This is a wide-ranging discussion with Bob Moriarty of 321 Gold. Moriarty starts with the book about America's rendezvous with destiny—The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howe—and looks at the inevitable transition away from a dollar-denominated and US-led world to whatever system emerges to replace it.
He then examines what happened; how did we get here? His answer is that United States of America engaged in an orgy of spending on military adventures in the post-Second World War period. This has built up vast debts, to which the government response was to set interest rates at zero: an impossible, unreal position that could not last. And, as the inevitable inflation came along to accompany the extreme easy-money policy, the result was increasing insolvency, of central and commercial banks, pension funds, governments and households. It was predictable, yet those who lead the west never raised a concern or a warning.
The debt-based system of the West is now a fatally flawed never-neverland. Despite a pretence of prudence, the $305 trillion of debt can never be repaid. The central banks of such nations as Switzerland and Japan are bankrupt, having been run more as casinos than as prudent financial institutions. To add to the unreality, the US debt ceiling is suspended (temporarily, it is claimed) and whatever level of debt exists in 2025, that will be the new ceiling. All reason and restraint seem to have been lost. There is the feeling of approaching collapse.
Against the background of this financial fragility, we have the folly of the Russia-Ukraine war. The Western response—sanctions—constitutes financial suicide. The west, especially Germany, has acted to cut itself off from the cheapest natural resources in the world. This is an act of economic madness.
Looking at the military situation, Bob Moriarty sees the West as a paper tiger. NATO and the EU triggered the war by crossing a known Russian red line—the neutrality of the Ukraine—by pushing for Ukrainian NATO membership. Western governments triggered the war and did so knowing the consequences of their actions.
To those who would doubt that NATO and the West would commit such folly, Bob points to the example of Libya. Formerly the best-run country in Africa, it is now a country where slaves can be purchased in the capital city, Tripoli.
Moriarty concludes that Russia is not the enemy and China is not the threat. It is instead stupidity that is the enemy, and lies that are the threat. For the world is being let towards a Third World War by a group of fools and deceivers.
And yes, this is the same Bob Moriarty who flew under the Eiffel Tower in 1984.