WEBVTT - How The IMF Is Weaponized Against The People | Alex Gladstein 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:01.920 Alex cladd Seine, Thanks for sitting down. 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:03.560 It's my pleasure. Yeah, I love. 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:05.600 Talking to you. I think what you're doing, I mean, 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:07.720 your your mission is the most important mission. Right at 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.280 the end of the day. It's about freedom, baby, Freedom, 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:12.760 Freedom go up, Freedom go up. That should be the 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:13.800 goal human flourishment. 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:17.880 Well, it's not possible without en GU, but I do 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.840 think FGU is the goal. NG is the way we 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:21.239 get there. 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:23.479 Number going up is the way to get freedom to 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:23.840 go up. 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:26.200 I mean, if bitcoin was a dollar forever, I don't 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:28.280 I don't think we'd have the possibility to change the world. 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:31.040 Is that because we wouldn't have as much adoption. 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.720 I think that if you only had a limited value 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:41.760 to bitcoin, it would not be able to replace the 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.720 fiat system. It wouldn't be able to replace the functions 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:46.920 of money. It wouldn't be able to replace central banking 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:47.960 because if. 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:52.400 The value wasn't high enough, then the small units wouldn't 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:54.080 be enough to transact. 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:58.240 That like core dynamic of bitcoin that's so unique and 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:02.520 interesting is the fact that it turns self interest or 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.000 greed basically into freedom. And I think if you had 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.800 like a fixed value that was low in purchasing power, 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:15.920 and it didn't have potential to increase this incentive wouldn't exist. Like, basically, 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:20.360 if it was stuck in its early days forever, it 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:23.120 would be a niche project that a bunch of US 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.880 cipherpunks and freedom fighters and human rights activists would find interesting, 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.440 but the average person would have no real Yeah, it 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:37.679 would be kind of like PGP, right, like PGP works well, 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.280 has not been hacked by the government, but it's kind 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.200 of a pain to use, and it didn't really attract 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:47.240 a massive audience even though it existed for fifteen twenty years. 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:53.440 It wasn't until they could actually package into that to 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:58.080 kind of technology, into things like signal that it became widespread. 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.840 So I think that if you don't have NGU, your 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.840 capacity for FGU would would remain like deminimous. It would 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:09.040 be pretty minimal. I mean, it would still be cool 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:13.760 and useful, but it would be more like manarrow. I mean, 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:15.480 it would be a system that would probably run out 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.120 of steam. The decentralization wouldn't be as strong. There wouldn't 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.360 be as an incentive for enough people to run their 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:24.280 own nodes. There wouldn't be as big of incentive for 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:26.960 the miners like none of it works without NGU, but 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.919 it's not. But I think the NGU is the is, 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.920 the means, the end is FGU. That's that's my vision 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:34.520 of it. At least. 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.520 I write a weekly Bitcoin news email newsletter and at 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:40.120 the top I have a quote on there and it 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:43.040 says that bitcoin is the great bait and switch. Yeah, 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.120 it pulls you in for the n GU and it 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:46.000 switches you into the. 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:48.880 You know, I mean, yeah, what's that quote from Neval. 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.640 It's like like a like a like it's like a 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:54.680 freedom tool dressed up as a get rich quicks game 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:56.359 or something something like that, right, and you know. 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:58.080 It's a bait and switch. We come for the n GU. 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:00.000 No, and after tiers in a bear market, I think 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:05.360 it's fair to question, you know, that part of it 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.040 diminishes during a bear market. But ultimately I always say 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:10.480 price is the greatest teacher. We can do all the 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:12.680 work we can about bitcoin education, and a lot of 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.240 great work it's done in bear markets. Like trust me, 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.280 there's amazing stuff happening, but there is no replacement for 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.280 the massive amount of interests that flows into bitcoin when 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.920 there's a bull market. Isn't And this is because of 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:27.799 ngu like there's self interest. The cool part is due 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.120 to Bitcoin's incentive mechanism, the self interest translates to more 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.200 freedom for everybody else. This is usually not the case 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.160 for things like It just doesn't really work like that. 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:41.520 So even capitalism like a whole at a global level 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.160 has been totally corrupted and doesn't really work like this, 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:51.920 Like more riches and property rights and resources for Americans 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.400 directly is the result of impoverishing poor people in another 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:59.680 country in the current global capitalist scheme. Bitcoin doesn't work 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.160 like that. It's much more kind of open and neutral, 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.000 which is why I'm so excited about it. 