Nothing without Labour

But the self-destruction continued.

Not by everyone.

The attempt to curb inflation by monetary measures provoked inflation which could not be alleviated by local production. Supplies had to be imported by the United States. Those supplies were provided increasingly by the Asian Tigers who were later joined by China and India. Some elements in United States inflation eased as a result but the job losses in "stagflation" became embedded ever more in the American situation.

Not only did inflation ease and unemployment increase but the balance of trade and payments moved ever more markedly against the United States and in favour of the Asian Tigers, China and India.

This was not a sudden development. It matured over about twenty years as I described in "The Multiple Abyss" (1996) and "America's Suicidal Statecraft" (2006).

As the policies matured and Deng's option to join "the rich" bore fruit, China moved from being a relatively backward economy in the mid-1970s to being the world's second largest economy now, with superpower and space-race ambitions and promise of becoming the world's top economy in the near future. Meantime, the United States has had its credit rating reduced by S & P, its approved debt ceiling raised above the present $14 trillion and its space enterprise largely suspended.

Is that as far as global rearrangements are likely to go?

Will stability soon be restored to the global economy and finance?

Will the dramatic changes of past decades in the economic, political and strategic power situation be brought to a speedy and relatively painless close?

The answer to all three questions seems to be "no."

Since the Lehman collapse of 2008, the United States has wasted valuable time, reputation and money turning a disastrous scenario into a catastrophic reality.

In "America's Suicidal Statecraft", I compared Bernanke's idea of helicopters dropping money from the skies to the 1970s practice of the Emperor of the Central African Republic throwing paper money to his grateful citizens when he went walkabout. The gratitude didn't last. The Emperor was dethroned, imprisoned and executed.