[lbo-talk] Israel's Roaring Economy

Jonathan Nitzan nitzan at yorku.ca
Fri Jun 22 07:44:02 PDT 2007


The relationship between U.S. military spending as a share of GDP and U.S. GDP growth is shown here: http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/specials/image0608big/cwfig1_large_html.

The problem arises when one conflates economic growth with the accumulation of capital: they are not the same thing.

Jonathan

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Russell Grinker:

Wasn't it Richard Nixon who said that subsidising Israel was still cheaper than keeping the 6th Fleet afloat? Anybody know to what extent hidden US subsidies still keep the Israeli economy going?

Although late SWP (UK) theoretician Michael Kidron invented the spurious theory of the Permanent Arms Economy as an explanation for the period of capitalist expansion that followed the Second World War, I think a more orthodox Marxist explanation would see war production and armaments spending as a fiscal burden and a drain on profitability for capital in general (while of course hugely benefiting some producers).

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Jonathan Nitzan

Political Science York University 4700 Keele St. Toronto, Ontario, M3J-1P3 Canada Voice: (416) 736-2100, ext. 88822 Fax: (416) 736-5686 email: nitzan at yorku.ca website: http://bnarchives.net -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



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