, Sudden Death, Vladimir Putin, Yegor Gaidar

Last year was for Russia both extraordinarily hard and very unlucky –but it saw strikingly little economic reforms and practically no political development. Opinion polls show that a significant majority of Russians (62 percent) consider it as worse than 2008, when the arrival of the economic crisis coincided with the war with Georgia, but the [...]

Warnings of social unrest due to rise – Mexico – The News

Posted by Matt in January 1st, 2010 | no comment

Published in Forecasts, Mexico, Consequence, Deputies, Economic Crisis, Federal Government, Fernando Morales, Gasoline, Mexicans, Mexico News, Pri Mexico, Risk, Social Unrest, SocialUnrest, Tortillas, Unemployment

PRI Deputies warn of the risk Mexico runs of coming undone by social unrest due to the rise in the price of basic products such as tortillas as a consequence of the two increases in the cost of gasoline authorized by the Federal Government.Fernando Morales and Jorge Herrera, in separate interviews, acknowledged that this situation [...]

World May Be Entering a New Age of Peace – Newsweek.com

Posted by Matt in December 28th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Geopolitical, AgeofPeace, Collapse, Economic Crisis, Economist, Excesses, Forest Fires, Forests, John Mueller, Millennia, Newsweek, Nuclear Arsenal, Nuclear War, Ohio State University, Peace, Political Scientist, Relative Calm, Stable Period, Stock Market, Stock Markets, Traditional War, Underbrush, Verge

Anybody that thinks war is on the way out is delusional.
As I have explained in prior posts, societies collapse into war and follow the power law just like forest fires, stock markets and sandpiles. This is due to excesses that gradually build up during the stable period. Sand builds up too high. Forests build up [...]