CODE RED: Humanity, caught in the loop of the economic crisis

The foundations of the economic crisis, which shook the world"s economy, in particular in the US and in Europe, were laid as early back as 1981, when the global operation for brutal deregulation and liberalization of the North-American market was initiated.

This was perfected between 2001-2007, which was characterized by a veritable boom of financial instruments and arrangements, extremely toxic and sophisticated, precisely to make them as hard to understand as possible for their future "victims".

As it was to be expected, the financial crisis hit mercilessly, first of all the US, which was behind it, and then Europe, which is tightly connected to the North-American space.

The most adequate definition for this crisis would be a return to normalcy. Over the last 30 years, the world"s industrial and financial infrastructure, even the consumption infrastructure, has been based more on desire rather than ability to obtain. Desire was fueled by borrowed money, virtual money, which didn"t actually exist, creating a very deceiving appearance, which led to a so-called "bubble", which did eventually explode in 2007-2008.

The tsunami caused by the earthquake which was devastating for the US, which was the creator of the crisis, also hit Europe, in a somewhat undeserved manner.

Europe tried to protect itself in a mistaken manner, using mistaken anti-crisis plans, based in particular on encouraging consumption and massive government borrowing, "inflating" its public debt, meaning that when the vastness of this phenomenon was discovered, it was already too late for some countries, which were quickly included on a European "hall of shame", called PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain).

Whereas in the US, the basics of the US anti-crisis plan consisted in rewarding the institutions responsible for the crisis with over 700 billion dollars of taxpayer money, instead of extracting the toxic assets and punishing those who created them, which has now pushed this country to the brink, in Europe, under the very strict leadership of Germany, the decision was made to resort to austerity plans, much to the dismay of the area"s citizens.

What we are in fact seeing is a readjustment, a reconfiguration of the world order, based on what exists and not on what some people wish existed, in other words consuming what is actually produced and not on what one thinks can be produced and which can be used to borrow ad-infinitum.

Whereas the losses caused by the crisis in the US have exceeded 2200 billion dollars, exposure to the states the most affected by the EU, of the PIIGS group, amounts to another 2000 billion Euros. It is estimated that the global losses caused by the financial crisis, have surpassed 7000 billion dollars, and the inability to compensate those losses set the foundation for a new crisis, of sovereign debts, coming due in 2013-2014.

Concerning the austerity plans, passed in the EU space and the economic austerity measures adopted in the EU space and the measures of economic and financial discipline adopted in the EU space, it needs to be said that they are welcome, but many of them are partially wrong, thus affecting the recovery even further.

Even Romania, despite the fact that it has no direct economic relations with the US, only with the EU, but which are insignificant when compared to the figures discussed above, was unduly forced to bear the consequences of the global financial crisis.

In its first stage, Romania was clearly being favored compared to the other countries in the EU, paradoxically enough, precisely due to its lack of advancement compared to the other EU states, and to the lack of serious economic and financial on a global level.

However, the delayed implementation of an austerity plan, which was partially wrong, which was an attempt to compensate for the lack of an initial anticrisis plan, pushed Romania into a spot, where it had nothing left to do but to implement a callous, irrational and stupid austerity program, the likes of which was never seen before in Europe, not even after WWII, entailing the indiscriminate cutting of wages, pensions and allowances, which hit the underprivileged layers of society the hardest and instead benefiting a minority: employees in state owned companies, agencies, ministries, regulatory bodies, which did not participate in the equitable sharing and bearing of the burden of the crisis.

This obvious and deliberate discrimination, amid the unprecedented increase in corruption, fraud involving public money and public procurement auctions, and tax evasion, led to the demotivation of the population, preventing it from being active and positive in facing the economic crisis, causing it to accept its powerlessness, thus repeating a practice which was common before 1989, which in fact ensured its survival.

Romania is currently facing another crisis, which seems a lot harsher than the one we have been in for the last three years, and that is the sovereign debt crisis, in other words of the country"s public global and possibly national debt, if public borrowing keeps its current pace. This new crisis will begin in 2013.

The more the European Commission will stray from the application of the correct procedures for restructuring public debt, for EU member countries and for the implementation of sovereign default, where it may prove necessary, like in the case of Greece today, the more the effects of the new crisis will be more visible and felt harder.

The outright apocalyptic scenario, according to which several EU states will no longer be able to pay off their public debt, leading to their isolation, like it happened with Argentina, which has been struggling with inefficiency and powerlessness for the last eleven years, could become a harsh reality, which would put a stranglehold on the European economic and financial space for years, with the most grievous effects on its population.