Sunday, August 23, 2015

Do sovereign nations have sovereignty?

Have independent countries lost their sovereignty to international finance? The humiliating deal signed by Greece is an obvious example where the creditors can overrule the Greek parliament and will dictate government policies. Would it not be better for Greece to leave the Euro, bring back the drachma and default on all its debt, so that it can start with a clean slate? Not so easy. That is what Argentina did in 2001 and has been cut off from all international loans since. It reached a deal with 99% of its creditors where loans would be restructured but a two-penny judge in the US has scuppered the deal and Argentina is stuck in a limbo. How much debt does the US have? The US has total debt in excess of $18 trillion whereas little Argentina has a debt of $115 billion. But the US can print as many dollars as it likes, secure in the knowledge that foreign governments and funds will still buy its treasuries, while a fascist judge has virtually taken over Argentina. Reserve Bank Governor, Raghuram Rajan wrote in 2003," Capital controls were meant primarily to prevent a 20-year-old investment banker from moving money across the world to the country providing the highest returns - what government bureaucrats derisively term speculative capital." But isn't that what he did when he first became governor? He increased interest offered to Non Resident Indians which was another way of increased overseas borrowing. But is any government or central bank really in control of its finances, except the US? The rapid growth in emerging markets was due to very low interest rate followed by quantitative easing in the US which led to a flood of dollars into emerging markets. Governments and businesses borrowed merrily but now the boom has turned to bust. Quantitative easing has ceased and interest rate may rise in the US. Markets and currencies are falling across the board. Since nations have no control over their finances emerging nations can never emerge from the shadows. India owes $8.8 billion to Iran. Why? Because the US decided to impose sanctions on Iran just as it has punished Cuba for over 70 years and has imposed sanctions on Russia. We had to buy expensive oil for decades because the US willed it. The US is involved in trade negotiations with 11 trans-pacific countries, called TPP, and with the European Union, called TTIP. One of the contentious demands by the US is Investor-State Dispute Settlement in which a company can sue a government in another court outside its boundary. Which brings us back to the fascist judge who screwed Argentina. The US continues to supply advanced weapons to Pakistan to kill Indians but our politicians and civil servants love going to the US for vacations. Sovereignty is a myth.

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