G20 Futility on Display
There are a few notable points about the latest in an endless series of "G-20" meetings: the nickname given 20 of the world's most dominant economies -- and the talking-heads who represent them.
Unfortunately, those "notable points" have nothing to do with "fixing" any of our mind-numbing economic problems (either individually or collectively). They also have nothing to do with demonstrating that these "leaders" can or will even cooperate toward collective goals.
Instead, what this latest economic summit symbolizes is the widening gulf in both the policies
and the goals
of these disparate economies. What is also obviously on display is total global frustration over the continued mantra emanating from the Obama regime: "Let's all pull together and do what is best for the U.S."
For many years, the U.S.' position of economic dominance and the clear "leadership" role it assumed in the global economy were enough to drag along those other nations in the belief that "what is good for the U.S. is good for most others, as well."
Those days are gone forever. To begin with, most other nations are now very well aware that "what is good for the U.S." is
not good for any other country
. Specifically, the rest of the world has no use for an economic deadbeat who squanders the
collective surpluses
of the world's economies in its own mindless consumption. Worse still, it engaged in this plundering of the world's productive capacity via "borrowing" vast sums of money, which it is utterly incapable of ever repaying.
As if this new perception of the U.S.' "role" in the global economy isn't bad enough, no one trusts the U.S. any longer. In what is clearly an example of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" syndrome, other players have been strung along too long by the serial lies of Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner and the rest of the deadbeat cast.
Back when the U.S. was rabidly soaking up all the surpluses of those other nations in the middle of the last decade, Ben Bernanke was assuring U.S. creditors that the U.S. had a "Goldilocks economy" -- where markets and house prices would keep going up forever, generating enough wealth for the U.S. to make payments on its debts.
Then, when Bernanke announced he had been "surprised" to discover the U.S. housing bubble (the largest asset bubble in history at that time), he assured U.S. creditors that when that (fraud-saturated) bubble had burst, that the U.S. would have a "soft landing."
I'll skip ahead past the next half-dozen or so lesser Bernanke lies and get to the "whopper" he passed along to U.S. creditors in 2009: that 2010 would mark the
Fed's
"exit strategy" with respect to its even more reckless spending and money-printing (regular readers are strongly advised not to attempt to hold in your mirth here -- as it could be hazardous to your health!).
As Bernanke the liar "hummed" and "hawed" his way through the first three-quarters of this year, it became increasingly obvious that the Fed's "exit strategy" was nothing more than one more lie to placate creditors. Even the dimwitted "leaders" running these other economies are finally clueing in to the enormous hazard of the largest debtor the world has ever seen engaging in serial lying -- and even more reckless spending -- while still assuring its creditors it intends to make good on its debts.
As John Williams (of Shadowstats), myself and others point out regularly, it is no longer even mathematically feasible for the U.S. to make good on its $100
trillion
of debts and liabilities (give or take a few tens of trillions). Thus once those other leaders learn how to perform arithmetic, then the U.S. is
really
in trouble.
In the meantime, we are all set for a very acrimonious G-20 summit, where the best-case scenario is simply that they will be able to
hide
that acrimony (at least until the meeting ends).
This commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet guest contributor program. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of TheStreet or its management.
