Probably the leading question right now, the leading question around the world is, the fact that the entire international monetary-financial system is now in the process of disintegration. The disintegration is centered in Europe, and also Brazil. Because the center of the collapse right now, is located in the Rothschild-centered interests of Britain, which includes the Inter-Alpha Group. And the Brazil carry trade is the pivotal element in the present world financial crash.

However, a crash in this realm, which is hitting already Greece — Greece is not the problem. Greece is being made a problem, but it is not the problem. The problem lies in the Inter-Alpha Group, which is centered largely in Britain, Spain, Brazil; it's a well-known group which was founded in 1971 which took over the world system increasingly, since the U.S. collapsed the fixed-exchange-rate system. And Greece is not a crisis point; it has its own crisis, but it is not the real cause of the crisis. It's simply being used to try to orchestrate the thing in favor of the Inter-Alpha Group. The real crisis spot in Europe is Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and so forth, and it's essentially the British Inter-Alpha Group, also centered in Brazil, which runs the real, key world carry trade right now.

Now, the question then, is what's the solution for this? And there's only one solution that's going to save the world from a general breakdown crisis of the entire world system. The crisis is centered in the trans-Atlantic community right now. That is, the United States itself, under the current President, is a disaster area. And until this President is replaced, the United States is going to continue to be a disaster area. Only the elimination of this President by his expulsion from office, in one way or the other, will prevent that from happening. And when the United States goes, then the whole world system will go.

The problem is, we have, in the other parts of the planet, —for example, in part of the Russian program, the Russian monetary-financial system is a disaster area, because it's tied into the Inter-Alpha Group. But the Russian physical economy, the Russian prospectives are very good, because Russia is part of the Asian process, which is concentrating on nuclear power, railway transportation systems, and other things, which are essential. By itself, it would seem that this part of Asia, or Eurasia, is in a very strong position. The problem is, if the trans-Atlantic system goes under, then the entire world system goes under. So the problem is not centered in Asia, but Asia can not withstand, the effects of a collapse of the trans-Atlantic economy.

There's only one remedy, there's only one way this can be stopped: And that is to go — and the thing is right in the United States, it's being pressed now. We don't know whether we have a sufficient majority for it or not, but it is being pushed: And that is, the reinstallation of a Glass-Steagall standard for the U.S. dollar. If that Glass-Steagall is established, and there's much and growing pressure for this, in that case, then the United States can become the pivot of a recovery of the world economy.

What this means is this: Most of the international debt of the world today is fraudulent. It's based on financial structures which are absolutely fraudulent. And therefore, if you were to put the world through a Glass-Steagall standard, the standard which was established by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 and continued until 1987-89, if that standard is imposed by the United States, then, what happens is, most of the debt, most of the nominal financial debt of the world is cancelled. Because most of the debt of nations is fraudulent. It is purely financial speculation, it has no intrinsic value. So therefore, what would happen would be, you would have quadrillions of dollars of worthless debt, on the world, would disappear: Under those conditions, and with the establishment of a fixed-exchange-rate system, on that basis we could handle the entire process.

That doesn't end the problem. It ends the immediate problem. The immediate problem is, growth of the world economy. That's going to be a longer-term process: It'll probably take two generations to build up the world economy again, from the mess it's become now. But it's perfectly feasible. This means a very large increase of nuclear power development. It will mean the reactivation of a large-scale space program, which will be the major technology-driver for the planet as a whole. These are the conditions that we require.

It means, largely, worldwide, an emphasis on basic economic infrastructure: mass transportation systems, water systems, power systems, and the general basic infrastructure. Because we have a lot of poor people on this planet, who have no intrinsic technological skills. They can acquire these skills, but it will take a generation or two to build up the skill level of the people. So, in the meantime, we will start largely with emphasis on basic economic infrastructure. Then, the basic economic infrastructure, will then be the stimulant for the revival of agriculture and industries.

This means long-term investment. It means a fixed-exchange-rate system is required for the world to do this. Because you're going to have much of the development will occur across borders: technology transfer across borders, and the transfer effected through long-term, fixed-exchange-rate credit. Which means you're talking about two generations, for example, when you're talking about a major industry, you're talking about two generations. This is a two-generation investment. If you're talking about major infrastructure, like transportation systems, large water systems, and other essentials, you're talking about, really, a century investment. So, we have essentially, an immediate half-century, two generations, of development of the population, through infrastructure and expansion of industry and agriculture. But the long-term investment is that.

