FWD: The American Empire

[KXX4493553 at aol.com]

The American empire 

The US has structured the world economy to enrich itself. It cannot last 

Robert Hunter Wade 
Saturday January 5, 2002
<A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/">The Guardian</A> 

Suppose you are a modern-day Roman emperor, leader of the most powerful 
country in a world of sovereign states and international markets. What 
international political economy do you create so that, without having to 
throw your weight around too much, normal market forces bolster the economic 
pre-eminence of your country, allow your citizens to consume far more than 
they produce, and keep challengers down? You want autonomy to decide on your 
own exchange rate and monetary policy, while having other countries depend on 
your support in managing their own economies. You want to be able to engineer 
volatility and economic crises in the rest of the world in order to hinder 
the growth of centres that might challenge your pre-eminence. You want 
intense competition between exporters in the rest of the world to give you an 
inflow of imports at constantly decreasing prices relative to the price of 
your exports. You want to invite the best brains in the rest of the world to 
your universities, companies and research institutes. You befriend middle 
classes elsewhere and make sure they have good reasons for supporting your 
framework.  

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Kurt-Werner Pörtner
 
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