War, Outsourcing and Debt: Delusion Rules

[dumpster_baby]

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

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Just as Americans are deceived into believing that Iraq was involved in the September 11 terrorist attack on the US and threatened America with weapons of mass destruction, Americans are deceived into believing that they benefit economically from outsourcing, offshore production, and an unprecedented trade deficit.

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It is inevitable: America's mounting debts will produce a crisis. The dollar's value will plummet, and US living standards will drop. Everything will become more expensive for Americans. The perilous condition of the dollar is one of the reasons Bush invaded Iraq. What keeps the overvalued dollar up is the fact that it is the currency in which the Middle East bills its oil. Every country has to purchase dollars in order to pay for its oil, and these purchases keep the dollar afloat.

Just prior to the US invasion, sanctions on Iraqi oil had run their course and were about to be removed. Saddam Hussein intended to bill Iraqi oil in Euros, which could have started the abandonment of the dollar by the oil producing countries. Instead of fixing our economic problems, we started a war.

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Some economists claim that lost occupations will return to the US once wages rise in India and China. Matloff's answer: "Did manufacturing work return to the US over time as wages rose in developing countries? Of course not." Only America is stupid enough to give away its manufacturing and high tech occupations.

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[Skittles]

1. I get tired of hearing about the "global eoconomy"

the problem with this "economy" is I cannot compete with people in India, Brazil, China for jobs because I cannot live on the wages they are readily able to accept.

[ixion]

2. Only America is stupid enough...

well, while there is some truth to this, the ignorant populace of this country is not the first to be duped by their own leaders.

In fact, you can point to a period in almost any nation's history where the populace was mislead by their government.