Talking (IMF) Head Christine Lagarde
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde, in a November 2012 speech, said the “fiscal cliff” in the United States threatens the country’s international supremacy and the fragile global recovery.
Lagarde went on to say, in an interview with BBC World News, that the fiscal cliff’s severe tax increases and spending would probably wipe out growth in the world’s largest economy.
Madame Lagarde could not be more wrong. She has succumbed to the tactics of Ben Bernanke whose scare words “fiscal cliff” entered the political game back in February 2012 when Bernanke, warned Congress about the austerity measures set to kick in automatically at year’s end.
Madame Lagarde continued, “The real issues are, in a way, the supremacy of the United States and its leadership role in the world. To make sure that that leadership endures, the uncertainty has to be removed because uncertainty fuels doubt as to that leadership.”
Like many others, Madame Lagarde has been spooked by Bernanke’s “fiscal cliff.”
“It’s not purely a political issue, it’s not ideological, it’s broader than that. It really addresses the role of the United States in the world from a geopolitical and economic point of view,” continued the stampeded Madame Lagarde, apparently scared out of her wits.
While Madame Lagarde is going on about the collapse of the U.S., her Euro-zone’s unemployment rates continue to hit new record highs.
European Central Bank president, Mario Draghi, warned the euro would not emerge from its crisis until the second half of next year. He is wrong there. The euro will not survive in its current form and Americans can look forward to an impoverished Europe again becoming a bargain vacation spot.
Angela Merkel joined the destroy-Europe long ago by parade driving another nail into Europe’s financial coffin by opting out of nuclear energy. American vacationers should applaud her stupidity. Personally, I am looking forward to a bargain Oktoberfest in Munich.
Going over the fiscal cliff will have only positive results for the U.S. Getting rid of the Bush tax cuts for the rich and cutting back defense spending will both be great for the economy as the U.S. re-establishes its economic domination of the world.
How is this going to happen? Easy. The U.S. is going to frack its way to a golden era of prosperity.
“Frack” refers to fracking, the technique used to recover petroleum and natural gas from rock (mainly shale).
Thanks in large part to fracking, U.S. crude-oil production reached its highest level in nearly 15 years in September 2012. This is an increase of 16%, or about 900,000 barrels, over September 2011. The United States will leapfrog Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas in the next five years.
This development will reshape the entire geopolitical map. By 2035, according to the International Energy Agency the U.S. will be energy independent.
The resurrection of the U.S. economy does not depend on the likes of Bernanke’s central bank financial gimmickry, but—as always—on what made America great—its people, technology and natural resources.
The major cost component of manufacturing is not labor; it is energy. With cheap energy, manufacturing will return to the U.S. Foreign factories in China and the rest of Asia will close down as manufacturing and jobs return to the U.S.
Then China and the rest of Asia will join Europe as another bargain destination for U.S. tourists.