David Westerfield

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Tag: Ambrose Evans-Pritchard


US in Depression and What it Means for the Church in America

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On July 5, 2010

In Business, Economics, Theology

The ‘D’ word is being uttered in the mainstream now. Despite whatever the media says concerning the ‘jobless recovery’ we’re in (which is a complete oxymoron) or the ‘summer recovery’ we’ve begun that Obama touted as truth last month, all indicators are pointing to the fact that the US is officially entering an era of economic depression, something not seen in my or my dad’s generation.

The numbers tell the story. A couple of articles in particular are pointing to this fact. One on CNBC, the other by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the Telegraph. In addition, even liberal, Keynesian economist Paul Krugman from the New York Times is calling this the beginning of the Third Depression, as I talked about in my last entry. He is dead wrong on how to fix it, but his diagnosis is correct.

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European History Repeats Itself

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On May 14, 2010

In Business, Economics, News, Politics

“Europe’s fiscal Fascism brings British withdrawal ever closer” – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – Telegraph

“Just when you thought the EU could not go any further down the road towards authoritarian excess, it gets worse.” – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Things are spinning out of control in Europe, economically, fiscally and socially. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that “Europe is in a ‘very, very serious’ situation and that success is not yet guaranteed.” And no amount of money thrown at the situation can fix the structural cracks that are now emerging in the very fabric of the continent.

And what do these things have to do with the US? We face a very similar situation in the near future when compared in parallel to Europe with states versus the federal government. The only difference is the federal government is well established. Certainly there are differences that cannot be overlooked. Yet the situation sounds all too familiar with the federal government over-stepping its reach on several different fronts since Obama took office.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard from the Telegraph hits on the historical nature of what is happening (history repeating and history being made) as well as the tyrannical nature of what the EU is proposing to alleviate problems. As one commenter said in response to the article, “I’m getting a very bad feeling about how matters economic and social are going to pan out over the next 3 – 5 years. There’s trouble blowing in the wind.”

Below are some of the summary quotes from the article above.

“Fonctionnaires and EU finance ministers will pass judgement on the British (or Dutch, or Danish, or French) budgets before the elected bodies of these ancient and sovereign nations have seen the proposals. Did we not we not fight the English Civil War and kill a king over such a prerogative?”

“Yet again we are discovering the trick played on our democracies by Europe’s insiders when they charged ahead with EMU [European Monetary Union], brushing aside warnings by their own staff economists that monetary union was unworkable without fiscal union. Jacques Delors knew perfectly well that this would lead inevitably to a crisis, but it would be the ‘beneficial crisis’ that would force sovereign parliaments to submit to demands that they would never otherwise accept.”

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Debt Contagion Picking Up Steam

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On April 28, 2010

In Business, Economics, Politics

And so the contagion spreads … first, Latvia’s economy (and government) collapses not that long ago, then Greece and Portugal’s ratings were cut by S&P yesterday, and now today, Spain was cut. And the question is, how much longer before we realize we’re a lot closer than we think to the same situation? Even more importantly is when will we realize that all the trillions in bailouts and stimulus bringing us to our knees in debt currently has done nothing to actually stimulate the economy (73% of economists agree to this effect, CNN Money)? And how much longer before politicians start feeling the effects of their poor decisions in the polls, as if the Scott Brown victory wasn’t enough of an indication? I wonder what this summer’s Town Hall’s are going to look like. To follow developments pertaining to this from a respected global economist, read Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at the Telegraph. History is in the making here.

Telegraph: There’ll Be Nowhere to Run From the New World Government

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On December 20, 2009

In Theology

There’ll be nowhere to run from the new world government – Telegraph

Now that’s a newspaper headline you don’t see every day. I’m not one to jump on the ‘conspiracy’ band-wagon, but this isn’t even conspiratorial: what we are entering into, and what just happened in Copenhagen, is just out in the open, being talked about by leaders and promoted by the media.

Now to be sure, as far as global warming is concerned, the accord they came up with accomplished little more than what Kyoto accomplished: good will toward reducing emissions. The carbon output of 60 developing nations for an entire year, and all they achieved was good-will? That is of course if you believe CO2 to be a toxic substance, you know, the same substance required for … life. I digress.

However, what was clear from Copenhagen is that a network of nations is emerging as having clear control over the affairs of the people they govern throughout the developed and even developing world (something the third world nations were irate about after the Danish text leak revealed something to this effect). There are some very good arguments particularly pertaining to democracy in this article. Here are some choice quotes (my insertions in brackets):

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China Risks Moving World Into Greater Recession

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On November 18, 2009

In Business, Economics

China has now become the biggest risk to the world economy – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, (bracketed insertions and emphasis mine)

These are headlines you won’t ever read, that to me are worthy of true news alerts.

“By holding the yuan to 6.83 to the dollar to boost exports, Beijing is dumping its unemployment abroad – ‘stealing American jobs’, says Nobel laureate Paul Krugman. As long as China does it, other tigers must do it too.

Western capitalists are complicit, of course. They rent cheap workers and cheap plant in Guangdong, then lobby Capitol Hill to prevent Congress doing anything about it. This is labour arbitrage.

At some point, American workers will rebel. US unemployment is already 17.5pc under the broad ‘U6‘ gauge followed by Barack Obama [the same gauge used to determine unemployment during the Great Depression if that is any indicator of where things actually stand]. Realty Track said that 332,000 properties were foreclosed in October alone. More Americans have lost their homes this year than during the entire decade of the Great Depression. A backlog of 7m homes is awaiting likely seizure by lenders. If you are not paying attention to this political time-bomb, perhaps you should.”

It’s worth noting that Evans-Pritchard is known for making overstatements, though he has been right most of the time to be sure. However, these numbers are not overstatements.

Dumping the Dollar in the Middle East, Russia, China, Japan, and France?

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On October 6, 2009

In Business, Economics, Video

From the Independent: The demise of the dollar:

“In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

“Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

“‘These plans will change the face of international financial transactions,’ one Chinese banker said. ‘America and Britain must be very worried. You will know how worried by the thunder of denials this news will generate.'”

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Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on the Real Cause of the Crisis

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On September 23, 2009

In Business, Economics

Germany declares economic war

“… Banks did not cause this global crisis. Governments around the world caused the crisis by forcing down the price of credit (Greenspan, Bank of Japan, and ECB on short rates: China et al on long rates, by flooding the global bond market) far too low for many years, encouraging debt. Banks were the instruments, not the cause. That is an elementary point that many people … still fail to understand.” – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Uncharted Waters

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On August 13, 2009

In Business, Economics

I’m just not sure why the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee), after having been wrong on multiple assessments of the economy in the not so distant past, would be so quick to say we’re now on the fast -track to recovery when the stats and the history of past crises does not lend us that kind of optimistic conclusion. From Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (Archive):

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