BRICS+ Represents Half the Planet, and a Real Threat to the Bankrupt Trans-Atlantic Financial System

Jan. 28, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—The next summit meeting of the five BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—will be held this August hosted by South Africa, and it represents a significant opportunity for half the planet, and then some, to decisively break with the bankrupt and homicidal trans-Atlantic financial system, and establish a new architecture based on physical economic development, with a monetary system to match. In recent comments from Angola, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that both Russia and China “are ready to cooperate at this stage through the BRICS+ format,” and that alternative financial systems will be on the agenda for discussion at their next summit, since “serious, self-respecting countries are perfectly aware of what is at stake.”

The underlying physical-economic potential of the BRICS+ is what makes their considering a clean break with the bankrupt dollar-based speculative system a credible threat. In the final analysis, what makes a currency strong and reliable is the rising productive powers of labor that it wields.

So far, three additional nations have formally applied for BRICS membership (Argentina, Algeria and Iran), but another five or so are thought to be on the short list for membership: Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Egypt and Afghanistan. Others will surely join as the process gets underway.

A summary review of some physical economic parameters of those 13 BRICS+ members is revealing. Using figures for 2020, we find that they represent 51% of the total world population, and they produce the following percentages of total world production (measured in physical, not monetary terms) in key food, energy, and infrastructure categories:

Wheat: 53%
NPK Fertilizers: 55%
Oil: 42%
Natural gas: 38%
Nuclear energy: 26%
Coal: 77%
Iron ore: 51%
Steel: 73%
Electrified rail: 64%

Oh, yes: the BRICS+ represent only 22% of the world’s total stock market capitalization, which is another great advantage that they have.

The heavyweights in almost all the physical-economic categories are Russia, India and China, three nations which together account for 38% of the world’s population.

This list is, of course, not the full picture of these economies, but it is indicative. There are key areas of the BRICS+ physical economy which are weaker than those listed above: machine tools, pharmaceuticals, aviation, and so on. But the BRICS+ fundamental commitment to scientific and technological advance, if combined with a Hamiltonian credit system which would replace the current speculative one, lays the basis for successfully addressing those vulnerabilities.

The City of London and Wall Street have cause for concern.