Is the World Spinning Out of Control?
Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
More Europe bailout news. Last week, the world was elated with news that the Federal Reserve and five other central banks got together to prop up Eurozone banks drowning on sour sovereign debt, but the crisis is far from over. The latest scheme is for countries to trade sovereignty over their budgets in return for more bailout money. The Sunday Times is reporting the ECB is putting together €1 trillion that will be used for a “colossal” intervention in European bond markets. The paper goes on to say, “The cash injection will only be carried out if leaders can agree on handing over more fiscal control to the EU and for strict controls to be imposed on nations struggling to control their debts.” (Click here for more.) Ann Barnhardt, an outspoken commodities brokerage owner who shot to notoriety because she closed her doors in the wake of the MF Global bankruptcy, says it will take much more than €1 trillion. Barnhardt thinks the MF Global implosion and coordinated action by central banks is an early sign of systemic failure approaching. In an interview last week, she said, “Europe is done. Europe is mathematically impossible. It cannot be saved. You even want to make a start at trying to bail out Europe, we’re talking $25 trillion JUST TO START…we’re in excess of $100 trillion to bail out Europe.” (Click here for the entire interview from Barnhardt.)
You think the $100 trillion number is a little high? That is the exact same number that came out of the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland at the beginning of the year. (Click here for more on that story.) While Barnhardt thinks the entire commodities market has been “destroyed” and a collapse is near, an article on Jesse’s Café American speculates a coming gigantic confiscation scheme is in the works. The story says, “At some point a ‘black swan’ event, or perhaps something the classical world would have simply called ‘nemesis,’ is going to knock the US futures market off its foundations. The government and exchanges will seek to force a solution on market participants through the de facto seizure of positions and accounts, with a settlement dictated by the Banks. MF Global looks like a dry run for that much larger default.” (Click here for more from Jesse’s Café American.)
Another ominous view of the EU was reported by NewsMax.com on Friday. The story said, “Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King has told banks to get ready for a Eurozone collapse, according to The Courier newspaper in the United Kingdom. . . . “Maybe it won’t break up, maybe it will continue in various forms, but maybe there will still be questions of default.” (Click here for the complete story.) The default probability was echoed by Nigel Farage, Member of the European Parliament, who said Sunday the big intervention spearheaded last week by the Fed spells trouble. Farage said, “I think what it tells you is there must be, there just has to be, some very major banks that are teetering on the edge of collapse.” (Click here for more from Mr. Farage from King World News.)
Economist John Williams from Shadowstats.com said in his latest post, the downfall of the European Union is not near as troublesome to the world as a collapse of the U.S. dollar. Williams said, “In contrast, the deliberate debasement of the U.S. dollar, and the unwillingness or inability of the U.S. government to address its long-range insolvency, promise an ultimate collapse of the U.S. currency that will leave the U.S. dollar absolutely worthless to its holders. The hoopla out of the major central banks, on November 30th, over renewed coordinated global efforts at maintaining banking-system liquidity, suggested a rapidly deteriorating circumstance. Further, the continued lack of meaningful growth in either the U.S. broad money supply measure, or in domestic bank lending, remains suggestive of deteriorating banking stability in the United States.” (Click here to go to the Shadowstats.com homepage.)
Jim Rickards, author of the new best-selling book called “Currency Wars,” thinks the risk of a meltdown is greater than most experts think. Rickards said in an interview over the weekend, “The likelihood of a collapse is higher than a lot of analysts assume . . . therefore we are in very dangerous territory. . . . Ben Bernanke is probably a greater threat to US dollar stability than the Chinese Communist Party; his beliefs on monetary policy aren’t dynamically stable. He believes there’s no limit to the amount of money you can print, and if the economy is in trouble, print more, and if bank’s are in trouble print more, and if Europe’s in trouble print more. . . .The Fed thinks they’re playing with a thermostat at home–but in reality, they’re playing with a nuclear reactor–and the danger is they melt the thing down.” (Click here for more from Jim Rickards.)