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:09.160 Yeah, you know, I was thinking when we came down 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:11.800 into this bear market from our sixty nine thousand pig 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:15.400 to whatever you know, fifteen twenty thousand. But just like Facebook, 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:17.520 stock also was down seventy five percent, but the Facebook, 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:19.840 their network still worked the same way. Even though stock 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.000 went down and the price of bitcoin dropped from seventy 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:24.679 to twenty, but the bitcoin network was still resistant. 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.080 Yeah, but like, think about a country like page like like. 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.640 But for new adoption, like it would work for people 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:32.280 in North Korea. They could still keep their money and 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.320 transact it, but it wouldn't attract to your. 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.960 Point, what's the name of the company where people have 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.000 like a gym in their house, a Peloton? Oh yeah, 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:43.080 so maybe for Facebook now, but but long run, it's 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:45.719 sort of more like Peloton. Like if Peloton stock drops 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.279 ninety percent, like they're going to go under. Yeah, Like, 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:51.160 so it presents a terminal risk to the system. Yeah. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.839 Like like if bitcoin, if the price of bitcoin dropped 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:58.080 ninety nine point nine percent tomorrow never recovered, it would die. Sure, Okay, 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:00.640 so we know it's not going to do at but 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:05.520 like that's why it can survive, That's why it can 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.880 bring freedom to more people, is because of the incentives 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:10.320 at play. 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:12.479 Yeah, I want to talk about what you just said. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:14.080 It was kind of something I've been thinking about when 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.479 I listen to your talk yesterday, which I liked. But 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.520 you just said that kind of capitalism has been perverted 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:22.880 in such a way that American kind of has built 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:25.760 wealth while impoverishing other nations. Yes, and so that's certainly 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:26.960 part of your work I want to talk about with 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.800 IMF and kind of the new book that you're talking 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.440 about with the Hidden Repression is the new book. So 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:35.640 your books are great I look forward to them. So anyway, 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.200 for everyone listening, check out that Hidden Repression new book 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.280 and the way that the financial system has been set up. 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:43.880 It's set up in a way, and you broke it 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:45.200 down brilliantly, and I want you to kind of break 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.800 that down for us again. How these nations are forced 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:53.080 to only provide goods that the US wants in the 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:55.000 dollars and they can't do what's best for them, and 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:56.840 so that's kind of a way that it impoverishes them. 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.120 But if we started just from a higher level, and 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:04.880 if it wasn't for corrupt money, because goods and services 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:06.800 so much cheaper those other nations, they don't have much 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.400 going on there. By taking jobs, whether that be manufacturing 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:14.720 jobs or technical jobs, even though we're paying them a 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:16.640 very low wage, it's a good wage for that area, 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.320 wouldn't that actually be taking prosperity there? But it's the 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.719 financial stem that then turns that around. And actually, yeah, so. 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.680 If we had a neutral monetary language for the world 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:30.039 that was consistent, I think there would be much more 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:32.720 equal exchange is what you call it in international economics, 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.159 unequal exchange. You have equal exchange. I think if the 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.320 monetary system wasn't corrupted. Then you'd get much closer to 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:42.240 the ideal of how people like John Locke thought of 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.520 international trade, where like your country would build what you're 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.440 good at, and then you could exchange that for other 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.360 things you're not good at. That is not how it works. 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:54.440 Like the United States aggressively subsidizes things that we really 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:56.840 shouldn't be making and crowds out the ability of other 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.200 nations to do those things. It is not a free 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:01.479 market at all. It's completely controlled. I mean, it's like 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:03.480 the bond market, or like the stock market in Japan. 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.520 The stock market in Japan can't be considered a capitalist 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:08.839 if the government owns fifty percent of right. The bond 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.640 marketing United States cannot be considered capitalist if the government 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.480 bought trillions of dollars of bonds to backstop it. I mean, 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:17.640 it could be considered a hybrid capitalist. I love what 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.320 you said, but it can't be fully capitalist. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.640 Because because capitalism requires free. 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:26.800 In voluntary stut that being said, we have to then, 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:32.240 on the other hand, empathize with I think like people 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.240 around the world when over the last seventy years they 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:37.640 saw a battle between the communist Soviet Union and the 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.720 capitalist the United States. Right, So even though you and 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:44.200 I know that you know this is not capitalism, I 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.000 can't fault them for calling the system capitalism. I mean, 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:50.360 these are just semantics, but semantics are important. So the 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:54.920 system that people get angry with that they call capitalism 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:58.120 is very is a very corrupted form of capitalism in 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:00.560 my view. But it does raise the question to the 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:02.560 point that it's not even capital right, But of course 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.360 it's the not true Scotsman thing. It's like, this is 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.240 our lived experience. We don't have another we don't have 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:12.440 a counterfactual. We only have what we have. Can market 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:20.240 democracies thrive without exploiting other countries. We don't know the 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.880 answer to that, because there is no world where that happens. 