Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
February 3, 2008 Newsletter. The Iraq war is the second longest in U.S. history. It has killed more than one million Iraqis and 4,000 U.S. troops. Hundreds of thousands more have been wounded. Nearly five million Iraqis have been made refugees by the war and occupation. Over a quarter of Iraq's population has been killed, wounded or displaced. While Bush and his partners in the Democratic Party talk endlessly about "supporting the troops," tens of thousands of returning soldiers have life-altering wounds — both physical and psychological — and totally inadequate medical care and benefits. Many are already homeless.
The cost of the war is now running at more than $400 million per day, nearly $5,000 per second. Military-industrial corporations and the big banks are reaping huge profits, while millions of people go without health care, decent housing and jobs. Much of the country's infrastructure — bridges, roads, water systems, schools — is falling apart. The same banks that are evicting millions of people from their homes are the ones profiting from the war.
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5 comments:
Is this article accurate? In what way are banks making millions of dollars on the Iraq war? Maybe they are, but I've never heard anything about this.
Also, of the people being evicted from their homes, how many can actually afford the payments? There is a reasonable likelihood that I or anyone else might lose a job and be evicted from our homes for non-payment. Is that the bank's fault?
If you take out an ARM loan, you need to be extremely wary of the risks. My wife and I have never had any interest in an ARM loan. When we always went with a smaller house than we could theoretically afford because of our fear of the risk.
Most of the unscrupulous loans made to average citizens who didn't understand the risks were not made by banks directly but by mortgage brokers. These people really should be punished because they took their profit and left their customers owning the banks more than they could pay (at least this my understanding). This basically means that the banks and their end customers are ultimately victims. Why the brokers aren't prosecuted, I don't know.
I really don't think that beating up the banks is right. Although, hopefully they will be wiser about whom they do business with in the future.
The banking system is what makes American life possible and relaxed. Just look at most of the Middle east, Africa, and South America where the banks aren't generous with their willingness to take risks on the average guy -- there lives are a lot harder than mine.
I'm not sure if this is a beginning answer to your question but I'll check around for more on this and on your other questions soon.
"World trade is now a game in which the US produces dollars and the rest of the world produces things that dollars can buy. The world's interlinked economies no longer trade to capture a comparative advantage; they compete in exports to capture needed dollars to service dollar-denominated foreign debts and to accumulate dollar reserves to sustain the exchange value of their domestic currencies. To prevent speculative and manipulative attacks on their currencies, the world's central banks must acquire and hold dollar reserves in corresponding amounts to their currencies in circulation. The higher the market pressure to devalue a particular currency, the more dollar reserves its central bank must hold. This creates a built-in support for a strong dollar that in turn forces the world's central banks to acquire and hold more dollar reserves, making it stronger. This phenomenon is known as dollar hegemony, which is created by the geopolitically constructed peculiarity that critical commodities, most notably oil, are denominated in dollars. Everyone accepts dollars because dollars can buy oil. The recycling of petro-dollars is the price the US has extracted from oil-producing countries for US tolerance of the oil-exporting cartel since 1973.
"By definition, dollar reserves must be invested in US assets, creating a capital-accounts surplus for the US economy. Even after a year of sharp correction, US stock valuation is still at a 25-year high and trading at a 56 percent premium compared with emerging markets." ... and so on.
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~pdscott/iraq.html
Hi Blogher!
While I don't understand how your post addresses my central argument, I do see the importance of what you are saying.
However, times are changing -- and the value of the dollar has always been a two edged sword. The high value of the dollar has consistently meant that American jobs are going overseas due to the lower labor wages in other countries. Historically, this has been limited to unskilled labor but no longer.
I personally, had to train my replacements in Bangalore India just before they moved my job there and laid me off. I know exactly how it feels to have your job go overseas because the people their get paid 1/5 of what you are getting paid. And I had to train the people who took my job
Of course I was in a better position to find another job than many, but I definitely know how they felt. All of this is a direct result of the high price of the American dollar.
Times are changing, however. The dollar is falling with respect to the Euro and many other currencies. This means that Americans will have to pay more at Walmart but that more Americans will have jobs and can afford to go to Walmart.
As we speak both the Chinese and the Oil producing countries are slowly but surely divesting themselves of dollars. Iran and Venezuela are doing so gleefully but many countries are heavily invested in the US and are worried about the stability of their own economies as our currency's value floats back to its proper levels.
Personally, I don't see a conspiracy here. Many countries around the world have chosen to adopt the US dollar as their official currency. They do this mainly because their own currencies were so unstable that inflation was driving their populations towards revolution.
The result is that since the total quantity of dollars in the world was limited by decisions of the US federal reserve board, the dollar floated to unfairly high values as a result of competition for the limited resource.
As the dollar falls, these countries may re-evaluate their use of the dollar. Doing so is likely to reduce the value of the dollar even further and thus make American goods and services more competitive with our overseas colleagues. This will be good for American workers and farmers.
Personally, I see reason neither for glee nor despair. Yes, there will be scary times ahead as the dollar falls, but we will be merely assuming our rightful place in the world's economy -- not some special prized position of noble currency. As we do so, our jobs will stop going overseas and our products will make it over there much easier.
Gasoline prices or going to get higher and that will have an unfortunate impact on people with fixed incomes -- but it is going to happen anyway because of increased Chinese and Indian demand.
Although it is very painful for many -- such as my parents -- the high price of gasoline means that alternative and likely more ecologically friendly fuels -- become more competitive. The truth is that we don't know just how eco friendly the new fuels will be, but the higher price of gasoline will mean that more research will go into its replacements. That can only be a good thing.
This is an interesting subject for discussion -- partly because it is not over yet. Things are happening fast and it is hard to know what the final outcomes will be.
Hi Lowell!
From the examples you've given about a possible recession it sounds like something good comes out of the hardships we're in for. It sounds like what is happening or may happening is a needed adjustment in the US economy to get us back on track? When we've been in recession before how long did the worst of it last?
Well the recession of the 1930's was terrible. My own grandparents never quite shook off the effects. They were all life long scrimpers. That is, they never spent any money they didn't actually have to spend -- except on their grand kids.
My parents weren't quite so effected by it -- but I remember once when I was changing the oil in my car, my dad gave me grief because I didn't stand for a couple of minutes after most of the oil had poured into the engine and wait for the last few drops that still clung to the inside of the can.
I just pay someone to change my oil and rarely even think about the price. Of course if a new recession comes, I might not be so cocky given my age and the difficulty of finding a new job. Of course, I'm getting close to having my house paid off so I am less worried than I otherwise would be.
I believe that the correction you mentioned is going to be good for the country -- but the recession would not be a great idea. Too many people would be hurt too seriously.
An interesting question comes up -- if Walmart makes all the prices so low by buying overseas, and we all lose our jobs, will we better off making less money and paying less at walmart than we would have if prices were high and we had better jobs?
Nobody knows the answer to that.
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