Abstract
Using reports issued by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Commission, World Economic Forum and several consulting firms and research institutes, as well as newspaper articles, the author reviews the global political and economic scene; and concludes that the situation is bad and getting worse. Income and wealth gaps are wide and continue to widen; poverty is wide and becoming structural, unemployment is high, particularly among the youth of the world, discrimination is on the rise; despair is spreading, causing radicalism and terrorism to increase; public, private and corporate debt is high and rising; and wars and tension are overwhelming most parts of the world. All of this is crying out for attention.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Duncan Green ; The world’s top 100 economies: 31 countries; 69 corporations, The World Bank; September 20, 2016.
- 2.
Milton Freedman Quotes: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5001.Milton_Friedman
- 3.
Jeff Stein and Jonathan Broder; Can America Win a War? Newsweek, April 30, 2015. http://www.newsweek.com/2015/05/08/can-america-win-war-326812.html
- 4.
Korean War – Nuclear Weapons. https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/NUCLEAR-WEAPONS-Korean-War
- 5.
Ibid.
- 6.
France remembers the Algerian war, 50 years on, France 24, March 19, 2012. http://www.france24.com/en/20120316-commemorations-mark-end-algerian-war-independence-france-evian-accords
- 7.
Noam Chomsky , Who Rules the World? Metropolitan Books, 2016, p. 45.
- 8.
Rowena Hammal , Destined to Fail? How the division of Korea led to the Korean War, History Review, September 2010, 67. http://www.historytoday.com/rowena-hammal/destined-fail-how-division-korea-led-korean-war-0#sthash.m3swko1A.dpuflf
- 9.
Daniel Larison , “South Sudan and the Partition “Solution” for Foreign Conflicts,” The American Conservative, June 29, 2015.
- 10.
The World Bank; Global Economic Prospects 2016, p. 3.
- 11.
Ibid., pp. 5–6.
- 12.
Ibid., p. 9.
- 13.
Eurozone GDP: Growth slows to just 0.3%, The Guardian, Nov. 15, 2015.
- 14.
- 15.
Eurozone Economy Regains Size of 2008 but Remains Shaky, the Associated Press, April 29, 2016.
- 16.
OECD Data, Youth unemployment (https://data.oecd.org/unemp/youth-unemployment-rate.htm).
- 17.
Global Economic Prospects 2016, The World Bank, p. 10.
- 18.
Japan Economic Outlook; Focus Economics, April 5, 2016 (http://www.focus-economics.com/countries/japan).
- 19.
Global Economic Prospects 2016, World bank, p. 10.
- 20.
Ibid., p. 10.
- 21.
Mark Magnier ; China’s Economic Growth in 2015 Is Slowest in 25 Years, The Wall Street Journal, January 19, 2016 ( http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-economic-growth-slows-to-6-9-on-year-in-2015-1453169398).
- 22.
Ibid.
- 23.
Ibid.
- 24.
Keith Bradsher ; Chinese start to lose confidence in their currency; New York Times, Feb. 13, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/business/dealbook/chinese-start-to-lose-confidence-in-their-currency.html
- 25.
Mark Magnier ; China’s Economic Growth in 2015 Is Slowest in 25 Years, The Wall Street Journal, January 19, 2016.
- 26.
Chris Matthews , Wealth inequality in America: It’s worse that you think, Fortune, October 31, 2014.
- 27.
Washingtonsblog, Central Bank Economists: Bad Central Bank Policy Is Increasing Inequality, March 10, 2016 (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/03/central-bank-economists-bad-central-bank-policy-increasing-inequality.html).
- 28.
Thomas Piketty , The Economics of Inequality, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2015, p. 65.
- 29.
Jeff Voudrie , Past 10 years of US GDP Growth reveal Disturbing Trend; Jeff’s Blog; March 2, 2015 (http://www.seeitmarket.com/past-10-years-us-gdp-growth-reveal-disturbing-trend-14156/).
- 30.
Washingtonsblog, Central Bank Economists: Bad Central Bank Policy Is Increasing Inequality, March 10, 2016 (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/03/central-bank-economists-bad-central-bank-policy-increasing-inequality.html).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rabie, M. (2018). A View of the Global Scene. In: The Global Debt Crisis and Its Socioeconomic Implications. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66215-2_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66215-2_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-66214-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-66215-2
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)