Reply #8: It's a very good read

[lapfog_1]

highly recommend it. So many names keep recurring with improbable
connections in different scandals. Just amazing.

I like this part, sorry for the CAPS:

IN NOVEMBER 2002 JAMES KENNETH GALBRAITH WROTE AN ARTICLE
TITLED “THE UNBEARABLE COSTS OF EMPIRE”
NONE OF THESE PROBLEMS WILL BE CURED SO LONG AS WAR
REMAINS OUR DOMINANT POLITICAL THEME. BUT SERIOUS
THOUGH THEY ARE, THEY PALE IN COMPARISON WITH THE
LARGER PROBLEM OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE-AND-FINANCIAL
ORDER UNDER CONDITIONS OF PERMANENT WAR.
IT IS A STRAIGHTFORWARD FACT THAT IF GLOBAL OIL
PRODUCTION STARTS TO DECLINE BUT U.S. CONSUMPTION
DOES NOT, EVERYONE ELSE WILL BE REQUIRED TO CUT
PURCHASES AND USES OF OIL. BUT HOW CAN OIL PRICES BE
HELD STABLE FOR AMERICANS YET BE MADE TO RISE FOR
EVERYONE ELSE? ONLY BY A POLICY OF CONTINUING
DEPRECIATION IN EVERYONE ELSE'S CURRENCY. SUCH A
POLICY OF DOLLAR HEGEMONY AMID WORLDWIDE FINANCIAL
INSTABILITY, OF CRUSHING DEBT BURDENS AND DEFLATION
THROUGHOUT THE DEVELOPING WORLD, IS PERVERSE. IT
WILL MAKE OUR TRADING PARTNERS' EXPORTS CHEAP,
RENDER THEIR IMPORTS DEAR AND KEEP THEIR REAL WAGES.53
LOW. IT WILL PRICE AMERICAN GOODS OUT OF WORLD
MARKETS AND LEAD TO UNSUSTAINABLE DEPENDENCE ON
FOREIGN CAPITAL. IT WILL BE A POLICY, IN SHORT, OF
BEGGAR-ALL-OF-OUR-NEIGHBORS WHILE WE LIVE ALONE, IN
INCREASING IDLENESS AND INSIDE THE DOLLAR BUBBLE.