[Peace-discuss] Conflicting perspecitves on BRICS and Bretton Woods

[Carl G. Estabrook]

The neoliberal/neoconservative Democrat/Republican government in DC will enforce the Washington Consensus by foul means and fair in this and subsequent administrations. The BRICS will have to decide how to respond.  

The ‘Consensus' is a matter of policy agreement among the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the US Treasury Department - ‘our’ Troika, so to speak:

"The term Washington Consensus was coined in 1989 by English economist John Williamson to refer to a set of 10 relatively specific economic policy prescriptions that he considered constituted the standard reform package promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries by Washington, D.C.–based institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the US Treasury Department. The prescriptions encompassed policies in such areas as macroeconomic stabilization, economic opening with respect to both trade and investment, and the expansion of market forces within the domestic economy.

"Subsequent to Williamson's minting of the phrase ... the term Washington Consensus has come to be used fairly widely in a second, broader sense, to refer to a more general orientation towards a strongly market-based approach (sometimes described as market fundamentalism or neoliberalism)…"



> On Jul 10, 2015, at 7:26 PM, David Green via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
> 
>  
> Whitney: Let’s cut to the chase: Leaders of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) realize that global security cannot be entrusted to a country that sees war as an acceptable means for achieving its geopolitical objectives.  They also realize that they won’t be able to achieve financial stability as long as Washington dictates the rules, issues the de facto “international” currency, and controls the main levers of global financial power. This is why the BRICS have decided to chart a different course, to gradually break free from the existing Bretton Woods system, and to create parallel system that better serves their own interests. Logically, they have focused on the foundation blocks which support the current US-led system, that is, the institutions from which the United States derives its extraordinary power; the dollar, the US Treasury market, and the IMF. Replace these, the thinking goes, and the indispensable nation becomes just another country struggling to get by. 
> http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/10/putin-leads-brics-uprising/ <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.counterpunch.org_2015_07_10_putin-2Dleads-2Dbrics-2Duprising_&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=tfHzwZBcTLEveiewRiq0OdhFmfRmlvZjpIBS0AUJ2v0&m=FfCRXt7r2cQB8rVu8O4DhgeGq0oOSZjVHpnKrS8x_fc&s=wEnYdS5OxIp1EeehTAuaxhLtSsQwPACS8abEzkXza6k&e=>
> Bond: The BRICS banks will thus ‘complement’ the Bretton Woods Institutions, thanks to a self-mandate <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.telesurtv.net_english_opinion_In-2DFortaleza-2DBRICS-2DBecame-2DCo-2DDependent-2DUpon-2DEco-2DFinancial-2DImperialism-2D20140801-2D0033.html&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=tfHzwZBcTLEveiewRiq0OdhFmfRmlvZjpIBS0AUJ2v0&m=FfCRXt7r2cQB8rVu8O4DhgeGq0oOSZjVHpnKrS8x_fc&s=kI4KXc-KzbGv8KE3exU91BIjwFrdFth5WxIGM4MqKhg&e=> dating to early 2014. As Brazil’s neoliberal finance ministry reminded <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__europe.chinadaily.com.cn_business_2015-2D07_03_content-5F21169835.htm&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=tfHzwZBcTLEveiewRiq0OdhFmfRmlvZjpIBS0AUJ2v0&m=FfCRXt7r2cQB8rVu8O4DhgeGq0oOSZjVHpnKrS8x_fc&s=ZBIiMoYMno0gyMaRw6JlmmGK9hX5bV3PS24NH0NdZOA&e=> last week, the CRA “will contribute to promoting international financial stability, as it will complement the current global network of financial protection. It will also reinforce the world’s economic and financial agents’ trust.”
> https://zcomm.org/zcommentary/is-brics-a-true-alternative/ <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__zcomm.org_zcommentary_is-2Dbrics-2Da-2Dtrue-2Dalternative_&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=tfHzwZBcTLEveiewRiq0OdhFmfRmlvZjpIBS0AUJ2v0&m=FfCRXt7r2cQB8rVu8O4DhgeGq0oOSZjVHpnKrS8x_fc&s=e9jn2aoun_eZkc2hR4w54hN4BK3z0lSpCj2sn5_a2JQ&e=>_______________________________________________
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