On the geo-political front, Iran claims it has shot down a U.S. spy drone over the weekend and is threatening to retaliate. The Telegraph is reporting, “Iran’s military said on Sunday it had shot down a US reconnaissance drone aircraft in eastern Iran and warned it would retaliate on foreign soil for the incursion.” (Click here for more from The Telegraph UK.) The Iranians have become the black sheep of the world ever since the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed it is developing nuclear weapons earlier this year. What do you bet the downed drone had something to do with spying on that program? Sanctions have been building against Iran from around the world, but the smell of war is in the air. Meanwhile, a story recently on Chinese state run Television said China would side with Iran if it were attacked, even if it means “World War Three.” (Click here to see more on that story.)
If war breaks out in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s first move would be to shut down oil flow from that region by closing off the Straits of Hormuz. 40% of the world’s oil moves through this narrow 30 mile passage every year. Between war or sanctions, oil prices will spike and push a world economy teetering on the brink over the edge into an abyss. If the global economy is not killed off by the EU debt crisis, it would surely collapse under the weight of $300 barrel oil. Never in history has the world been this close to total financial chaos and nuclear war at the same time.
Best Quote ever:
“The Fed thinks they’re playing with a thermostat at home–but in reality, they’re playing with a nuclear reactor–and the danger is they melt the thing down.”
Them sure are some pretty lights and switches! Watch the dials and things when I do this! Those horns are sure loud!
Greg, I believe the war in Iran has already began. Those explosions of two or so weeks ago weren’t internal in my mind, but Israel or CIA invoked, or both. The drown incident over the weekend won’t go unanswered in one way or another. Although the actually shooting war has not as yet happened and may not, there is a covert war proceeding as we speak. I don’t think the Iranians will continue to be cyber attached and covertly bombed without them escalating to a full event which will cause a destabilization of the fragile world’s economy. In the meantime the price of oil is inching up to derail any so-called recovery in any event. When the players and or speculators realize the strong possibility of your Iran Black Swan theory in earnest it will rise accordingly and if it should go to high to quick then the US, England, and Israel will be given a green light to commence a actual overt shooting war because at that point there is nothing to loose as the price of oil has already gotten high enough to derail their economies. On the other hand, Iran can play it kind of cool and just do a little threatening and cause the rise in the price to perhaps $125 a barrel or so thereby creating more wealth for itself and causing hurt to the West. It will be interesting to see how Iran plays it, I’m leaning towards a threat or two to close the straight to jack the price of oil for them to not only get back at the West for the Drone incident, etc., but to add a lot of money in their central bank at the expense of the West. How ironic it would be that Iran could make a ton of money off their nuclear program without actually getting a bomb.
Art,
You may be right my friend!
Greg
Two words come to my mind after reading your latest post- and those two words are: “Legal Plunder” If one reads Frederic Bastiat’s book “The Law”- its obvious to observe in real time today-“the Victims of Lawful Plunder”which he wrote so long ago! Isn’t it ironic how our Monetary System uses that tactic to steal the wealth of nations- including ours!
In a perverse way an altercation with Iran makes good business sense. We know the Fed has flooded the world with U.S. dollars, that it has devalued the currency, countries are trying to back away slowly from using the dollar as the worlds reserve currency, and everybody has to pay for their oil in American dollars. So, we go to 250/300 a bbl oil and all that money starts to flood back into American and British oil companies and banks (to be lent out again or buy gold), the reserve status of the dollar is shored up, Iran,Russia,Saudi Arabia and other oil exporting countries get rich (and the registers start ringing at XE/Bechtel/Halliburton etc)and who gets frozen out in this scenario….China. China will have to pay more for oil imports and it’s oil industry will get muscled out on the exploration and production end. But then again it could be like the last 10 minuets of the movie “Wargames”, where every missile launch scenario causes WW3.
Wow Greg, think I’ll take my lead pill now..
As FUBAR as things are right now, I’m praying that common sense (like: you can’t cure a debt crisis with more of the same) might prevail. Last night 60 Minutes finally asked the question: Why haven’t any of the people who FUBARed the world been thrown in jail?
