HYPOCRISY IN THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL ORDER

This is America!

America is massive, loud, brash, loves fast food, and has a military budget bigger than the next ten countries combined. Its politicians are permanently stuck in a wrestling match, and its debt is so high that even the national calculator is smoking trying to figure out how many zeros it needs to calculate it.

The big old USA is $34 trillion in debt, it has trillion-dollar deficits every year, and rising interest payments that threaten to devour a third of all government revenue by 2035.

But here's the kicker: this politically dysfunctional country also refuses to pass budgets on time, it´s political parties can not communicate with each other, and today it even has a populist strongman who literally, after his first term ended, tried to cling to power by denying election results and inciting a mob.

If this were happening in, say, Colombia, or Nigeria, or Argentina, what do you think the global financial institutions would do?

That’s right. They’d downgrade this country's economy to junk faster than you can say “banana republic.” The IMF would show up with a 400-page austerity Bible. Moody’s would slap a B- rating on it. CNN would air panic specials about “South America’s looming collapse.” And Western think tanks would hold angry Zoom meets on “how democracy dies in debt.”

But not The Old USA.

No, USA gets a warning. A stern look. Maybe a wagged finger. But don’t worry, its bonds are still AAA (or AA+ if a ratings agency is feeling moody). Investors still line up like it's a Taylor Swift concert to buy its debt. Because hey, when you control the printer that makes the global currency, the rules are more like “suggestions.”

The Hypocrisy Olympics: Gold Medal to the Rich

Let’s cut the crap: the global financial system doesn’t run on justice or sound economics. It runs on might. Big muscles, big money, big nukes and the old superiority thinking that permeates their societies.

If a developing country had a populist leader attacking its own institutions, a congress more dysfunctional than a reality show cast, a debt load spiraling into the void, and the gall to threaten default every few months…They’d be locked out of capital markets. Their currency would collapse.

And they'd be lectured by Harvard economists on fiscal responsibility.

But if you’re the U.S.? You get invited to the G7. You get to print money and call it "quantitative easing." You start wars and still collect interest on your debt like you’re doing the world a favor.

Rules for Thee, Not for Me

Colombia tries to fund education? The IMF says “trim the fat.”

The U.S. funds a trillion-dollar war nobody asked for? Everyone says, “Defending freedom.”

A developing country defaults? - “Irresponsible governance.”

The U.S. toys with default during political tantrums? - It´s just called “Temporary dysfunction in a robust democracy.”

Let’s be honest: “risk” is not a mathematical formula, it's a political judgment. And the need to maintain that power rewrites the definitions.

Final Thoughts

So here we are. The richest country in the world, behaving like a broke, chaotic startup, but still enjoying platinum-tier credit and global trust, because…well, it owns the casino. And the chips. And the security guards. What all of this reflects is that in today’s world, truth doesn't set you free, power does. If you're rich enough, armed enough, and loud enough, you don’t follow the rules.

You write them.

Thanks for Reading. Abrazos.

Diego Rojas