Blog 50 More on Beyond Banksters

Blog 50 Beyond Banksters; Resisting the New Feudalism, (cont. 2)

Two quotations from the book.

1   Chapter 3.   A 21st Century Trojan Horse, p33.
 (Toronto), 

"Globe & Mail columnist Konrad Yakabuski urged 'sober second thought' about infrastructure spending, citing examples in Spain, Greece and Japan (seduced by low borrowing rates from private lenders) where massive spending has created 'money pit' infrastructure that nobody uses. Yakabuski noted, 'If government spending on superlatively smooth highways, sleek subways and far-reaching fast trains was the ticket to success, Japan, Spain, and Greece would lead the global economy. Instead, infrastructure spending has been a major source of their debt-induced woes' "

Our Comment to Canadians.
So is Canada paying attention to what their Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau, and his Finance Minister, Mr. Morneau, are planning to do with their touted infrastructure plans? Mr. Morneau's day job is a principal in Morneau Chapell, which bills itself as a "pension investment adviser" and offers services such as "managing employee absence and disability strategically." (Website quoted.)

So what does a company get for its fees paid to Morneau-Chapell for that "strategy"? Would it prevent or increase "debt-induced woes" if applied to Canada? Be alert, Canadians. You can read more in Beyond Banksters...


2  Chapter 16 "Lessons from Iceland" p.133.

"John Perkins' 2004 best-seller, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, had demonstrated in devasting detail how consultants like himself had coerced Third World governments during the late 1960's and early 1970's to take on huge loans from the World Bank, the IMF and other lending agencies in order to build vast infrastructure projects. The money went directly to US engineering and construction firms, like Bechtel and Halliburton, Stone & Webster, Brown & Root, and other contracting, consulting and engineering firms, who profited immensely from such projects. Once a country had been saddled with massive foreign debt, it could by manipulated and further coerced into working on behalf of the multinationals. It could also be financially ruined by that debt.

"That is what happened to Iceland on October 6, 2008, when its banks collapsed and the country went belly up. Perkins said that there was every indication that Iceland had been 'targeted by economic hit men.' He even publicly called Iceland 'an experiment in the process of how do we hit developed countries?' "

Our Comment

But Iceland hit back. If you read no other chapter in the Nelson book, you will find Chapter 16 a rewarding snapshot of a whole global scenario.

For a much more extensive and detailed review, read ER, the journal of C.O.M.E.R (Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform) for Nov-Dec 2016,  http//comer.org/archives/2016. Reviewer Ed Finn also found that the only way to review this book was by quoting it.