The questions of US imperialism, economic hegemony and corporate control of the world’s resources are the subject of massive popular discussion in a time of escalating conflict, inequality and deepening economic recession. Following the mass public mobilisation during the Obama election campaign, the US government is placed in a role of critical responsibility and must now lead the way in fostering greater international cooperation.
Global confidence in the US economy has reached zero, as was proved by
last month’s stock market meltdown. But there is an enormous anomaly in
the US economy above and beyond the subprime mortgage crisis, the
housing bubble and the prospect of recession: 60 years of misallocation
of resources, and borrowings, to the establishment and maintenance of a
military-industrial complex as the basis of the nation’s economic life.
With an occupying army waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with military bases and corporate bullying in every part of the world, there is hardly a question any more of the existence of an American Empire. Indeed, the once fervent denials have turned into a boastful, unashamed embrace of the idea.
Sixty years ago on April 3, 1948, President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan into law. It was the official start of the most important foreign aid undertaking in modern American history - a success that both Democrats and Republicans now praise. Today, with America isolated from old allies and bogged down in an Iraq war costing an estimated $12bn a month, the Marshall Plan provides us with a valuable reminder of what American foreign policy can do when it is based on a genuine liberal internationalism.
Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive – a sure sign the world's richest country faces economic crisis.
In his famous book, The Collapse of British Power (1972), Correlli Barnett reports that in the opening days of World War II Great Britain only had enough gold and foreign exchange to finance war expenditures for a few months. The British turned to the Americans to finance their ability to wage war. Barnett writes that this dependency signaled the end of British power.
Government reports confirm that half of the working poor, elderly and disabled who lived in New Orleans before Katrina have not returned. Because of critical shortages in low cost housing, few now expect tens of thousands of poor and working people to ever be able to return home.
"Is the American era over?" That was the big question that launched a lengthy analysis by veteran international affairs reporter James Kitfield in the influential ‘National Journal’ last May. Significantly, the article -- which featured interviews with an all-star cast of former top U.S. policy-makers -- was titled "The Decline Begins."