I think just removing the corruption and fraud with a good dose of law and order would go a long way towards repairing the damage.
Also, acknowledging that the debt is simply unpayable and needs restructuring is a conversation the world needs to have (someone said that debt now adds 40% to the cost of products and services).
Crazy World, Crazy Times..
Keep the Faith!
Thank you RobinH,
I guess for 60 it’s better late (as in very late) than never.
Greg
greg. i must say you have another great artical,however there is one mis-statement. the atomic agency didnot say they were makeing nukes.
what they said was they may be makeing nukes (in secret). well from my experence that secret means they dont know about it…as far as that goes i could be makeing them also…(in secret). a secret is not a secret if more then 1 person knows about it.theres no proof of iran makeing nukes,else why the spying. as soon as there is (proof) isreal will attack. thanks once agian for the open forum your site offers.
Jay,
Somebody else made the same comment, and I think we are splitting hairs here on the language. Here is a headline from CNN from early November: “Report: Iran developing nuclear bombs.” Here’s the link:http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-08/middleeast/world_meast_iran-nuclear_1_nuclear-program-iaea-report-nuclear-weapons?_s=PM:MIDDLEEAST Iran is clearly not pursuing nukes for peaceful purposes.
Greg
greg.
i would expect cnn or another msm artical to send some statements to back opinions of there likeing. but the fact is we went to war with iraq based on lies threw the msm.
lets not fall for close to truth word game agian..as i told my x girlfriend..facts just facts.
now the fact is it would make good bissness to go to war with iran. also even if they did want, and build a nuke,the question should still be, ( is it worth w.w.3 ) millions of people could die because of our fear of the boogie man. i say stay free and BRAVE to the grave. we should be focused on defending (our) country. without offending other countrys. thanks for putting up with my ramblings.
Why do you think *nuclear* war is a possibility? Even if Irán has a bomb, which is highly unlikely, they’d at most be able to cause one explosion. They would pay a heavy price.
Surely US and Iran wouldn’t be so silly as to do this at this fragile economic moment. Although, conversely, a large war might be just the thing to try if one’s economy is about to fall..
Sarmad,
Sometimes even leaders do not act rationally, and this goes for both sides of this issue.
Greg
Samard and Greg,
You forget that the Iranian motivation is not economic or politically but on the belief that they can create the chaos necessary for the Mahdi to be revealed. Their motivation is religious zealotry and nothing based on rationality.
Now there’s an uplifting little piece.
I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop and it brings a type of morbid relief to know that the other shoe is headed to the floor.
The window of opportunity to act in you and yours best interest is closing fast.
Yep, the world is going to h#ll, but mean while, back at the ranch: 😉
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture
in Montana when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a
cloud of dust.
The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses
and YSLA tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, “If I tell you
exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a
calf?”
Bud looks at the man, who obviously is a yuppie, then looks at his
peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, “Sure, why not?”
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects
it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the
Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his
location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area
in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports
it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany …
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has
been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database
through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry
and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech,
miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the cowboy and says, “You have
exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”
“That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,” says Bud.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with
amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then Bud says to the young man, “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your
business is, will you give me back my calf?”
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, “Okay, why not!”
“You’re a Congressman for the U.S. Government”, says Bud.
“Wow! That’s correct,” says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?”
“No guessing required.” answered the cowboy. “You showed up here even
though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already
knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of
equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you
don’t know a thing about how working people make a living – or about cows,
for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.
Now give me back my dog.
i love it..lol
well greg i think you are %100 correct.i would like to fill in one missing blank.the chinese ccp is not the least bit afraid of engaging the us in a nuclear war.the ccp has zero regard for the lives of their citizens…unlike western governments.you can’t negotiate with people whose ultimate goal is world domination or extinction.we are in really big trouble and i’m really afraid there isn’t an answer.p drake
paul Drake,
Lots of folks feel the same way. Don’t give up though and don’t stop trying to put you and your family in a better position.
Greg
Wow … looks bad. I hope you are wrong in your analysis, but I fear you may be right. Keep up the good work!
Thank you David my good ole buddy!