And the long-term investment is tied to space exploration. It is much underestimated by some people, but actually, it is much more significant and feasible than most people think. It's also much more difficult than some people think. You're not going to — the space between planetary orbits is not empty. You see these maps and these diagrams and they talk about "empty space" in between planetary orbits — that's not true. What is out there is a lot of cosmic radiation, electromagnetic radiation.

The whole system is dominated by radiation: And if you're trying to get to Mars with human beings, as opposed to getting to Mars by objects carried in capsules, you have a problem. Human beings can not survive 300 days, in the distance between Earth and Mars, not under normal conditions that we would think of today. It requires only an accelerated propulsion between the two planetary orbits, which could be up to as short as three days. But we don't know how well human beings could withstand that kind of travel. We know that, in principle, there are ways we could solve the problem, but it's going to take a couple of generations of research, into the domain of electromagnetic radiation and cosmic radiation, before we will securely solve the problems that we have to overcome, to actually carry people back and forth, between a distance such as Earth orbit and Mars orbit.

But in the long run, the mission of getting to Mars, will be the basic driver, in technology-driver, which defines the hopeful future of mankind. The work we're required to do, to reach that goal, say before the end of this century, will be the main driver, the technology-driver, for the economies of the planet. And therefore, it's not something we do "later;" it's something must accelerate now, for scientific and related purposes.

Take one case: human travel between Earth and Mars. If you go at a speed, under a propulsion of the type we can send objects to Mars, as we're doing already, that's fine. If you try to send a human being, a human being very rapidly loses bone tissue, and loses essential conditions of life. We've experienced that already in the space exploration in nearby space around Earth, and in going from here to the Moon and back. It's a difficult problem, and there are many reasons for it, which we understand the nature of the reasons, but they're poorly understood so far.

So therefore, what we're going to be doing, is we're going to be developing technologies on Earth, for Earth application, which are byproducts of the scientific research we're going to do for space application. Much of this will be biological research, which will pertain to what we require to create a synthetic environment suitable for human beings. Because, for example, Mars has a field of gravity one-third that on Earth. Human beings on Mars, at one-third of the gravity on Earth, are not going to make it. But there are ways we can deal with that, and correct for it, and those are included in this process.

So, we have to take an optimistic view, as a policy view. We have to recognize that the present financial-monetary system can not possibly work. There is no way, that the present system of Europe can be salvaged. Europe, as of now — right now! — is in the process of collapse: That is, the European economy in the process of a chain-reaction collapse. And the policy of bailout of Greece, and the whole policy on Greece bailout, is a catastrophe: It will destroy Greece, and will destroy all of Europe. It's a piece of insanity, concocted in London, and it is not good for humanity.

Greeks are going to resist this, because it's an existential question: They can not survive the conditions which Europe is trying to impose on Greece, now. They will not survive it. Therefore, they will resist it. They will resist it with great anger, as we see this already steaming up in Greece now. And therefore, Europe must take the pressure off Greece. And I see the only solution is to go through this Glass-Steagall-type of reorganization of the European financial system, which would wipe out most of the Greek debt. Because most of the Greek debt is of a speculative nature, and it is fraudulent, and would be eliminated by a Glass-Steagall approach.

The key thing to solve this problem is not to savage the people of Europe, or other parts of the world. The point is to cancel the fraudulent debt! The world is being crushed by fraudulent debt, of speculative interests: We have to do the same thing that Franklin Roosevelt did, in 1933, in rescuing the United States from disaster, and that was the enactment of the Glass-Steagall legislation. And then later, Roosevelt, of course, in 1944, also proposed a fixed-exchange-rate system.

Now Roosevelt's proposal was not fulfilled as he had intended it, because Truman and the British had a different idea. But, the combination of a Glass-Steagall policy, for the United States, now, and the extension of that Glass-Steagall policy, to apply it also to the situation in Europe, which is now crashing — because all of Europe is crashing, and it is crashing, hopelessly, without some change in policy.

So, the only solution would be, the United States goes with the Glass-Steagall policy, now. That is, building up as a policy inside the United States now — not with the President, who may be out soon — but with significant parts of the legislative political scene, and others. If that's adopted, then the United States can become a pivot, instead of a disaster, become a pivot for Europe; if Europe then joins the United States, in supporting both a Glass-Steagall standard, for cleaning up the value of European currencies, and debt, and then goes to a fix-exchange-rate system, and extends that to other nations, particularly to Russia, to China, to India, and to the participation of Japan, South Korea, and so forth: If that's done, then the world can go suddenly, right now, from a doom which is what we're headed for right now, into a recovery.

