Obama to Inherit “New Global Order” from Bush
AIM Column | By Cliff Kincaid | November 11, 2008
...the Treasury Department is planning to implement aspects of Islamic banking in the U.S.
The bankruptcy of Iceland,
now receiving a $2.1
billion two-year loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “to
support an economic recovery program,” has been depicted as something that
could never happen to America.
Is the U.S.
too big to fail? Or is the U.S.
going through the same process, albeit on a slower basis?
Will we wake up to discover that America is now a bit player in a “New World
Order” dominated by China,
rich Arab nations, and international institutions?
The politicians from both major U.S. political
parties are attempting, with the help of the media, to mask what is happening
by passing what they call a financial “rescue” and economic “stimulus”
packages. The word “stimulus” is sort of like “rescue.” This is actually a
process of piling up more debt and spending on top of more debt and spending.
This puts us more at the mercy of those who decide to lend us money.
On November 15, the crisis goes global, as the
Bush White House hosts an “international summit” designed, in the words of some
of those participating, to create new “international financial architecture.”
This means increasing the power and financial resources of international
agencies like the IMF, possibly by implementing global taxes on the U.S. and
other nations.
Anticipating the event, British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown says the
current turmoil in the world economy offers a chance to build a “new global
order” based on cooperation and opportunity. Brown summarized his approach as
“internationalist, interventionist and progressive,” says a release from his
office.
And all of this is happening under a
“conservative” U.S. President by the name of George W. Bush.
Many of those attending the Washington, D.C.
event will be associated with the Socialist International, which issued a
statement calling for the new international financial architecture to
include a World Financial Organization. A World Tax Organization can be
expected to follow. It has been on the U.N. drawing board for years.
The first
meeting of the Socialist International Commission on Global Financial Issues
was held in Vienna, Austria, on November 3, and suggested “tackling the issue of insufficient financial resources in
multilateral institutions and regional development banks by seeking new sources
of funding and lending facilities, as well as more fundamental reforms in the
global economic governance.” This is bureaucratic doublespeak for finding new
foreign aid money, possibly through a global tax, and cutting the U.S. down to
size economically.
One of the key members
of this Socialist International commission is Columbia University Professor
Joseph Stiglitz, a “revolutionary” economist who was named by Miguel D’Escoto, the new Marxist President of the U.N.
General Assembly, to run a U.N. task force on international financial matters.
Stiglitz, a key player in the emerging “New Global Order,” wrote a Sunday Washington Post article urging more foreign aid spending, a
new global warming treaty reducing U.S. use of energy, and an expensive carbon
tax on Americans.
On October 13,
Stiglitz was among a group of economists meeting with Democratic politicians on
Capitol Hill to devise their new economic “stimulus” plan. Obama says he wants
this “stimulus” as soon as possible.
In a release from the World Economic Forum,
Suzanne Nora Johnson, Senior Director of Goldman Sachs, USA, and a Trustee of the Carnegie Institution
of Washington, declared that the Washington
summit “gives us great opportunities to find solutions and new ways of looking
at the world.” Johnson says that, while there has been “protectionist reaction”
in the U.S.
to sovereign wealth fund investments, as a result of the liquidity crisis there
would now be greater openness to such deals. Sovereign Wealth Funds are
government financial entities based in China and several Arab/Muslim
states.
In this context, the Center for Security Policy
and other groups recently held a news conference to draw attention to how the
Treasury Department is planning to implement aspects of Islamic banking in the U.S. In a release, the Coalition Against Shariah declared that, “It is especially alarming that the Treasury Department is now
in a position to impose its submission to Shariah on the various financial
institutions which it has bought in recent weeks or otherwise controls. With
the nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, its purchase of―at last
count―17 banks and the enormous leverage associated with its $700 billion
slush-fund, Treasury can be an irresistible force should it actively promote
Shariah-Compliant Finance.”
The release notes with alarm that Assistant
Treasury Secretary Neel Kashkari, the official charged with administering the
bailout “slush fund,” delivered the welcoming remarks at a November 6 Treasury
event titled “Islamic Finance 101” It seemed designed to attract more Arab/Muslim
dollars into the U.S. financial system.
It is apparently the Treasury’s view that America’s only hope in this financial crisis is
to print more money through the Federal Reserve and attract more foreign money,
especially from China
and the Arab states. Perhaps the U.S. will even have to go to the
IMF for financial help. Nothing can be ruled out at this point because no one
seems to know how bad it will get.
But none of this will come without a steep cost.
And we can see already that the cost will include not only our wealth, savings
and retirement accounts, but the sovereignty of the United States.
Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of the AIM Report and can be reached at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
