Geopolitical Economy Report

To run the US military in his second term, Donald Trump has nominated as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a neoconservative self-declared "crusader" who is eager for a Western civilizational war on China and Iran. Ben Norton reviews the extremely hawkish history of the Fox News host turned likely Pentagon chief.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9WBjcfVhu4

Topics

0:00 Trump's defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth

0:31 An "American Crusade" (against China & Iran)

1:53 Hegseth called on Trump to bomb Iran

4:44 Trying to divide China & Russia

5:39 Fearmongering about BRICS & de-dollarization

7:48 "Axis of Evil": neocon ideology

8:26 Neocolonialism in Latin America

9:47 Preparing for war with China

11:33 Outro

Donald Trump has appointed neoconservative Marco Rubio to oversee US foreign policy as secretary of state. Ben Norton reviews his extremely hawkish record pushing for war on China, Iran, and beyond, as well as the Florida senator's shady support for his drug lord brother-in-law, Orlando Cicilia, who was imprisoned for trafficking $15 million in cocaine.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ncw2VCsJFI

Topics

0:00 Intro

0:32 China is threat to US unipolar dominance

1:21 Rubio loves Israel

1:55 Rubio wants "disproportionate" attack on Iran

2:25 Religious fundamentalism

3:47 China is "far more dangerous than the cold war"

4:33 Neocolonialism in Latin America

6:03 Rubio wants USA to invade Venezuela

6:25 Monroe Doctrine

7:42 China and Latin America

8:39 Scapegoating China

9:28 Chinagate: the new McCarthyism

10:55 Censorship

11:41 Rubio wants to censor "disinformation"

12:08 Threatening Mexico

13:05 Rubio's shady links to drug lord brother-in-law

14:02 Outro

Donald Trump has nominated warmongering neoconservatives to run his foreign policy, including Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor, Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, John Ratcliffe as CIA Director, and Elise Stefanik as UN Ambassador. Ben Norton reports on their extremely hawkish views.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwsrUUkDBWg

Topics

0:00 Trump's warmongering cabinet

3:54 Strategy: try to divide Russia & China

5:05 Summary of foreign policy of Trump's 1st term

8:31 Mike Waltz, National Security Advisor

12:49 Pete Hegseth, Defense Secretary

19:52 Neocolonialism in Latin America

23:00 Marco Rubio, Secretary of State

29:20 John Ratcliffe, CIA Director

32:07 Elise Stefanik, UN Ambassador

34:53 Outro

How will the return of Donald Trump as US president affect the world? What will his foreign policy and economic strategy be? Ben Norton explains.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJQKIwe2BYo

Topics

0:00 Intro

0:33 Summary of Trump's foreign policy

10:44 Neocons in Trump's cabinet

14:41 China

18:48 Tariffs & trade with China

24:47 US dollar & re-industrialization

29:39 Protectionism

37:01 Russia & Ukraine

42:23 Israel-Palestine

44:31 Iran

46:36 Middle East (West Asia): Yemen, Iraq, Syria

49:41 Latin America: Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia

53:17 Africa

54:32 Europe

56:11 Japan & South Korea

57:53 Outro

Donald Trump won the 2024 US presidential election in a landslide. Why did Kamala Harris lose so badly? Ben Norton explains the failure of the billionaire-funded Democratic Party to provide an economic alternative to the billionaire-funded Republicans' pseudo "populism", as working-class people suffer.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSBi0m5xCJs

Topics

0:00 Donald Trump wins 2024 presidential election

1:07 Who really is Kamala Harris? Does anyone know?

4:42 DNC strategy: sacrifice workers for moderate Republicans in suburbs

5:48 Harris campaigns with neoconservative Cheney family

6:56 Harris had no democratic mandate

7:42 Out-trumping Trump on immigration? Really?

8:04 Hillary Clinton 2.0

10:05 Low Democrat turnout

11:12 The status quo loses

12:34 Dems' extreme pro-Israel stance lost swing state voters

16:01 Rashida Tlaib & Ilhan Omar won; Harris lost

17:37 "Never Trump Republicans" barely exist

18:30 It's the economy, stupid

20:09 US GDP growth is not benefiting workers

21:39 Wealth inequality

22:32 Poverty & hunger increased under Biden-Harris

23:33 Trump scapegoats

24:09 (CLIP) Trump vows: "We are going to take other countries' jobs"

24:58 Trump's false promises

25:27 Deindustrialization

26:22 Immigration

28:40 Trump's tax cuts help rich elites, hurt workers

31:12 Billionaires Elon Musk & Stephen Schwarzman funded Trump

32:11 Inflation, debt, deficits

35:11 Tariffs

35:40 Conclusion

Billionaire BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said it “really doesn’t matter” who wins the US presidential election, because both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be good for Wall Street. Ben Norton shows how the United States is not a democracy but rather an oligarchy, in which big corporations buy politicians and lobbyists create policies.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chPfp01rsD0

Topics

0:00 US election season

0:42 BlackRock CEO: it “really doesn’t matter” who wins US elections

2:20 The "Big Three" Wall Street asset managers

3:06 S&P 500 and Nasdaq bubbles

4:35 Richest 10% of Americans own 93% of stocks

5:30 Princeton study: USA is oligarchy, not democracy

6:26 Billions spent buying US elections

7:54 Money buys seats in Congress (90% of the time)

8:50 Crypto industry funds Republicans & Democrats

10:51 Biden promised rich donors "nothing would fundamentally change"

