Inside the American Empire

Inside the American Empire

Dear Team:

Economic, political, and military power is highly concentrated in the world today. 50% of all major multinational companies and banks in the world are American. 30% are European. 10% are Japanese. If we look at the top 10 companies, 90% are American.The top 25, 75% are American. The top 50, 70% are American. Outside of America, Europe, and decreasingly in Japan.There are no major economic anything to be owned by any country.

What this means is that there is no such thing as free trade or global market liberalization. These are euphmisms for instant American seizure of these third world markets. Free trade is impossible when there is such a lop-sided concentration of economic power in the American and European companies. This concentration is due to economic and technological know-how, but also state subsidies to American and European companies making the idea of " free trade " even more of a joke.

World markets are divided among these concentrated companies and this defines the imperial nature of the world economy, together with the markets that are controlled, the natural resources that are pillaged, and the labor markets that are exploited. Also 80% of all leading oil and gas companies are American. But now serious trouble is brewing....

The military cost of sustaining this empire is escalating dramatically.The US military budget has risen 20%. Tax cuts for the rich which stimulate overseas investments have led to a serious budget deficit and greater cuts in social spending, threatening fisical and political stability in America. More important the power and economic concentration of US companies and banks has been based on overseas investments, profits, and re-exports to the US via multinational subsidiaries. This has created a disasterous balance of payments for the US reaching an unsustainable half a trillion dollars.

What this means is that the US economy is dependent on a massive flow of funds from overseas investors to sustain its external deficit. As the empire grows, the " republic " goes into deeper crises, stripped of its competitive enterprises and unable to limit its consumer imports. This contradiction cannot be easily resolved because the American political leadership is totally committed to empire building and the only concession it can make to the domestic economy is greater subsidies and greater protection which in turn increases tensions and conflicts with other imperial competitors in Europe and its client export regimes in the third world.

The Bush dictatorship's resolution of this crisis of increasing imperial growth and continuing domestic decay is to conquer overseas markets with vital resources. Expansion into Central Asia and war with Iraq are part of a plan to transfer back wealth to the US to finance the exploding domestic deficits. The Latin American Free Trade agreement is a perfect example of this strategy. Capture of Latin American markets and lowering of American trade deficits is the goal here. Exports to Mexico increase as as US owned factories in Mexico flee to China, Vietnam, and India where labor costs are cheaper.

US imperial control of the world economy is now based on increasingly fragile foundations within an increasingly polarized world. Increasing third world rsentment and a collapse of the dollar could lead to the fall of the empire. The media cartel operated by the American elites will never tell you this. It is extremely interesting to compare America today with the Roman empire of Augustus. During this mid-phase of Roman expansion global resources were sucked into Rome from the periphery of the empire. This over-extension was beginning to create serious internal problems for the then defunct " republic. " This decay was stopped by Emperor Hadrian who began scaling back the the Roman empire. Resources and power began to flow back outward to the outer provinces and more and more provincals became Roman citizens. The reduced empire however was still controlled by the sword. Anyone who opposed this cultural and economic monopoly were crushed. The Jews were an excellent example of this. When they revolted they were smashed and scattered all over the world.

The same pattern could be seen in imperial China. Both emperor Hadrian and the Chinese built walls to keep the barbarians out. The very word barbarian was denoted to anyone who couldn't speak Greek. They just said " Baa, baa, baa...." and today the USA is building a wall too. So is Europe and even Israel. To keep the " barbarians " out. But the barbarians do not see themselves as barbarians. The black stress of the American empire which has future-shocked the third world is generating a backlash as the " barbarians " future-shock the empire back.

What this observor sees is possibly the worst of both worlds now. The Augustun expansion of America with a half-assed Hadrian or Chinese consolidation of the empire. Indeed the American Augustun expansion which gobbled up Russia and Eastern Europe is now finally bumping into China and Islam. Also the ecological deterioration of the planet from both a physical and a psychic point of view could also cause serious problems. Something the Romans and Chinese never faced. At least not on the scale we are witnessing now. The future will be interesting. Stay tuned. The international Yuppies of Sausalito send greetings.

Michael

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