If those measures are not taken, then you are going to have a dark age for all humanity. The dark age will start in the trans-Atlantic region, the rest — Asia, for example — can not withstand the effect of a general collapse of the trans-Atlantic system. And therefore the trans-Atlantic system must be cleaned up, as a precondition for a solution for all other problems.

And these things are realities now. These are the things that I'm discussing in various channels, with people in governments and relevant governments — not all of the members of those governments, but some of them — and the dynamic for this is growing. So we have, right now, the possibility — and it's real, it's not speculative. It's real, but it's uncertain: That is, these are things that can be done, are politically feasible in the immediate future, but it's by no means assured that they will be adopted. If they are adopted, that's a possibility worth fighting for, then, by an action from inside the United States, to reenact the Glass-Steagall legislation, for which there's growing support in the United States among politicians, particularly since this Goldman Sachs crisis. Goldman Sachs' scandal has now opened the gate, for a demand for a return to a Glass-Steagall standard. If that's done, that cleans up the mess of the U.S. financial system.

If that mess is cleaned up in the U.S., then the application of the same method, through cooperation with the United States, can reach Europe. Then, there is a solution for Europe. Under the present governments, the present policies, the present financial systems in Europe, Europe is now doomed. If the change is made, Europe can survive, and grow. But if that change is not made, Europe is going into a virtual dark age — right now. This is not something that will happen in the future, this is something that is happening, right now, as we stand and sit here: This is reality.

So my concern is that. And I can say that I'm pushing this around the world, and I can say, I'm getting some favorable reception on these ideas: The commitment to implement the ideas is not that clear. But you're seeing resistance in Europe, as in Germany in particular, strong resistance to the proposal of the so-called "Greek bailout," which is the death of Greece, if it's put there, because Greece will go into chaos. The Greek people can not stand it, they can not withstand this, and it's injust action! Greece should be allowed to do a financial reorganization of its own internal affairs, clear away the debts that are not legitimate, and reorganize its finances for growth. Greece does not have the industry or the industrial development it needs for growth, at present. But that can be supplied through cooperation with Europe, and Europe must cooperate in that.

There is a strong feeling for this. It's growing in Germany. It's probably weaker in France. Who knows what'll happen in Spain and Portugal, and possibly Italy, as well. So, France, Italy, after Germany, are possible areas where a revolt against this policy, which is a ruinous policy, could occur.

The bailout policy will not work! There has to be a financial organization, akin to a Glass-Steagall-type: Get rid of the fraudulent debt — the speculative fraudulent debt! — and then we can reorganize the world.

The initiative has to come much from the United States. There are people in the United States who agree with this idea. I don't know how much commitment they have to make it work, but it's an idea which is current in the United States, among leading circles. And if it is adopted, that is the solution.

And a solution of this type for the United States, would mean an immediate option for nations of Europe. If nations of Europe join with the United States in such a reform, then the situation of the world can be saved. Because the kind of programs you're getting in Asia, for example, in the physical programs in Russia — railway development, which is stalled, but it's necessary; the development of nuclear power, these things are necessary; the cooperation of Russia with China is absolutely crucial; the cooperation of Japan and South Korea with this, is crucial. The cooperation of China and Russia and so forth, with India, is crucial.

These countries are committed — though they have many poor people, they're committed to the growing use of nuclear power, mass transportation, and related infrastructure programs, which will enable countries with many poor people, through nuclear power, to have the high-energy-flux-density power sources, which enable nations which are poor, through this energy program and through transportation, to develop their programs, which would mean they would have, actually, a two-generation prospect of growth — about 50 years, which means two generations. So, in two generations, you can raise the standard of living and productivity of a population, or a very poor part of a population, and that's what we have to do.

We have to have, essentially, a minimal 50-year program prospect, in terms of policies, of treaty agreements among nations which will make this possible. We're now at that turning point: This is not something tomorrow, this is today, and it was already yesterday. The world is on the verge of a general breakdown crisis, starting in the trans-Atlantic region, centered now, especially in Europe, or in the Inter-Alpha Group victims such as Brazil, and around the world.

We have a chance: The question is, will the politicians have the guts to do it, to take the chance? It's the only chance we have. And I'm optimistic. I'm optimistic, because I'm an old soldier and a fighter, and if nations decide they need something, in order to survive and they find leaders who are responsive to that, we have seen in the past, nations can survive. And that's where we stand today.

www.larouchepac.com/node/14363

May 5, 2010