← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Jack Cassidy
Thread ID: 17443 | Posts: 17 | Started: 2005-03-21
2005-03-21 18:24 | User Profile
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[font=Times New Roman][color=#990000][color=#000000]March 21, 2005
[font=Times New Roman][color=#990000]A Threat Greater Than Terrorism[/color]
[font=Times New Roman][color=black]By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS[/color]
[color=#990000][font=Verdana]D[/font][/color][font=Verdana]elusion has settled over [/font]
The Bush administration is the first government in history to initiate a war based entirely on fantasy--fantasy about nonexistent "weapons of mass destruction," fantasy about nonexistent "terrorist links," fantasy about "liberating" a people from their culture, fantasy about a "cakewalk" invasion, fantasy about America's omnipotence.[/font]
[font=Verdana]Reality has yet to penetrate the Oval Office or [/font]
[font=Verdana]The Muslim world, which perceives [/font]
[font=Verdana]$300 billion--red ink to the last cent--has been wasted in a pointless war and occupation that has emboldened Islamic revolutionaries, who will be more successful than the US in changing the face of the Middle East.[/font]
[font=Verdana]Bush's invasion of Iraq has proved the limits of America's "hegemonic" military power: Eight heavily armored high tech US divisions are tied down by a few thousand lightly armed insurgents who control most of the roads and many towns and cities.[/font]
[font=Verdana]Any Iraqi collaborator with the US occupation who is foolish enough to leave the heavily fortified "Green Zone" is shot down or blown up in the streets.[/font]
[font=Verdana]Such an outcome is proclaimed a "success" by the White House, Republican politicians and a cheerleading media.[/font]
[font=Verdana]The reality is that an ignorant and blundering Bush administration has created a Shi'ite crescent from Iran to Lebanon that is revolutionizing the Middle East. The reality will not penetrate the Bush administration. Reality contradicts Bush fantasy and is "against us." Facts that don't support Bush fantasy are "liberal" and "anti-American." Truth is dismissed as anti-Bush propaganda.[/font]
[font=Verdana]It is America that has undergone regime change. The Bush administration constitutes a Jacobin revolution. Its fanatics have declared world war on political diversity. The first victim of Bush's "war on terror" is the Bill of Rights. In its place we have an incipient police state.[/font]
[font=Verdana]One might easily conclude that Bush is first among the deluded, but the more one observes economists' romance with outsourcing, the more one wonders if economists are not the most deluded of all.[/font]
[font=Verdana]Outsourcing converts domestic supplied goods and services into imports. It divorces Americans from the incomes and careers associated with the production of the goods and services that Americans consume.[/font]
[font=Verdana]That divorce is highly detrimental for Americans. As foreign labor is substituted for US labor in the production of tradable goods and services, the displaced US work force seeks employment in domestic services that cannot be outsourced. This increases the supply of labor, thus depressing wages, in those labor markets already impacted by the entry of high rates of legal and illegal immigration.[/font]
[font=Verdana]By turning domestic production into imports, outsourcing increases the trade deficit. America pays the import bill by turning over the ownership of her wealth, and the income streams that wealth produces, to foreigners. Thus, Americans not only lose jobs and careers but also the ownership of their companies, real estate, corporate and government bonds. The incomes from these lost assets pass from Americans to foreigners.[/font]
[font=Verdana]Today America's consumption and the government's budget deficits are financed by foreigners, principally Asians. There are now so many dollars in foreign hands that the willingness of foreigners to hold more is declining. For the past three years foreign central banks have been diversifying their reserve holdings away from dollars into other currencies.[/font]
[font=Verdana]The result has been to drive the value of the dollar down sharply against many other currencies. As prices adjust to the changed currency values, Americans become poorer.[/font]
[font=Verdana]When economists preach that America benefits from outsourcing, they deny all the hard facts, just as do Republicans when they proclaim "success" in Iraq. How does America benefit from a process that destroys jobs, lowers incomes, and reduces the exchange value of the dollar?[/font]
[font=Verdana]What outsourcing is doing for America is destroying entire sectors of US manufacturing, entire high tech occupations, the value of a college education, the design and innovative capabilities of the US economy, and the dollar as reserve currency. This is a lot of destruction. It goes far beyond what terrorists can inflict.[/font]