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.080 My belief is if we can adjust the monetary system, 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:28.560 that it's possible, because then all of a sudden, people 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.560 are earning I mean, you have this arbitrage thing where 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:33.439 like all of a sudden, if people are earning bitcoin 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.640 here and they're earning bitcoin here, like it kind of 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:38.920 like tightens up a lot faster, Like if you're earning 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.560 naira and then you're earning dollars, and these markets can 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:44.600 be divided and you can squeeze one and not the other. 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:48.840 This allows for wage deflation, Like it's all about achieving 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.400 wage deflation in some places to protect wages in other places, 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.960 and to produce inflation in other places. And if you 0:08:56.040 --> 0:09:00.920 have two hundred currencies, it's very doable. Of one currency, 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.640 I think it's much harder. Of course, we're speculating, but 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:05.720 I know you and I both know that individuals are 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:09.080 escaping the system through bitcoin, right, so we know that 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:13.319 individuals can escape. Well, then of course the next question is, well, 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.920 can entire systems escape? We don't know, but it's certainly 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:18.040 worth discussing. 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.680 So let's back it up and your book Hidden Repression. 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.840 So there's this hidden mechanism, this hidden force that causes 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.200 this repression. And I think the way that you frames 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:29.080 up is it really starts with the IMF and the 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:33.319 World Bank. And now I'd like for you to kind 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:35.360 of break down how the IMF and the World Bank 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:37.960 does this. But before we do, you know, I find 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:39.560 to have this chart that it's kind of like an 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:41.400 org chart of the world, and it kind of puts 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.240 the BIS at the top, then like the IMF kind 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:48.120 of World Bank below that. But now it seems like 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.280 over the last couple of years the central banks have 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:52.480 started to kind of break out past World Bank. But 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:54.440 we'll talk about that later, but frame up for us 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.200 the picture of the IMF and how they use this 0:09:58.440 --> 0:09:59.319 hidden repression. 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.000 Look, the international monetary system is vast and complicated and 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:06.080 has a lot of actors in it. I focus on 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.920 the IMFM World Bank because they are arguably the two 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:15.520 most important financial institutions in the world, certainly between nineteen 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.920 sixty and the nineteen nineties and probably still today. 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:21.920 Yeah, but probably still. 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:24.480 I mean, when the United States and his allies gathered 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.400 in New Hampshire in forty four, when they knew they 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:30.080 were going to win World War two, they got together 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.360 to think about what's the new monetary system going to 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:34.240 look like, and how can we prevent the nineteen thirties 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.040 from happening again. They didn't want to break down in 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:39.600 global trade. They didn't want autarchy. They wanted the spice 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:43.320 to flow. They wanted everything to be flowing. Okay, so 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:45.920 with the new currency that the US set up that 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:47.800 the rest of the world didn't want. By the way, 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.080 the rest of the world wanted a more sort of 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:52.840 democratic system, but we had the most gold, so we 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:54.520 got to have our say, and we said, no, it's 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:56.079 going to be you're all going to use dollars and 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:58.120 you're going to redeem them at thirty five dollars an ounce. 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.600 So in that system, there were pegged exchange rates, so 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.640 you know, your currency was allowed to fluctuate within a band, right, 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.040 and the IMF was set up as a lender of 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.239 last resort to basically be like a stabilization fund for currencies. 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.400 So if a currency started to like move out of 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.679 that band, the IMF would would go over there and 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.439 put that fire out. And you know what, that wasn't 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:20.880 like a necessarily a bad idea. I mean, we were 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:24.840 basically still on a sound money standard or version of it, right, 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.360 because gold was still underlying the dollar. You could redeem 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.960 it for a certain rate and that rate was controlled. Now, 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.720 eventually that proved to be pretty quickly, quickly untenable. Like 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.600 that lasted about twenty five years, and really, I mean 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:38.520 it really it never. 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.640 Really even worked well by fifty eight. 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:44.320 Between forty four and fifty eight, there were tons of 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:47.000 exchange controls, so it wasn't even really working. But like 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.120 between fifty eight and seventy one. You know, we basically 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.000 had this like Bretonwood System will say, but you know, 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.720 after about twelve thirteen years, it put nixcent took us off. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:58.520 But the point is, at the beginning it was designed 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:03.600 to be like an exchange rate stabilizer to keep trade going. Again, 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:05.560 if a country had a balance of payments crisis and 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.920 it was not exporting enough to sustain itself, it could borrow, okay, 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:11.480 and then hopefully the idea would be within a few 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:13.680 years they could fix the problem and then pay it back. 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.440 That was the idea. Not necessarily against that idea. World 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:20.400 Bank was designed to provide infrastructure funding in places where 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.480 private capital just didn't have the appetite. So this is 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.720 where we were talking war torn Europe in Japan. Again, 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.000 not necessarily opposed to that. I think these things can 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:29.920 exist in a sound money standard. You could have an 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.079 international lender of last resort, you could have a Global 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:32.880 Development Bank. 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:34.760 They can give them the benefit of the doubt. Most 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:36.160 of these things start out with good intention. 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.319 Yeah, and like I don't know if they were I mean, 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.760 they certainly were imperial intent. I mean they were intentions 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.000 to keep the United States and its allies on top. 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.640 But they weren't necessarily like in any sense in moral 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.240 they made sense. But what ends up happening is Nixon 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.840 takes us off gold standard and we're no longer on 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:55.880 pegged exchange rates. So a lot of economists at the 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:57.920 time said, well, why do we need the IMF. And 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.000 what happened was the IMF essentially pivot did as did 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:06.520 the bank. They pivoted away from stabilizing exchange rates and 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:10.840 providing funding for infrastructure in what we now call industrial 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:17.199 economies rich countries to providing credit to the impoverished parts 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.080 of the world, to the developing world, to the third world, 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.000 whatever you want to call it, the global South. That 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.320 pivot took place from like the early sixties through the 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:26.960 mid seventies, and it almost was like a total pivot, 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:31.800 like you really had such you had a massive amount 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.040 of imfimal bank activity shift into the global South. Okay, 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:37.520 so these institutions were now like doing something else, and 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:39.440 like thesis of my book is essentially that what they 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:41.840 ended up doing, whether it was conscious or not, was 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.680 replicating the what's called the colonial drain. So the point 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.280 of colonialism was to drain resources from other places to 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.360 sustain the quality of life at home. So for British 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:55.000 that meant like getting tea and petrol and oil and 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:59.320 gold and timber and whatever at very very cheap rates 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.080 by going in stealing it or exploiting it somewhere else 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:06.600 with violence bringing it back home. Okay, that Spanish conquest 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:08.560 of Latin America, like that, it's kind of been the 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:11.520 way they I mean, you know poor you know, the 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.559 strong exploit through the strong exploit the week. I mean, 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.360 it's it's a history, it's a historical thing. It's always 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:19.880 been that way, but like this is how it played out. Now, 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.000 colonialism in this way became untenable in the twentieth century. 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:25.280 I mean, it just became unacceptable for various reasons, and 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:29.280 it basically died out by nineteen sixty. And that's known 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.280 as like the end of colonialism is basically around nineteen sixty. 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:37.760 So that military colonials, Yeah, that's what I'm saying. 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:42.520 So now you had monetary colonialism. So like the dynamic though, 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:45.480 like still wanted to exist, like these countries and economy 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.080 still wanted to take advantage of these other countries. So 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:51.080 what they ended up doing is replacing the sword with debt. 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:54.320 So you placed the worship and the bayonet and the 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.080 gun with debt. And now what was happening is through 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:01.200 the IMF and World Bank, the rich creditor name could 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:07.400 extend loans to poorer nations and in that way exploit 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:09.480 and repress them. And it was just sort of sort 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:13.960 of like this machine for harvesting resources, natural resources. 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:15.400 To borrow is serve into the lender. So they kind of. 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.280 Exactly so like you would harvest resources as much as 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.360 possible without letting any trickle down to the surrounding society 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.800 A or B. You would do agricultural engineering, so you 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:29.000 would like change what these countries grow to focus on 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:31.920 certain monoculture crops that that we want, and then that 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:33.800 would prevent them from growing the food that they need 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.120 so that they'd become dependent on us. So it was 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:38.680 like sort of engineering dependency. So this is why Africa, 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:40.880 for example, imports eighty five percent of its food, which 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:43.120 is crazy. It should be totally self sustained, it should 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:46.480 be an exporter of food like net. It's a net 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:51.960 importer vastly, and that's because partially US foreign policy, you know, 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.000 dictated it, like we wanted to have food sovereignty and 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.400 to control food so that we could use it as 0:15:57.400 --> 0:15:59.120 a weapon, and we did this several times during the 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:01.240 Cold War. We would basically turn off wheat or whatever 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.680 to a country and starve it like to make it 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.120 bend to our will. We did this in Bangladesh in 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:10.160 the seventies. You can look it up. It's harrowing. So basically, 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:14.160 you know, the IMF and World Bank kind of were 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:16.840 very lucrative for the West in three main ways. I mean, 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.320 a lot of libertarians especially would criticize the IMF and 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.120 World Bank back in the nineties, and they would say 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.160 it was wasteful, it's a waste of tax payer money. 