Greg
Trickle down chump change has never worked and it never will…… It will soon be time to rise up against our fascist corporate governence.
Thanks Greg, keep preaching from you pulpit because you are getting through and the masses are waking up to the lunancy of our government.
Thank you Fnpmitchreturms and hbeachrealist!!
Greg
Greg–
I heard you on Coast to Coast last night. You were spot on as always. Our Congress has no problem with another war. More money, more trauma, more death, more destruction, but they, along with our US public, do not really care.
This country continues to dig itself into a hole.
The MF Global debacle is a shot across the bow of the “evil” commodities speculator. Ms. Barnhardt should be taken very seriously as this intimidation will have a chilling effect on the markets even if those customers are eventually made whole. Basically prices on the crimex mean nothing now- get ready for commodity shortages, resulting riots and marshal law. I think things could get very nasty rather quickly now.
Brad Phipps,
She is one smart, tough, honest lady!! Everyone should listento the entire interview! Thank you for the comment.
Greg
Jim Rickards has also been saying that it is his belief that the euro will muddle along. That’s a bit ambiguous, but he’s also been pointing out on this twitter feed that a lot of the negativity about the euro has been coming out of the UK.
Chris,
Good to know, thank you.
Greg
Pretty sobering commentary, Greg. And most sadly, it rings true. The vulnerability we now find ourselves experiencing is cause to pause and reflect on what matters most, as the things that don’t could very easily get stripped away from us.
Change is most certainly coming Tony. Thank you.
Greg
This is the most informative post I have read today. Thank you for putting all these key points together to show how the world is unraveling around us and if we don’t get our house (Country) in order we are going to lead to the destruction of capital goods,services, and lives in massive numbers.
Thank you Thomas.
Greg
1) Some years ago it was rumoured that 20% of the worlds oil passed through the Straits of Hormuz. Now its 40%. Do you have any statistical proof?
2) The rumours of war continue and people are getting bored of hearing the same blah, blah, blah.
Rumours have exploded this year with Nibiru, ELENIN, ELENIN debris, October Red economic collapse, Canary Islands continental shelf collapse, U.F.O sightings, wars and rumours of war in the Middle East. Remember at the end of November Europe had only 3 days life left. The disinformation grunts must be working overtime.
Many websites paint a picture where the poor frog (us) in a cauldron of hot water has just dropped off a cliff, when in actual fact the frog is simply in the hot cauldron of bubbling water slowly moving along a shallow decline down into the depths of hell surrounded by 4 large flat-tron HDTV screens dumbing him down with celebrity gossip, game shows and sport.
Tomorrow is going to be the same as yesterday.
My 2 cents. Collapse will occur in late January just before pay day. People will have no food at home after blowing the wages and bonus on presants, food and drink.
Sorry for being stupid, but could somebody explain the meaning of the joint central bank action on November 30 to me?
From what I understand, they did currency swaps. Like, you know, the ECB prints a bunch of euros and sends them to the Fed, who prints an equivalent amount (according to the ongoing exchange rate) of dollars and sends them to the ECB. Fine – but what is the point and why did the markets seem to enjoy it so much?
Most of the distressed debt in the EU is denominated in euros – not in dollars. How would a bunch of dollars help a bank whose euro-denominated bonds are shrinking in value? Wouldn’t it make more sense to give such banks euros instead of dollars?
One could make the point that another financial meltdown is coming (like in 2008, but bigger) – and in such meltdowns everybody seems to be fleeing to the dollar as a “safe haven” (I always want to puke when I see that phrase). So, the banks are preparing themselves for a rush into dollars. Which is a valid argument explaining the move – but then why did the markets seem to enjoy it so much? I mean, an expected financial meltdown can’t be good news, can it?
Greg: frightening. A thought: if war does break out, ethanol companies could be one important way to mitigate the impact on gasoline prices from $300 a barrel oil. Why isn’t the gov’t passing a regulation to increase the percentage of “home-brewed” ethanol in gasoline?added Wouldn’t that be helpful and pre-emptive?
Ken,
Seems like a good idea to me.