[font=Verdana]So far in the 21st century, the US has experienced a net loss of jobs. Fewer Americans are employed today than when President Bush was first inaugurated. This has not happened since the Great Depression in the 1930s.[/font]
[font=Verdana]When economists claim that the US is made better off by outsourcing, they ignore the evidence of job loss, stagnant incomes, and a collapsing dollar.[/font]
[font=Verdana]A perfect example is a recent "study" by three economists reported in the March 21 issue of Barron's. The economists used economic models to calculate the benefits to Americans of outsourcing. An economic model is comprised of assumptions about relationships. Many relationships are historical and reflect America's post-World War II economic dominance, which is no longer the reality.[/font]
[font=Verdana]The economists concluded that the benefits to Americans from outsourcing ranged from $7,100 to $12,900 per household.[/font]
[font=Verdana]According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wages of private, nonfarm, nonsupervisory production workers produced an annual income of $33,072 as of February 2005.[/font]
[font=Verdana]Only economists completely detached from reality could believe that American households owe such a large percentage of income to outsourcing, which is threatening them with a depreciating currency and the loss of their jobs and careers.[/font]
[font=Verdana]One of the dumbest defenses of outsourcing is the claim that history shows that America benefits from free trade. First of all, there has been precious little free trade. Economists mean that America has benefitted from trade during the decades following World War II when the rest of the world was recovering from war or smothered in socialism. It is easy to benefit from trade when you are the only economy.[/font]
[font=Verdana]Second, outsourcing is not trade; it is labor arbitrage. Outsourcing is a new phenomena birthed by the collapse of world socialism and the rise of the high speed internet. It reflects the operation not of "comparative advantage" but of "absolute advantage" --the flow of capital and technology across borders to the cheapest labor. Outsourcing is the substitution of foreign labor for domestic labor. It reduces the demand for domestic labor and drives down incomes.[/font]
[font=Verdana]The Great Depression took a terrible toll on the credibility of economists, who failed to grasp that the Federal Reserve had shrunk the supply of money by one-third. Outsourcing the American economy will take a larger toll on economists' reputations. Once the economy is outsourced, America is a third world country.[/font]
[font=Verdana]Paul Craig Roberts[/font][font=Verdana] was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of [url="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/076152553X/counterpunchmaga"][color=#184b81]The Tyranny of Good Intentions.[/color][/url]He can be reached at: [email="pcroberts@postmark.net"][color=#184b81]pcroberts@postmark.net[/color][/email][/font]
2005-03-21 18:39 | User Profile
Look, it will probably take decades to reap the real fruit of this Iraq war and our 'all for the tribe' foreign policy (from condoning crimes against humanity in the West Bank and Gaza to threatening Russia over jailing Jewish oligarchs). Hell, it took some 20 years and 9/11 for some people to even question whether it was a good idea to support Muslim terrorists in Afghanistan fighting the Soviets. I can recall as a Washington Post paperboy reading about this Soviet war in Afghanistan and the U.S. helping the Muslims. I didn't know jack about foreign affairs or anything else back then but I recall having an intuitive feeling that we should be supporting the white guys over the Mohammedan mountain monkeys. Even at that age I knew the white guys played chess, launched space rockets, and played classical music, while the simian Muslim Afghans killed and destroyed.
I read recently (2 weeks ago) that Charlie Wilson moved back to Texas from DC. He and a few others should've been charged as accessories to the murder of 3000 Americans.
2005-03-21 18:42 | User Profile
Jack, Do you have a link to this article so we can post it on other forums?
Thanks.
2005-03-21 18:45 | User Profile
[QUOTE=travis]Jack, Do you have a link to this article so we can post it on other forums?
Thanks.[/QUOTE]Oh, sorry, I'll edit that in the original post. [u][color=#22229c][url="http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03212005.html"]http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03212005.html[/url][/color][/u][url="http://www.counterpunch.org/"][/url]
2005-03-21 20:03 | User Profile
What Bush is doing overseas is a "reflection" of of what will happen in the US in the future, many will be going to the internment camps as "enemys of the state" under trump up charges.
I only hope that at my age I will be able to get a bed close to the bathroom sinse I get up a lot a night.
2005-03-21 20:40 | User Profile
I wonder if PCR would get a wider hearing if he were ever to vary his tone and/or throw out some of his own ideas for rectifying these economic problems?
