[lbo-talk] there can be no bailout

James Heartfield Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
Mon Sep 29 16:37:02 PDT 2008


Dymytry, so wise on so many things, is I think wrong here

"A country that consumes more wealth than it produces can only last as long as it's military is effective at exacting tribute from client states. ..American must, and will, consume less. There is nothing anyone can do about it, short of war."

First off, wrong because the simpler alternative would be to produce more. And given we are considering throwing away $700 billion - what seven per cent of GDP? - to shore up the wholly unproductive banking sector, that might suggest a better deployment of US investment funds towards more productive output that would make it less dependent on the import of consumer goods.

Second off, wrong, because 'America' is a false abstraction, forcibly eliding the contrasting interests of US workers, who consume much less than they produce, and US capitalists who consume not only more than they produce, but in doing so, tip the balance to put the country in the red.



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