====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ======================================================================
====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ====================================================================== > The narrator explains American imperialism as a function of the need to > preserve dollars as the primary exchange instrument in oil markets. I've > heard one version or another of this argument since Bush invaded Iraq. Greg Palast explains why it is bogus in his excellent book from 2006, Armed Madhouse, and in a subsequent interview provided still more evidence that preserving the Dollar as the currency for oil exchange was simply not a factor - namely, that the economic elites actually want the Dollar weaker, not stronger: "It’s about getting dollars out of this country, and so we devalue the dollar. That devalues the debt held by these guys. It raises our interest. It kills our pension funds and our economy is slowly dying off... There are a few reasons. One, higher interest rates as well as high oil rates have completely demolished the auto industry. General Motors is heading right into bankruptcy. High oil rates have also demolished the airline industry while enriching the oil companies, and the high interest rates have enriched the banks. That means basically the Democratic stronghold industries - the last unionized industries in America, which are auto and airlines – are going down. In other words, "Mission Accomplished." Money is flowing into Houston. We pay three bucks a gallon for gas, and they collect it. Mission accomplished. Oil’s at $70 a barrel. Mission accomplished. The dollar’s down, and we are exporting a quarter trillion dollars a year to China in cash, so we could import their manufactured goods. That’s mission accomplished. The idea is that American capital is fleeing this country." Solidarity, Seb ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
