The Fable of Christine Largarde and Crocodiles

When the dollar was removed from the gold reserve status (not gold standard) by the advice of Nixon's Arthur Burns in 1971, the metric that Bretton Woods had created for settling the imbalance of trade among nations ended. This created a burgeoning market in frenzied speculation (carry trade) in currencies or arbitrage. The next step toward the nightmare of control over the economy came with the repeal of the law which had reigned in speculators from controlling the whole of banking Glass-Steagall. The lunacy of decoupling currencies from real physical production reached its zenith with the spectacular blowout of derivative securities that the world continues to reel from to this day. These derivatives are in essence no different than what were once known as "bucket shops," which were judiciously outlawed.

The problem is the literally mentally ill belief that wealth is equivalent to money. Unfortunately, the vast majority of humanity is afflicted with just that very belief. If you start from the premise that what is required is an economic policy that establishes an increasing standard of living for citizens of sovereign nations as opposed to a dictatorship of a financial aristocracy then you have taken the first step along the road to sanity.

The sad truth is that the IMF (and World Bank) from its inception has been nothing but an instrument of enforcement of the ukases of speculative financial houses based in the City of London and secondarily New York. So, I fear, that for Ms. Largarde to bemoan austerity brings to mind nothing so much as the tears of a crocodile.