Here an interesting paragraph from something I am reading at the moment The epicenter of the economic crisis that produced the world Depression of the 1930s was the decline of European capitalism. Europe never really recovered from World War I. As a result, the US lacked sufficient markets for its surplus goods and surplus capital. The crisis in the US was overcome only by the immense stimulus provided by war production for World War II. In the war, the US demonstrated the superiority of its advanced production methods, far outstripping the capacity of Germany and Japan to turn out planes, ships, tanks and bullets and feed and equip their soldiers. At the end of the war, the supreme power of American capitalism was rooted in its industrial might, more than its military supremacy.
To give some indication of the preponderance of American industry in the decade following the war: four out of every five cars sold throughout the world were produced in the US; America, which had 6 percent of the world’s population, produced and consumed one-half of the world’s goods. America’s gross domestic product rose from $100 billion in 1940 to $300 billion in 1950 and $500 billion in 1960. What was the process that transformed the United States from the industrial hegemon of the post-war boom period to the massively leveraged, industrially anemic center of global financial parasitism of today? Fundamentally, American imperialism foundered on the contradiction between world economy and the nation-state framework within which capitalist economies must develop. In the end, no single capitalist state, even one as rich as the United States, could resolve the problems of global capitalism. On Oct 12, 9:01 pm, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Well Lone Wolf, we are once again living in interesting times. > > In one of your earlier posts you said "Capitalism rewards the most > venal power hungry reprobates with position and power, not endeavour, > integrity and altruistic honesty." Well, you're half right, it does > reward venal power hungry reprobates but it also rewards the people > with endeavour, integrity and altruistic honesty. The problem is that > there are too many of the former and not enough of the latter. > > Capitalism is certainly not a perfect system but humanity is yet to > invent a system that isn't subject to corruption. Unfortunately the > problem is not the system, it's us. > > By the way, good luck with the election. If McCain and the pitbull win > I think I might leave the planet! --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
