Acclaimed financial journalist Eric J. Weiner reveals how foreign
countries and private investors are increasingly controlling the
global economy and secretly wresting power from the United States
in ways that our government cannot reverse and about which the
average American knows nothing.
The most potent force in global commerce today is not the
Federal Reserve, not the international banks, not the governments
of the G7 countries, and certainly not the European Union. Rather,
it is the multi-trillion-dollar network of super-rich, secretive,
and largely unregulated investment vehicles--foreign sovereign
wealth funds, government-run corporations, private equity funds,
and hedge funds--that are quietly buying up the world, piece by
valuable piece.
As Weiner's groundbreaking account shows, the shadow market
doesn't have a physical headquarters such as Wall Street. It
doesn't have a formal leadership or an index to track or a single
zone of exchange. Rather, it comprises an invisible and
ever-shifting global nexus where money mixes with geopolitical
power, often with great speed and secrecy.
Led by cash-flush nations such as China, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi,
Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and even Norway, the shadow market is
hiring the brightest international financial talent money can buy
and is now assembling the gigantic investment portfolios that will
form the power structure of tomorrow's economy.
Taking advantage of the Great Recession and subsequent liquidity
problems in the United States and Europe, the major players of the
shadow market are deploying staggering amounts of cash, controlling
the capital markets, and securing not only major stakes in
multinational companies but huge tracts of farmland and natural
resources across the world. Yet that's not all; they're also
pursuing political agendas made possible by their massive wealth
and are becoming increasingly aggressive with the United States and
other governments.
Highly informative and genuinely startling, Eric J. Weiner's
up-to-date account gets out in front of daily events, with proof of
his argument destined to appear in the news for years to come. "The
Shadow Market "moves the conversation from "international
competition" to "global financial warfare," and stands as an urgent
must-read for anyone interested in the future of the global
economy, America's position in the world, or how and where to
invest money today.
DID YOU KNOW?
***The Pentagon has run elaborate simulations of global
financial war. Result: America lost, and the shadow market won.
***The U.S. dollar is under siege as a global currency;
oil-producing nations have already begun secret discussions about
replacing it in oil trading.
***While Greece was burning in the spring of 2010, the shadow
market nations were spending hundreds of billions of dollars all
over the world rather than helping to fix the European crisis. Why?
Because it wasn't their problem.
***With its wealth of natural resources, Brazil may be more
powerful than Germany, France, and Great Britain put together, and
may soon rival the United States for economic supremacy in the
Western Hemisphere.
***In April 2009, China told the International Monetary Fund to
sell 3,217 tons of gold. How much did China buy? That's a secret.
What else is China buying? As many of the oil reserves in
non-Middle Eastern countries as it can, including in Canada. It has
bought so many Australian natural resource companies that Australia
is getting nervous. And some would say that China has, in effect,
already purchased Taiwan.
***Many of the shadow market countries are racing to improve
their food-security risks by buying large swaths of farmland in
other countries, potentially at the risk of starving the local
citizens. Saudi Arabia has a farm the size of Connecticut in
Indonesia, and Korean industrial giant Daewoo controls half the
arable land of Madagascar.
***Iran is China's third largest oil supplier and in return
receives significant protection from Chinese diplomats, who are
increasingly important players on the geopolitical stage.
***The shadow market countries will soon control nearly $20
trillion in assets, a sum greater than the gross domestic product
of the United States. such as Wall Street. It doesn't have a formal
leadership or an index to track or a single zone of exchange.
Rather, it comprises an invisible and ever-shifting global nexus
where money mixes with geopolitical power, often with great speed
and secrecy.