Overcoming Systemic Plunder

In two of his many books and other publications, specifically Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Destroy the Global Economy and The Destiny of Civilization: Finance Capitalism, Industrial Capitalism or Socialism, Dr. Michael Hudson explains to us in very fine detail how Plunder is accomplished in our Era, how through what's known as the Washington Consensus the Outlaw US Empire's been able to subjugate most of the world's nations. And he certainly isn't the only scholar or activist to do so. I remember reading Walden Bello many years ago describing how it worked, along with many others. But much has changed over the last forty years since the Reaganites acted to reassert the Empire's primacy/dominance in the wake of the failed genocidal attempt to subjugate Southeast Asia--a move that essentially erased any discernable difference between the Ds and Rs regarding Plunder Policy.

As Hudson relates, the Neoliberal aspects of Plunder Policy began as soon as monetary control was wrested from the public's Treasury Department and privatized within the Newly formed Federal Reserve. Thus, the most important lesson in avoiding systemic plunder is to keep all banking and financing within the public domain as publicly owned utilities, and that should also be extended to include insurance of all types. The same must also apply to all financial markets--when it comes to all things related to money, they must be publicly controlled and very, very closely regulated since money seems to attract corruption of all sorts and the vilest of characters.

Related to that is the system of international commerce and how it's financed. Currently, it's in a dysfunctional state because of Dollar Hegemony thanks to the Outlaw US Empire's ability to force that upon the world at WW2's end, which was made even more dysfunctional when Nixon made the dollar 100% fiat in 1971, meaning it had no collateral backing. The current government madly printing dollars admits it has a negative net worth of $123.5 Trillion, yet for some reason people retain faith in the dollar's value. (As reported at Shadowstats, U.S. Government 2021 Financial Statements showed the deepening deficit net worth of the U.S. Government’s financial condition hit a record shortfall, or negative net worth, of $123.5 trillion in Fiscal Year 2021 (year-ended September 30), widening from a $113.8 trillion negative net worth in 2020. Here's the current US government Balance Sheet showing a current negative net equity of 29,885.8 Trillion dollars.) The only way the Outlaw US Empire remains semi-solvent is through Plunder and the fact that it merely needs to print the dollars it needs to buy needed items--although given the reality, I'd say this is yet another way it plunders. So, to stop that from happening, a new international system of commercial interactions must be constructed that no longer relies on one nation's clearly worthless currency. What's most likely to appear is a hybrid currency/commodity blend that provides collateral--worth--while in the interim nations will finalize their transactions using national currencies. But the trade currency used is only part of the solution as the settlement system is controlled by the Empire, so one must be built that's impervious to any nation's control, one that's absolutely neutral politically so it can serve all equally.

The other two supposedly international development organizations--IMF and World Bank--are controlled by the Outlaw US Empire and are used to enforce the Washington Consensus and its Systemic Plunder. Some deem it possible to reform those institutions so they serve humanity, while others advocate the founding of new institutions, several of which are already in existence--the Asian Development Bank and the BRICS Bank being two of several with more being formed. Within International Law there's a feature known as Odious Debt and its related kin, coerced contracts (”In international law, odious debt, also known as illegitimate debt, is a legal theory that says that the national debt incurred by a despotic regime should not be enforceable. Such debts are, thus, considered by this doctrine to be personal debts of the regime that incurred them and not debts of the state. In some respects, the concept is analogous to the invalidity of contracts signed under coercion.” [My Emphasis]) Very little use of these concepts has occurred because doing so means challenging the Global Plunder Mafia. But now that nations are finally standing together and facing down the Global Bully it will become possible to repudiate a great deal of debt that was enforced on nations under duress.

Capital is required by any economic system, so loans to provide it will still be made to nations needing it but with different stipulations between creditor and debtor--a genuine developmental partnership must be formed so that both end up with a Win-Win result. And yes, that means a very different relationship between nations with the means and those with the needs. And since one of the goals is to arrive at sustainable development, one of the primary goals of all nations ought to be using their land to grow food for their own people to consume--promoting the reformation of ejidos in South and Central America that would necessitate land redistribution for example. Since Big Ag is part of Plunder Inc and many lives have already been lost trying to defeat it, the need for some sort of multinational defense force similar to the CSTO will be required as Plunder Inc isn't going to let such things happen in what it sees as its backyard without resisting.

Of necessity, any collective security organization aimed at defending itself from the Outlaw US Empire will need to include either Russia or China until the Empire is finally defanged and declawed. Such an undertaking would be easier for China than Russia simply because China has spare manpower and isn't confronted with NATO's constant threat, which is where Russia's attention lies. The unfortunate aspect is the nations most vulnerable are those with the least amount of resources to use to defend themselves, which is why the organization must be collective. It must also be in place and ready for action prior to taking the above actions to reassert sovereignty. Fortunately, most of the defensive weapon systems required to challenge Plunder Inc aggression are rather inexpensive and combat proven, and their provision by Russia/China along with training could be all they need do.

The most important aspect when it comes to defeating systemic plunder is the fundamental ideological act of solidarity--standing together to say No More to Plunder Inc. That must supersede all other considerations whatever they may be since they'll all be used to divide and rule just as they've been over the Millenia. Beyond solidarity is promoting Win-Win and the advancement of humanity. For example, humanity must evolve to a more mature plane where war and plunder are eliminated. The focus of humanity ought to be on the acquisition of knowledge, wisdom and improving the state of human dignity--war and plunder IMO are both signs of immaturity and are great impediments to human evolution. But then none of that's new having been recognized by sages globally for 3,000 years. The problem being very few are aware of their existence and what they said.

Plunder is the act performed by the bully on the playground, an immature act done in an attempt to solve the bully's adolescent problems, which are likely many. As the bully matures, if not cured of its behavior, it can evolve into a very detrimental condition well known to the Greeks as Pleonexia--the insatiable desire to have what rightfully belongs to others. Plunder being the theft of what rightfully belongs to others. I see both as diseases of very immature societies whose cultures are too dysfunctional to cure. It sort of makes sense that the most immature society on the planet is now the most dysfunctional as it seeks to plunder all and sundry. As Mithridates wrote 2,000 years ago of the first Plunder Inc, “Following their usual custom, they will destroy everything or perish in the attempt”--that's the description of an immature brat not being allowed to get its way.