Greg
Right, just what we need. Burn food in our cars,
I saw Jim Rickards on FOX last week w\ Neal Cavuto. I think they like to tell the truth on rare occasions to make things more confusing. Could WW3 be the events described in Ezekiel 38 & 39?
Bob,
Maybe, but I am not a bibical scholar. I’d hang on to that Bible.
Greg
Yesterday I was watching news from Vancouver, B.C. where the media was discussing why gold was going up.
The idea should Canadians be worried and buy gold was discussed.
The news anchor for Chet news said “Canada does not need to worry about their money because the Canadian dollar is backed by the American dollar which is 76% backed by gold”.
I almost fell out of my chair.
The gold has been looted my friends.
The U.S. and thus the Canadian dollar is backed ny nothing but a moonshot string of lies.
Like John Williams states hyperinflation is a herd instinct. The dollar crashing happens in hours when it happens. Don’t sit around waiting for it.
Seems to me the timing of Apple trading in yuan is awfully coincident to the reported explosions at Iranian nuclear facilities and the shooting down of the drone. Perhaps we will use bombs. China will just shut down our industry. I’m guessing they are more willing to deal with the social unrest in their own country that will occur when the economic upheaval resulting from upending the USA, perhaps a few millions of angry citizens, than get in to a shooting war with the US. Chinese are clever folk. They wrote the book on this strategy.
Amazing. So many PhDs, MBAs, experts and technocracts running the world’s politico-economic affairs and this mess is all they can produce. Yet again. It’s time to rein in “markets” — they are not supposed to be sandpits and casinos for wall street banksters. And to get rid of over-qualified DC wonks who were at the back of the line when they dished out common sense.
Is that a mushroom cloud I see in the distance?
Two articles I saw today that add to the lunacy of the whole situation … Silver will be extinct in 10 years … and We are on track to export more gasoline etc than the oil we buy! The first story – glad I invested in a lot in silver. If the story is true, we are going to have one big price explosion. Second story – is that why the price of gas is going down? We should be taking care of our own. Let’s “fuel” the economy with cheap gas! Got to love the illogic!
Who cares?
What a mess, what a mess, WHAT A MESS!!
Greg, two comments; thank you so much for all the links to back up your statements, you do your research and I (we) all appreciate that! It is not that I go to them each time, but you know your stuff.
Second one is a question; how many banks in the US, do you think, are over exposure to the debt in Europe? Is the ship going to sink on this side of the Atlantic as well?
My brother and I, (our business account) are pulling our money out of Bank of America tomorrow, are we to late?
The 4 biggest banks in America have $235 TRILLION in OTC derivatives. Their average leverage of their capital is nearly 50 to 1. Yes the ship will sink here as well and no you are not too late to take money out of B of A. Please let us know how that goes.
Greg
Thanks for the numbers Greg. I miss spoke, actually tomorrow my brother and I are opening a NEW account at a community bank, checking and savings for the farming operation we run together. Then we will let the BofA account draw down and you know, make sure all the checks have cleared and then walk into the bank and close the account. My family has been with BofA for over 45 years. I am not saying it will be easy, but, hey, its our money and we are the ones looking out for it.
Greg
Great article. War in the Middle East will push the world over the edge for sure, it looks very likely with all the chaos in the Arab world. Its all about oil, the world economy cannot grow past the energy supply. Oil consumption now equals oil production so China and the rest of the developing worlds ability to expand is limited, unless they take oil away from someone else. Albert Einstein Quote “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones”.
Sensetti
Sensetti
Thank you for weighing inon this post.
Greg
God’s word is about as close as we will get to having a clue about what is in store for our future……..it cannot be denied that we are surely entering into some perilous times.
Kenny,
Amen brother!
Greg
Great article Greg; I’ve been following you for over a year now and I look forward every post.
Regards Rob………
Thank you Robert!!!
Greg
Thank you, Greg, for yet another great piece. However, if you’ll read carefully you’ll find that the International Atomic Energy Agency did NOT confirm that Iran was building nuclear weapons. Your sentence was understandable given the tremendous spin our neoconservative war enthusiasts put on the highly questionable “report.”