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:26.160 It was not a waste of tax payer of money. 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:29.080 It was very effective at aiding America and its allies. 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.280 And it does so in three main ways. Number one 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.400 is the interest. So these are high interest rate loans 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.480 that created really large flow. And as anyone who borrows knows, 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.120 eventually you have to pay back more than the principle. 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:44.680 So you had all these dictators borrowing one hundred million, 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.800 five hundred million, a billion dollars. Those countries winded up 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:51.680 paying back to US five million, a billion, a billion 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.200 a half dollars over the lifetime of the loan plus interest. Right, 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.000 so you have like earnings coming in and you have 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.240 a flow coming in based off interest. And again these 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:04.200 were back then pretty high interest rate loans, payday loans, 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.679 the predatory lending basically. So that's that's like, and the 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:10.240 IMF and the World Bank and all of the little 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:13.040 arms make billions of dollars a year doing this. That 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.560 sort of sustains them. The second thing, though, is the 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:20.160 resources and the labor. So as of twenty fifteen, there's 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:25.280 one study that indicated that the industrial countries, the rich countries, 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.840 we got about half of our resources and thirty percent 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.040 or so, about a third of our labor from the 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:34.080 global South. Now, let's just think about a world where 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:36.800 that ended tomorrow. So let's say tomorrow, all of a sudden, 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:40.880 we had half the resources and we we were missing 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:43.560 the cheapest one third of our labor. Like on the 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:47.720 spectrum of labor, what would happen. We'd have massifulation because 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.440 we'd have shortages of goods. We'd have way less goods, 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.160 and like we wouldn't have enough to go around, and 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.200 our labor or the wages we'd have to pay the 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:58.280 labors be way more so you can start to realize 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:02.160 how this SUBSETI is our way of life. Like globalization 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:05.720 has really in many ways been a subsidy for Western civilization. 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.720 I mean it just the way it is. Number three. 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.160 If interest is number one and cheap labor and resources 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:14.520 is number two, I mean number three is political control. 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:18.320 I mean again, we would literally shape these economies. So 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:20.280 it's not just that we would get cheap labor and resources, 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.040 but we would make them dependent on us. And that's 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:25.600 what I was talking about the other day in terms 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:28.960 of like, by setting up the monetary system the way 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.120 it is, we would like make sure that certain things 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:35.600 were priced only in dollars, like obviously hydrocarbons being like 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:37.879 the major thing. So if you could only get oil 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.760 in dollars, if you're a little country, and you know, 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.040 I think the mmtiers really get this wrong. They always 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.359 say it's not a big deal. You can just buy dollars. 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:48.840 Oh you want to try doing that. Let's say you 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:50.520 have a week currency. You want to go out and 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:51.439 try buying dollars. 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:53.520 You can sell You're to sell your currency to. 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:57.080 Buy print your currency to buy dollars. Your currency is 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.320 getting tank. It doesn't work. Plus there's often not like 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:05.240 deep liquid pairs, like trading markets for like these random currencies, 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:08.879 So it's not really an option to buy dollars to 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.320 buy oil. That's why these countries have to do exports. 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:13.080 You have to earn the dollars. You have to sell 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.760 something to the US or its allies for a hard currency, 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.000 then use that to buy the oil. So you want 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:21.400 to just basically to continue the point, to close the point, 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.560 like if you want oil or industrial tractors or fertilizer 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:27.560 or whatever, you can't use gunna and CDs. You have 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:31.639 to export something like coffee and earn dollars in your 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:34.120 foreign exchange account, and then from there you can buy 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:36.479 the oil or the CDs. So this is a completely 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:38.600 different paradigm than with like America, where we can just 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:40.560 print dollars to buy anything we want. So this is 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:44.120 why there's like these vast inequalities in the monetary system. 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:47.960 There was a there was a report that China put 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:50.240 out the Government of China, and I forget which division 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:53.119 I use it in a video, but call off the 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:54.879