The madison reading was very interesting. one thing that i found that was extremely surprising was the sheer tonnage of gold and silver that the Spanish empire was shipping. From what i could grasp from the reading the Spanish empire was the first true global trade parter. using the mass amounts of silver and gold to fund its trade with china and the rest of Asia to get silks and spices. Comparatively America is what Spain was in the sixteenth century. This reading got me thinking and looking into modern day commodity trading and how OPEC is trying to put a freeze on there oil to drive up prices.

The essay of “the new second world” was very refreshing for me because it rehashed and re familiarized some of the things i learned in high school. The information about BRIC and the Emerging markets was very interesting. however the passage about Goldman Sachs arguing over the idea of the emerging markets gaining a foothold and actually surpassing current industrialized nations was very worrisome. It got me thinking and researching the subject and how America as the worlds dominant economic force needs to get out of this economic stagnation. Even though it is easier to have a large growth rate when you are industrializing vs being industrialized. I think American needs to invest more in research and development, and education in general to compete with the rest of the world.

I found the essay; “Development, imperialism and debt bombs” was extremely fascinating. The debt traps of loans for third world nations was extremely eye opening. the example of the fake nation of lukistan was surprising but summed up the situation perfectly. the idea of how there currency is deflated while there percentage of government debt skyrockets to an unrealistic rate puts them into a debt trap that allows them to spend less money on governmental services is a crazy reality i was not previously aware of. Makes me think about how many countries current and failed states where something like this has happened.