Global Fracture: The New International Economic Order

Excellent Analysis of NIEO formation from ends of WWI & WWII through the 1970s.Now, the USA must address its nonmilitary solutions to constructively respond to survive and thrive in the NIEO of the emerging Multi Polar World.

As Super Imperialism and The Bubble and Beyond continue to receive endless praise and countless accolades (all of which is well-deserved), Global Fracture tends to get unfairly overlooked in Michael Hudson's body of work. It is not as novel as the two aforementioned books, and it does not provide the incredible longterm perspective that made Trade Development and Foreign Debt a masterpiece, but Global Fracture is a critically important and essential work because Hudson explains in great detail the seismic shifts in the world economy that laid the groundwork for the neoliberal era.Conceived as a sequel to Super Imperialism, Global Fracture continues to examine the evolution of the Treasury-bill standard after the Nixon Shock that ended the US dollar's convertibility into gold. But where Super Imperialism spanned the period from the end of WWI to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, Global Fracture takes an incredibly detailed look at just the years from 1971 to 1974. From my own experience as a frequent reader of books of politics on economics, I never understood before reading this book how the Oil Shock and other key events in 1973 spurred the neoliberal era of privatization and austerity. What does austerity have to do with oil, after all? If you are looking to clarify your understanding of this period and get a sense of the shifts in the world economy during some of its most consequential years, Global Fracture is absolutely essential. Michael Hudson draws together insights on agricultural policy and the steel industry to Cold War geopolitics and fills in a gap that many economic histories of the 20th century do not adequately explain. Global Fracture, for its much more limited scope, is also just a thrilling and detailed examination of an economy in transition through the eyes of one of the greatest economists in the English-speaking world.The new edition of Global Fracture includes a very good updated introduction by Hudson which assesses the conclusions of his book in light of the developments since its initial publication in 1979. Part I and Part II of the book present highly insightful and detailed analyzes of the shifting economy, and Part III gives predictions for the future of the new economy—which have not been updated since the 1979 printing. I recommend reading Parts I and II carefully but just skimming most of Part III since we know what happened in the ensuing decades (although Hudson's chapter on “The Future of War” in Part III is pretty interesting and worth taking a close look at).If you have read Super Imperialism (which I recommend reading first), then I highly recommend Global Fracture as a follow-up because it explains how the Treasury-bill standard evolved through the start of the neoliberal period. If you have not read Super Imperialism and you are just looking for a book to explain how the economy shifted in 1973 to pro-creditor austerity and away from full employment, then Global Fracture is still absolutely the book you are looking for (it summarizes the key findings of Super Imperialism in its first two chapters, so don't worry).

It is not possible to understand the extent or gravity of today's global debt-derivatives crisis without the historical analysis of Dr. Michael Hudson's book. This book is an unblinking look at the ugly underside of a dollarized world economic system. But note: the "Global Fracture" it describes is not the present debt-derivatives crisis.This book drills deep into the original sin of the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system: the 1971 US repudiation of the gold standard for settlements by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. This led to the destabilization and tumultuous replacement of gold settlements by the present paper-based global exchange system based on US dollars and US debt instruments that can never be repaid. Originally published in 1977, this updated edition describes the postwar history of the dollar-based Bretton Woods system and its degeneration into today's exclusively debt-backed sovereign pyramid scheme. So be aware the book is about the beginnings of this mess in the 1970s -- it only tangentially summarizes the present grave risk of the system completely unraveling due to abuse, fraud, systemic corruption, oligarchy, and unilateralism. It's also interesting to note that many primary perpetrators of the gold repudiation of 1971 are still the central powerbrokers today -- Henry Kissinger foremost of all.This is serious world economic history and analysis, not a glib gloss like Tom Friedman's globo-touts or an anecdotal personal perspective like John Perkins' "Confessions of an Economic Hitman." It's deeply incisive and far from 'economically correct. Read this to understand the true depth and complexity of the dollar meltdown, whose roots are to be found with the financial schemes and diktats of Kissinger and Nixon in the 1970s. This Nixon-era economic warfare aimed at forcing the EU and ASEAN to hold paper dollars and compel resource producers like OPEC to accept a US check at gunpoint for commodities.Hudson's career began as a national economist at Chase 40 years ago -- where he analyzed developing countries' resources and debt carrying capacity in order to load them with all the debt they could bear. But he evolved into an unflinching if strident critic of the entire international debt framework and the fatal burden it imposes on the Third World. Most recently Hudson was chief economic advisor to Rep. Dennis Kucinich during Kucinich's 2008 presidential candidacy.