The Day the Money Died

When the news on Rupert Murdoch’s companies hacking people’s phones finally got hot, I discovered that a rather unique newspaper -- The Guardian -- had broken the story and kept at it until they got the world’s attention.

That got my attention. I stared reading some of their other stories and decided to bookmark the site so that I’d read it regularly. (By the way, you do have Get the Flick bookmarked don’t you?) All this is to explain that The Guardian has a good reputation and I’ve just started reading it. I can’t vouch for the individual writers yet. I can only go on the paper’s reputation. Which becomes important when I show you this.

Global financial crisis: five key stages 2007-2011

”Whatever it means for financial markets this week, 5 August 2011 will be remembered as the day when US hegemony was lost.”

If that doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will. Maybe this:

”Not that the Europeans should get too smug about this, because what we are witnessing is not just the decline of the US but the decline of the west.”

You see, this is the reason I read newspapers from other countries. It’s tough for an American to write something like this. Which means you don’t hear it. Even when you should.

Again, I can’t speak to the veracity of all this. I don’t know a thing about Larry Elliott (the writer). This is the first thing I’ve ever read by him. So, it’s presented not as an opinion you should value but as what the rest of the world is hearing about America. And, at least in this article, it is scathing.

The Asian markets opened about two hours ago and they are all down. You’ll probably read this Monday morning. (It’s currently 10:30PM EST.) Hang on to your hat. It might be an interesting day.

Don Brown
August 7, 2011