The assault on free markets continues. Here we see the Australian Prime Minister issuing the same rhetoric as other world leaders – including Barack Obama. You’ll notice that the message below contains similar language as we’ve heard from other leaders:
“Kevin Rudd…….called for a new era of "social capitalism" in which government intervention and regulation feature heavily”
"The time has come, off the back of the current crisis, to proclaim that the great neo-liberal experiment of the past 30 years has failed….”
“…it now falls to social democracy to prevent liberal capitalism from cannibalising itself.”
“Mr. Rudd writes in The Monthly that just as Franklin Roosevelt rebuilt US capitalism after the Great Depression, modern-day "social democrats" such as himself and the US President, Barack Obama, must do the same again.”
“….he argues that "minor tweakings of long-established orthodoxies will not do" and advocates a new system.”
“He [Mr. Rudd] advocates tighter regulation and policing of global finances”
This quote sounds like it came straight out of Atlas Shrugged:
"[Mr. Rudd advocates] a system of open markets, unambiguously regulated by an activist state, and one in which the state intervenes to reduce the greater inequalities that competitive markets will inevitably generate.”
It’s easy to believe all of this economic rhetoric when we hear world leaders constantly telling us what the problem is and how to solve it. The rhetoric always follows the same line of reasoning and consists of some version of the following language:
1. It appears that the free market system (capitalism) is seriously flawed
2. Greed has compounded the problem (true enough)
3. The current crisis is a direct result of #1 and #2 above (let’s ignore the truth)
4. Anyone who advocates free markets is attacked (see article below)
5. At a minimum – we need more government intervention and regulation
6. #5 will probably not be good enough – so we’ll need a new, heavily regulated ‘system’.
7. The ‘system’ in #6 is usually described as a ‘New World Order’
8. The ‘State’ must be heavily involved in creating and regulating this ‘New World Order’
As we’ve learned previously, what’s really causing the problems we’re experiencing today? A monetary system that is based on exponential debt and money growth. It is the world’s monetary system (I say ‘world’ because we’re all on the same underlying system) that is causing the current economic ‘crisis’. It’s not subprime loans or subprime borrowers. It’s not ‘interest only’ or ‘option-arm’ loans. It’s not a ‘liquidity’ problem. It’s not an ‘interest rate’ problem. It’s not a ‘financial derivatives’ problem. All of these things are symptoms of an underlying disease that no one in power wants to discuss.
The hard truth that no one wants to admit to or research is this – the current economic crisis is deliberate and is being used to promote a new ‘order’ that is built on socialism. We hear it promoted from leaders all over the world almost daily now – yet we don’t want to face the truth – so we stick our heads in the sand and pretend that the ‘stimulus’ packages will somehow save us from economic oblivion. The ‘stimulus’ packages will not save us – but they will certainly contribute to the world’s bankruptcy as governments the world over eventually default under the weight of massive debt.
If you haven’t read the Bible in awhile – I recommend that you pick it up and start learning the truth. The prophecies of Revelation are now screaming at us – and very few are paying any attention.
jg – February 3, 2009
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Time for a New World Order: PM
Phillip Coorey Chief Political Correspondent
January 31, 2009
KEVIN RUDD has denounced the unfettered capitalism of the past three decades and called for a new era of "social capitalism" in which government intervention and regulation feature heavily.
In an essay to be published next week, the Prime Minister is scathing of the neo-liberals who began refashioning the market system in the 1970s, and ultimately brought about the global financial crisis.
"The time has come, off the back of the current crisis, to proclaim that the great neo-liberal experiment of the past 30 years has failed, that the emperor has no clothes," he writes of those who placed their faith in the corrective powers of the market.
"Neo-liberalism and the free-market fundamentalism it has produced has been revealed as little more than personal greed dressed up as an economic philosophy. And, ironically, it now falls to social democracy to prevent liberal capitalism from cannibalising itself."
Mr. Rudd writes in The Monthly that just as Franklin Roosevelt rebuilt US capitalism after the Great Depression, modern-day "social democrats" such as himself and the US President, Barack Obama, must do the same again. But he argues that "minor tweakings of long-established orthodoxies will not do" and advocates a new system that reaches beyond the 70-year-old interventionist principles of John Maynard Keynes.
"A system of open markets, unambiguously regulated by an activist state, and one in which the state intervenes to reduce the greater inequalities that competitive markets will inevitably generate," he writes.
He urges "a new contract for the future that eschews the extremism of both the left and right".
He mocks neo-liberals "who now find themselves tied in ideological knots in being forced to rely on the state they fundamentally despise to save financial markets from collapse".
He advocates tighter regulation and policing of global finances, and identifies the immediate challenge as restoring global growth by 3 per cent of gross domestic product, the amount it is expected to fall in 2009. Next week, as Parliament resumes, his Government will chip in with a second economic stimulus package.
Mr Rudd commits to keeping budgets in surplus "over the cycle", meaning deficits should be temporary. In a further sign the Government is not contemplating additional tax cuts, which would deliver a permanent hit to revenue, he stresses that stimulus measures have to be paid for when the economy recovers.
Mr Rudd singles out Thatcherism as a culprit, as well as the former Howard government. His essay implicitly attacks the Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, who this week urged the free market be allowed to dictate commercial property values as he slammed a Government measure to prop them up.
Mr Rudd's essay follows the blast Mr Obama gave Wall Street bankers yesterday for awarding themselves $28 billion in bonuses last year at the same time as they were being bailed out by taxpayers.
In a message to Mr Obama and the US Congress, Mr Rudd counselled against erecting trade barriers. "Soft or hard, protectionism is a sure-fire way of turning recession into depression as it exacerbates the collapse in global demand."
The message was reinforced in Davos yesterday when the Trade Minister, Simon Crean, described the "buy American" provisions of the new Obama stimulus package as "very worrying". "On the face of it, it looks like it contravenes commitments made to the World Trade Organisation," he said.
with Paola Totaro
