Paul Craig Roberts’s bottom line seems to be this: Endless war and greed are bad for the economy, and therefore harmful to humanity.
Roberts slipped into the globe’s view back in the ‘80s, when he became an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Ronald Reagan, and was part of the brain trust in forming Reaganomics.
Story continues below.
Paul Craig Roberts
Now, 30 years later, he’s taken the mantle of gutsy maverick opposing Congress and the White House’s fascist obsession with endless war, Wall Street’s obsession with endless greed, and both the politicians’ and bankers’ addiction with feeding the military-industrial complex—and the American corporate media supporting that.
Story continues below.
He does this primarily through publishing on his Institute for Political Economy website (paulcraigroberts.org), and in speeches and TV and radio interviews. He’s concerned most about an approaching global economic meltdown, and also Washington’s (Republicans and Democrats’) determination to cause chaos in the Middle East and its fixation on lashing at Russia, which he believes could lead to nuclear war. As a former federal Treasury official, he understands it’s all about money and power.
Take a look at some of his recent statements, and see whether or not you agree with him. You can be pretty certain that Washington’s pro-war machinery won’t. And remember, this guy served under Ronald Reagan:
Story continues below.
“War on Terror” – February 7, 2015
Story continues below.
Consider the “war on terror.” According to a Nobel economist and a Harvard University budget expert, Washington’s 14 years of war on terror has cost Americans a minimum of $6 trillion. That’s 6,000 billion dollars. This sum, together with the current PayRoll tax revenues is enough to keep Social Security and Medicare in the black for years to come. Without the vast sum wasted on the war on terror, Republicans would not have an excuse to be trying to cut Social Security and Medicare for budget reasons and to privatize the old age pensions and health care of people, thus turning Medicare and Social Security pensions into fee income for Wall Street.
Combatting terrorism is the excuse for squandering a minimum of $6,000 billion dollars.
What were the terrorist events that serve as a basis for this expenditure?
There are five: 9/11, the London transport system bombings, the Spanish train bombing, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and the French Charlie Hebdo rifle attack.
In other words, 5 events in 14 years.
The loss of life in all these events combined is minuscule compared to the loss of life in the war on terror. Even the deaths of our own soldiers is greater. Washington’s wars against terror have caused more deaths of Americans than the alleged terrorist events themselves.
Washington has forced Europe to impose economic sanctions on Russia that are based entirely on lies and false accusations. The Russians know this. They recognize the blatant hostility, the blatant lies, the never-ending crude propaganda, the hypocritical double-standards, the push toward war.
Simultaneously China is experiencing hostile encirclement with Washington’s “pivot to Asia.”
By destroying trust, Washington has resurrected the threat of nuclear armageddon. Washington’s destruction of trust between nuclear powers is the crime of the century.
If a country is “the exceptional country,” it means that all other countries are unexceptional. If a people are “indispensable,” it means other peoples are dispensable. We have seen this attitude at work in Washington’s 14 years of wars of aggression in the Middle East. These wars have left countries destroyed and millions of people dead, maimed, and displaced. Yet Washington continues to speak of its commitment to protect smaller countries from the aggression of larger countries. The explanation for this hypocrisy is that Washington does not regard Washington’s aggression as aggression, but as History’s purpose.
We have also seen this attitude at work in Washington’s disdain for Russia’s national interests and in Washington’s propagandistic response to Russian diplomacy.
The neoconservative ideology requires that Washington maintain its Uni-power status, because this status is necessary for Washington’s hegemony and History’s purpose.
This fairy tale supports America’s image as the safe haven, an image that keeps the dollar up, the stock market up, and interest rates down. It is an image that causes the massive numbers of unemployed Americans to blame themselves and not the mishandled economy.
This fairy tale survives despite the fact that there is no economic information whatsoever that supports it.
Real median household income has not grown for years and is below the levels of the early 1970s.
There has been no growth in real retail sales for six years.
How does an economy dependent on consumer demand grow when real consumer incomes and real retail sales do not grow?
Not from business investment. Why invest when there is no sales growth? Industrial production, properly deflated, remains well below the pre-recession level.
Not from construction. The real value of total construction put in place declined sharply from 2006 through 2011 and has bounced around the 2011 bottom for the past three years.
How does an economy grow when the labor force is shrinking? The labor force participation rate has declined since 2007 as has the civilian employment to population ratio.
How can there be a recovery when nothing has recovered?
Summary
So…why is Peculiar Progressive quoting from this rebellious Reaganomics renegade? Because on these key issues–endless war, nuclear war, and a dissolving economy–we’ve written columns through recent years. We’ve seen these problems in much the same light as Roberts. We’ve called on readers to get organized (you can’t do it alone), get educated, and get active in changing these detriments to you and your children’s future. So what do you think? And even more important, will you do anything to create change?
And then there was Jerry Falwell, Jr., with his open pants, evangelical FUPA and his hands veering into prime side-boob territory with -- hey, doesn't she have a name?
Combatting terrorism is the excuse for squandering a minimum of $6,000 billion dollars.
If a country is “the exceptional country,” it means that all other countries are unexceptional. If a people are “indispensable,” it means other peoples are dispensable. We have seen this attitude at work in Washington’s 14 years of wars of aggression in the Middle East. These wars have left countries destroyed and millions of people dead, maimed, and displaced. Yet Washington continues to speak of its commitment to protect smaller countries from the aggression of larger countries. The explanation for this hypocrisy is that Washington does not regard Washington’s aggression as aggression, but as History’s purpose.
This fairy tale supports America’s image as the safe haven, an image that keeps the dollar up, the stock market up, and interest rates down. It is an image that causes the massive numbers of unemployed Americans to blame themselves and not the mishandled economy.
