All Americans can feel quite happy with themselves this Christmas season. Owing to their largesse, and that of Canada, Australia and some European countries, South Korea is being bailed out to the tune of about $60 billion.

Just what is going on here? South Korea is in heavy debt, the payments are due, and it doesn't have the money. So, who do they turn to? The International Monetary Fund, of course.

This was a scant two days after Finance Ministry officials insisted publicly that the country had enough money in its foreign reserves to make the payments.

"We don't need it, we don't want it. What more explanations do you need?," one ministry official shouted to a reporter.When international publications reported on the nation's dwindling foreign reserves, ministry officials threatened to sue.

But then, the deal with the IMF became public knowledge. South Korea is the fourth Asian country to turn to the IMF for help this year, following the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.

Time for a little history: The IMF was created at Bretton Woods in 1944, as a fund from which governments could borrow to maintain the fixed rates of exchange of their currencies. But in 1971, Richard Nixon took the US off the gold standard; the exchange-rate system broke down; the dollar and other currencies were allowed to "float" in a free market. The need for an IMF was over.

However, what bureaucracy has ever gone gently into that good night? It merely changed its mission. The IMF has essentially become a lender of last resort to bankrupt governments. For example, Mexico has been bailed out four times since 1970. In the last iteration, Mexico received $17 billion to pay off its New York bankers. We Americans are now on the hook for most of that sum.

Don't you feel good, though, to know that Wall Street has been paid off? Naturally, any attempt to repay the IMF by Mexico will involve currency devaluation. Thus, more American jobs will go to Mexico, and our economy will get hurt again!

Now you see how it works. We the people lose our jobs, export markets and factories, while the international bankers get their losses covered. Here, then, is the "global economy."

Make no mistake about it. There will be wide ranging effects when the manufacturing giants of Asia train their sights, in desperation, on the American market. Look for immediate effects on the automobile and steel industries. And, be ready to pick up some real bargains on electronics. (No harm there--we've already lost our consumer electronics industry.)

What's the reaction of the bully boy free-traders? They honestly don't care if American manufacturing goes down in flames. But talk to them about tariffs to prevent the hemorrhaging? PUHLEEZE!

Ideology is a powerful thing. In the meantime, serious harm is being done to our economy right now.

Where will Billy Clinton be, when the bell tolls for us?