11:59 Extreme wealth & income inequality in USA

15:12 US wages stagnated while productivity soared

15:42 Financialization of US economy

17:09 Inflation & cost of living crisis

18:43 House prices grow much faster than wages

20:48 Blackstone: the world's largest landlord

22:49 Private equity

24:03 Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman funds Trump

24:28 Kamala Harris & Trump woo Wall Street

25:25 Trump tax cuts make rich much richer

27:19 BlackRock makes economic policy for Biden & Harris

28:10 USA is an oligarchy

29:41 Outro

For the 32nd year, the entire world voted at the UN General Assembly to demand an end to the illegal US embargo against Cuba. The USA and Israel opposed the international community in a vote of 187 to 2. Ben Norton explains why the US empire has waged such a vicious economic war on Cuba for six decades.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTX4zSfCQYM

TOPICS

0:00 US economic war on Cuba

1:39 UN General Assembly vote against US blockade

2:06 Map of UN vote against US embargo of Cuba

3:25 Venezuela & Afghanistan lost UN voting rights due to US sanctions

5:15 Argentina's Milei fires foreign minister for voting with 97% of world

7:08 UN votes against US embargo in 2023 & 2022

8:41 Why the US empire wants to crush Cuba

10:29 Goal of US sanctions: "hunger, desperation, and overthrow"

13:39 Dedollarization & BRICS

15:40 Bipartisan barbarism: Biden continues Trump's war on Cuba

18:01 West votes against rest of world at UN

20:08 US imperialism is a global dictatorship

23:17 Outro

BRICS plans to transform the international monetary and financial system, and discussed policies at the 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia. Can it successfully challenge the dominance of the US dollar? Political economist Radhika Desai is joined by Ben Norton and former central banker Kathleen Tyson, author of the book "Multicurrency Mercantilism".

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ejfZdPboo

This is part of the show Geopolitical Economy Hour. You can watch other episodes of the program here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP

You can follow Kathleen on Twitter/X here: https://x.com/kathleen_tyson_

Topics

0:00 Highlight

1:24 Intro: 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia

7:33 Evaluating BRICS proposal to improve financial system

16:47 De-dollarizing trade vs capital markets

24:50 Can a global currency solve the Triffin dilemma?

29:10 Investment flows from poor to rich

30:44 Capital controls

37:16 Could Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) be a new global reserve currency?

42:17 Can a currency backed by a basket of commodities help settle trade imbalances?

48:38 Financial deregulation, Glass-Steagall, and China

53:21 HSBC splits between West and East

55:18 How can central banks de-dollarize reserves?

1:02:35 Controlling finance

1:09:01 What can China do with its huge surplus?

1:16:11 Outro

BRICS held a summit in Kazan, Russia in October 2024, where 13 new "partner nations" were accepted. This followed the 2023 meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, where several members were invited to join. Ben Norton analyzes the historic events, and shows how the Global South is building a more multipolar world.

BRICS MEMBERSHIP (9 members + 13 partner countries)

- 5 original members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

- 4 new members officially admitted in January 2024 are Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and UAE. (Saudi Arabia has not accepted. Argentina rejected the offer.)

- 13 "partner countries" are Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Türkiye, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUdlzmk73Ns

Check out our related report - BRICS plans ‘multi-currency system’ to challenge US dollar dominance: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/10/19/brics-russia-multi-currency-system-us-dollar/

Topics

0:00 BRICS expands

1:55 BRICS: 1/3rd of global GDP, 40% of population, 30% of oil production

2:40 Compare BRICS & G7

3:44 Saudi Arabia has not accepted offer; Argentina rejected

5:17 Leaders at 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia

6:48 China & India resolve border dispute

10:06 Unipolar domination vs multipolarity

11:04 Xi Jinping's speech

12:23 Plans to transform international monetary & financial system

13:24 Bretton Woods, US dollar, IMF, World Bank

15:19 BRICS grain exchange (commodities exchange)

17:17 Bolivia condemns "Western unipolarity & tyranny of the dollar"

20:19 Kazan declaration summary

25:49 Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Lebanon

27:16 Syria & Iran

28:27 Opposing nuclear weapons & space arms race

29:20 Outro

The US dollar is gradually losing its dominance, and foreign central banks are buying fewer Treasury securities, instead holding more gold in their reserves, warns Mohamed El-Erian, a mainstream American economist. Ben Norton discusses how countries are seeking financial alternatives, especially Global South nations around BRICS.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnMAit5MP-Y

BRICS plans ‘multi-currency system’ to challenge US dollar dominance: Understanding Russia’s proposal - https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/10/19/brics-russia-multi-currency-system-us-dollar/

Topics

0:00 Western media cope on de-dollarization

2:53 Renowned US economist warns de-dollarization is happening

4:55 Gold price rises despite inflation falling

7:18 BRICS seeks alternatives to US dollar dominance

9:04 Sanctions, reserves freezes, weaponization of US dollar system

11:23 Holding gold in reserves is not bringing back gold standard

13:08 Central banks buy lots of gold

14:40 West's economic war on Russia failed

15:34 US-Israel wars in Middle East (West Asia)

17:18 "Erosion" of US dollar hegemony

18:56 US government debt and Treasury market

24:39 USA now spends more on debt interest than military

25:09 China dumps US Treasury securities

25:59 Europe, Canada, Taiwan buy US Treasury bonds

27:57 Outro