Thank you Frank but, I think we are splitting hairs here. This is frome the IAEA report: “The agency has serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program,” the report said. “After assessing carefully and critically the extensive information available to it, the agency finds the information to be, overall, credible. The information indicates that Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.” The Iranians are clearly persuing or building a bomb. Thank you for your comment and your support.
Greg
On this topic, I guess I’ll have to most respectfully disagree. As has been famously said, “words mean things.”
Having “serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program” and the claim that “Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device” are based on the fact that Iran is enriching uranium, a step necessary for both the production of nuclear weapons AND the production of peaceful nuclear power.
The latest IAEA report never directly claims that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, despite the misrepresentations spun out by the Israelies and Washington’s war hawks. It only shows that Iran has reached a level of possible research into weapons, a level restricted to computer modelling. There is zero evidence that Iran has begun production on any nuclear weapon.
Frank,
I reported what the IAEA said in a report. The report said, “Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.” Frank, they are trying to build a nuke. This story was accurate I am sorry you disagree with the IAEA’s report. Thank you for the comment and for your involvement with this site.
Greg
Greg,
I hate to even go here because it gives images of a tinfoil hat wearing nut job but maybe the debasement of the dollar and collapse in Europe are not accidents. Those coupled with potential war with Iran that may drag China and Russia into WWIII against the US and it’s allies would (in their minds) solve many problems as WWII did.
1. If the US dollar collapse and the Euro collapse come at the same time there will likely be the call (by central bankers) for a new currency encompassing Europe and the United States, We will likely call for it if things get bad enough because we are too stupid to realize that we are further empowering the people who brought about the dollar’s demise.
2. China is the largest foreign holder of US debt. If the US is victorious in this upcoming war then we don’t have to honor our commitment. That and the dollar will be gone so it wouldn’t really matter anyway. Conquering Iraq and now Iran would give the United States control of the oil flow coming from the Middle East.
3. War is extremely profitable.
Problem: The people in power will need at least two catalysts to bring about the calls for war. One would have to be economic as people over the entire nation would feel that pain. The other would have to be emotional. The economic catalyst is listed above but I am uncertain as to the emotional one. A 911 type attack or worse would be my worst fear.
In this third World War our sons and daughters would shed their blood on another foreign battlefield not to stop communism or fascism but to promote a central bankers agenda and the goal of one group to rule another.
I sincerely hope the above thoughts are only just that. Just a little paranoid about our future.
Stephen
Stephen,
All the evidence says you are not paranoid, but most others are totally unprepared.
Greg
Stephen,
You are absolutely right on all three points. As Greg says, you are not being paranoid with these points. As far as the catalyst being a 911 type event, remember that was a false flag event pure and simple. The next one will likely be much worse with bloodshed imminently greater. This time the battlefield will not only be foreign lands, but will be waged right here in our great country.
With the middle class being eliminated and the current looting going on, pensions and other accounts will soon be gone. It is not going to be pretty when the sheeple finally wake up broke and hungry.
Great article Greg as always. Keep at it!
Thank you TNT.
Greg
Well what a weave of crap we got going on now.Is there no sanity in the military machine that we have in our country to thwart off such advances to the people that have robbed the piggy bank.Why do we sit and watch and not scream at the PTB to get there rears out of the business of killing humans who like to be left alone.There isnt that many peoples running the genocide i speak of.
Have we not seen this nightmare before. The Great Depression in between the two World Wars. Does anybody see the trend, when money is manipulated? R.E McMaster’s book “The Cycles of War” 1979. Many footnotes from many previous authors, some of which were economists.
Dishonest “Babylonian Style” currency leads some nation to claim ‘we were cheated in a loan or business’ by an inflating currency of another nation. Bankers cannot be trusted and history shows the destruction of Babylon by the Medo-Persian empire did the world a favor and pushed back these bads economic practices to today.
Only a Great Hand can save humanity from another major war. The faithful know Who that is, others will find out just in time to save them from human institutions, government in bed with bankers, that exist to enslave humanity.