At Global Economic Gathering, US Primacy Is Seen as Ebbing
Apr 20, 2015
Here is New York Times article that confirms the diminishing power and status of the US in the world. They attribute this to a divided government in Washington, by which they mean that the US Congress has failed to ratify the IMF Reforms of 2010 that that President signed on to some years ago.
The spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have filled Washington with motorcades and traffic jams and loaded the schedules of President Obama and Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew. But they have also highlighted what some in Washington and around the world see as a United States government so bitterly divided that it is on the verge of ceding the global economic stage it built at the end of World War II and has largely directed ever since….
Washington’s retreat is not so much by intent, Mr. Subramanian said, but a result of dysfunction and a lack of resources to project economic power the way it once did. Because of tight budgets and competing financial demands, the United States is less able to maintain its economic power, and because of political infighting, it has been unable to formally share it either.
The “tight budgets” just mean that since the mid-1990’s many US corporations have outsourced the jobs to China and other countries, so that there is now relatively little manufacturing being done in the US itself. The jobs have all been shifted elsewhere, and the balance of trade deficit continues at the rate of about $50 billion per month. In essence, money is flowing from West to East, bringing “tight budgets” to the US government.
I foresaw this 20 years ago after our initial Jubilee Prayer Campaign, as I hope to explain in my study in Daniel 4 after I get back from Holland.
President Obama, while trying to hold the stage, clearly recognizes the challenge. Pitching his efforts to secure a major trade accord with 11 other Pacific nations, he told reporters on Friday: “The fastest-growing markets, the most populous markers, are going to be in Asia, and if we do not help to shape the rules so that our businesses and our workers can compete in those markets, then China will set up the rules that advantage Chinese workers and Chinese businesses.”
The US government “solution” is to make a new trade union with other Asian markets, as if that will solve the problem. But this is based on the same Free Trade theory that brought about the original problem in the 1990’s. This new trade union would simply shift a portion of the flow of money from China to other Asian countries. The problem would not be resolved at all, other than to try to keep China from obtaining the lion’s share of the wealth from the US trade deficit.
The underlying problem is that the disparity between Asia and the US in terms of the cost of labor. American workers will not work for a few dollars a day, so the jobs are going to those who will. American consumers get the benefit of lower prices, but it comes at the expense of jobs. This problem can only continue until Asian workers achieve parity with US workers in terms of labor costs. Either the Asians will get higher salaries, or Americans will get reduced salaries—or both. Once parity is achieved, then US corporations will no longer have an incentive to send the jobs to Asia.
Meanwhile, the Free Trade policy of the West is good for big corporations and also for Asian workers, and even for American consumers who pay less for imported goods. But it is not so good for American workers who cannot compete with such low-wage workers. Furthermore, China is smart enough to buy raw materials from the US, while Americans buy finished products from China. That means Chinese laborers are given jobs to manufacture things out of the raw materials.
This is the ten-ton elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge in the US government. But God is using this problem to empower China (along with other nations) and to bring about the “tight budgets” of the US government. A shift of wealth translates into a shift of power. Since our prayer campaign in November 1993, God has used the Free Trade policy to shift power from West to East in order to bankrupt Mystery Babylon and empower the kings of the east as they overthrow the current Western Banking system.
“I’ve been searching for a word to describe it, and the one I use is ‘withdrawal,’ best I can come up with,” said Edwin M. Truman, a former Obama Treasury official now with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “We’re withdrawing from the central place we held on the international stage.”
They still blame Congress’ refusal to give up power in the IMF. That, of course, is a major problem, because it has turned the whole world (including the G-20 nations) against the US. But it is not the real issue that determines the power shift from West to East. The IMF problem is only a symptom of the problem, because as China, India, Russia, and other developing nations gain in economic power (through the US trade deficit), they want more of a say in the IMF. The refusal of the US Congress to ratify this is Congress’ way of trying to hang on to power while their power flows to Asia at the rate of $50 billion per month. It is a power struggle that cannot be won as long as the financial bleeding continues.
What is the answer? Well, if Babylon wants to remain on top, it has to put an end to its Free Trade policy, or at least modify it extensively. But if we look at it from God’s perspective, the Divine Court has ruled against Babylon and has empowered the kings of the east to enforce its ruling. So I do not believe that this problem will end until the oligarchs of the West are fully overthrown, and we enter into the next phase of Kingdom history. From the divine perspective, this will be good, not bad, but we may go through some rough times in the interim.
Even so, this great shift is meant to bring divine judgment upon the power brokers of Babylon. It is not meant to harm the overcomers. So have faith that God will protect and care for you in spite of the fear and confusion in the general public (and government).