Financial Pillaging

A topic that has been quite close to me lately and seems to be coming up more and more, maybe its just my conciseness being awakened. Any ways here are some excerpts from a recent article by Robert Kiyosaki.

"in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Financed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, Columbus not only discovered the new world, he helped Spain become one of the richest empires of its time.

Soon after Columbus' voyage, Spanish galleons traveled the world to loot and plunder. It wasn't long before Spain's vaults were filled with gold stolen from the New World. While the Spanish conquistadors did spread their religion and civilization to much of the new world, they did so with a potent mix of greed, cruelty, and violence.

Apparently, it was contagious. In 1557, Spain became the first sovereign nation in history to declare bankruptcy. Phillip II, Spain's ruler, had such a hunger for warfare and conquest that he continually borrowed money from Genoese lenders so that Spain could continue to fight and steal. His greed bankrupted the country a second, third, and fourth time. "

"...The big difference is that nowadays countries don't have to travel to other countries and steal their gold. Instead, they just print money.

That is, instead of needing expensive military forces to attack weaker nations, they just buy another country's wealth with debt, or funny money. It's the same as a bank robber giving up armed thievery as a way of earning money and turning to counterfeiting. America may be the biggest counterfeiter in the world today.

One of the ways rich countries like the United States gain an economic advantage over weaker countries is by lending them money on the condition that the weaker country buy the rich country's products. Hot money, as it is sometimes called, enters the poorer economy and the economy booms, but then it later collapses when the country can't repay its debt."

"The problem I see is that the businesses aren't being acquired with money or equity -- they're being acquired with debt. And as far as I know, somebody will have to pay that money back someday.

The Spanish Empire eventually collapsed because of its expensive taste for warfare and conquest. I'm concerned that the modern world will itself be conquered because it's developed an expensive taste for debt. So what do I recommend? For now, enjoy the party, don't drink too much, and stay close to the exits."

See the whole article here http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/article/richricher/11429