2005-03-22 00:20 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Jack Cassidy]Oh, sorry, I'll edit that in the original post. [u][color=#22229c][url="http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03212005.html"]http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03212005.html[/url][/color][/u][url="http://www.counterpunch.org/"][/url][/QUOTE]
Seeing as how [url=http://www.Counterpunch.org]Counterpunch[/url] is a left-wing site (albeit anti-Zionist, anti-Democratic Party leftists), its pretty cool they have become publishers of seemingly every column Mr. Roberts writes.
2005-03-22 01:23 | User Profile
Kevin,
They publish a lot of [url=http://www.defense-and-society.org/lind/lind_archive.htm]William S. Lind's[/url] writings too.
2005-03-22 05:44 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Kevin_O'Keeffe]Seeing as how [url="http://www.counterpunch.org/"]Counterpunch[/url] is a left-wing site (albeit anti-Zionist, anti-Democratic Party leftists), its pretty cool they have become publishers of seemingly every column Mr. Roberts writes.[/QUOTE]I wonder if they picked this one up?
[url="http://www.vdare.com/roberts/harvard_genocide.htm"]http://www.vdare.com/roberts/harvard_genocide.htm[/url]
[color=#990000][font=Arial][size=3][QUOTE] ** [color=#990000][font=Arial][size=3]Harvard Hates The White Race?[/size][/font][/color] By [url="http://www.vdare.com/roberts/index.htm"][color=#800080]Paul Craig Roberts[/color][/url]
Is the multicultural campaign really about diversity? Or is it about stamping out Western civilization and the ââ¬Åwhite raceââ¬Â itself?
College students will tell you that a [url="http://www.vdare.com/fulford/diversity_freedom_gihad.htm"][color=#0000ff]university education[/color][/url] today is a [url="http://www.vdare.com/roberts/home_front.htm"][color=#0000ff]guilt[/color][/url] trip for whites. The purpose is to prevent whites from appreciating and absorbing [url="http://vdare.com/pb/war_against_christmas_2001.htm"][color=#0000ff]their own culture[/color][/url] and to make it difficult for whites to resist the unreasonable demands (quotas, reparations, etc.) from ââ¬Åpeople of color.ââ¬Â
To the questions, ââ¬Åwho am I, what am I,ââ¬Â the white university graduate answers:[url="http://reason.com/0003/fe.ak.thought.shtml"][color=#0000ff] ââ¬Åa racist, sexist, homophobic oppressor.ââ¬Â[/color][/url] ... [/QUOTE]**[/size][/font][/color] Or might this one might cause one of the "good" commies at counterpoofter to choke on his granola?
2005-03-22 12:07 | User Profile
Interpid,
They would choke on something like that. Nonetheless, the important thing is that some of the ideas expressed by Roberts and Lind are getting out there, so why worry about who puts them out? They wouldn't agree with Lind on a number of things either- he is with the [url=http://www.freecongress.org/centers/cc/index.asp]Free Congress Foundation[/url], not exactly renown for their support of the far left. This is more of the case of the Right and left coming together on a few issues where for once there is that rare agreement. In this case it is Bush economic policies suck and benefit a select few.
Consider this, "Conservative" Town Hall discontinued posting Robert's columns because of Neocon complaints, so I would give Counter Punch a pass on this one.
2005-03-22 13:18 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Intrepid]I wonder if they picked this one up?
[url="http://www.vdare.com/roberts/harvard_genocide.htm"]http://www.vdare.com/roberts/harvard_genocide.htm[/url]
[color=#990000][font=Arial][size=3]****[/size][/font][/color] Or might this one might cause one of the "good" commies at counterpoofter to choke on his granola?[/QUOTE]
Well, the supposed "conservative" Free Republic doesn't seem to post PCR commentaries, do they? Maybe unless they want to bash what PCR writes about and call him "anti-American".
I've read material on Counterpunch that was sympathetic to Whites, but not explicitly pro-White. I think they support the working class as a whole, which of course includes Whites, blacks, hispanics, etc, but hey, at least it's better than what Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh support. Also, Counterpunch definitely finds no problem with condemning Israel, Neocons and faux conservatives.
2005-03-22 19:51 | User Profile
Sertorius,
Excuse my bad attempt at tongue-n-cheek humor. I'm curious, though, as to what some of the editorial staffs at, say, Counter Punch or The Nation think/thought when a Francis, Buchanan or Robert's column hits a racial issue semi-squarely on the head? Does their readership complain that the evil paleo racists are in the mag/ezine? It's more an issue of astonishment, than having any problem with his column there. So they agree with outsourcing and empire. That's fine and dandy, but that's about it, for all intents and purposes. I do occasionally read Counter Punch, but only for the occassional kick they deploy in Tel Aviv's snout. I'll never feel comfortable with the far-Left, is what it comes down to.
Come to think of it, Robert's columns have rarely hinted at racial and/or cultural issues in quite some time. Since his flirtations with Shumer, it's been strictly jobs, war, jobs, war, job... Coincidence? [QUOTE=Sertorius]Interpid,
They would choke on something like that. Nonetheless, the important thing is that some of the ideas expressed by Roberts and Lind are getting out there, so why worry about who puts them out? They wouldn't agree with Lind on a number of things either- he is with the [url="http://www.freecongress.org/centers/cc/index.asp"]Free Congress Foundation[/url], not exactly renown for their support of the far left. This is more of the case of the Right and left coming together on a few issues where for once there is that rare agreement. In this case it is Bush economic policies suck and benefit a select few.
Consider this, "Conservative" Town Hall discontinued posting Robert's columns because of Neocon complaints, so I would give Counter Punch a pass on this one.[/QUOTE]
2005-03-22 20:00 | User Profile
[QUOTE=xmetalhead]Well, the supposed "conservative" Free Republic doesn't seem to post PCR commentaries, do they? Maybe unless they want to bash what PCR writes about and call him "anti-American".
I've read material on Counterpunch that was sympathetic to Whites, but not explicitly pro-White. I think they support the working class as a whole, which of course includes Whites, blacks, hispanics, etc, but hey, at least it's better than what Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh support. Also, Counterpunch definitely finds no problem with condemning Israel, Neocons and faux conservatives.[/QUOTE]What do the neos, freepers or, for that matter, any of the establishment conservatives have to do with a Robert's column being in Cockburn's mag? I don't like them either, so I don't what you're trying to prove. In addition, whenever I hear some yahoo groveling about "the working class" I know the SOB wants to place his paws in my billfold. If it weren't for their views being spot-on re: "Jobs & Jews," I'd rather see them in work camp, myself.
2005-03-22 20:22 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Intrepid]What do the neos, freepers or, for that matter, any of the establishment conservatives have to do with a Robert's column being in Cockburn's mag? I don't like them either, so I don't what you're trying to prove. In addition, whenever I hear some yahoo groveling about "the working class" I know the SOB wants to place his paws in my billfold. If it weren't for their views being spot-on re: "Jobs & Jews," I'd rather see them in work camp, myself.[/QUOTE]
Well, let me just say that Counterpunch might just be a temporary ally of the Old Right in the fight against the tyrannical Oligarchic States of America, eg. anti-Zionist, anti-Globalisation (WTO, IMF), anti-outsourcing, anti-illegal immigration, anti-War, anti-Federal Reserve, whereas, Freepers, Townhall, Fox News and World Net Daily who claim to be Right Wing are completely useless to Paleos, if not outright enemies to our cause.
We'll deal with the Counterpunch Leftist pipe dreams afterwards.
2005-03-22 20:30 | User Profile
Intrepid,
I didn't realize you were being tongue in cheek and took you literally. I'll put it this way. Their readership probably does raise hell about Roberts in the same way the Neocons at Town Hall did about Roberts over Iraq. XM sums up my thinking about this nicely in his latest post. On those things we can cooperate on we should. Everything else is off the table. This is like former Cong. Bob Barr helping the ACLU in its fight against certain provisions of the Patroit Act. Barr disagees with them on the rest of their agenda.
2005-03-22 20:40 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ponce]What Bush is doing overseas is a "reflection" of of what will happen in the US in the future, many will be going to the internment camps as "enemys of the state" under trump up charges.
I only hope that at my age I will be able to get a bed close to the bathroom sinse I get up a lot a night.[/QUOTE]
Ponce, you are a diamond in the rough. I wish you lived closer to the east coast so that I could buy you a beer. I can't blame you though, for living where you do, I have heard that Oregon is a beautiful place.
2005-03-23 05:26 | User Profile
Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan.
The fact that his columns are banned at Rimjobistan underscores how abjectly the Zionist-Plutocratic neo-cons have betrayed the True, Traditionalist right.
Counterpunch is infinitely better than any Kristol; Goldberg; Moonie or WSJ fishwraps...