DECLINE OF AMERICAN EMPIRE

The American empire is built on capitalism; specifically neo-liberal capitalism, which has over the last 40 to 50 years become more global neo-liberal capitalism.

Basically, coming out of the world wars and the great depression, privately-led capitalists had a chance to rebuild and recoup. This led to a great leap in growth and development. The growth was mainly within the United States and Europe, which, by the 1970s, began to slow down. Such was not unusual within the capitalist system as it is growth-spurt driven. There had been growth spurts within America, but after the 1970s these growth spurts took an unusual turn, and the growth spurts went out of America. More specifically capitalist interest went to Asia and other parts of what is now called the global south. Capitalism was looking for places where wages were cheaper and environmental protection laws more relaxed and, in some cases, non-existent. The newly independent Asian countries were eager to provide jobs for their people and the American, European and Japanese corporations were eager to get cheap labour and get access to Asian markets. This meant that huge numbers of jobs moved from the old centres of capitalism in North America and Western Europe to the new centres within Asia and the global south.

New capitalism centres  

The new dynamic centres of capitalism became China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia and so on. A remarkable process of growth occurred. Everything was made in China or Taiwan. This explosive growth outside America had the terrible effect of hollowing out the best-paid jobs in America. The hard work of unions in raising the living standards of the average working Americans, soon became their downfall as the jobs moved to Asia and the global south. Hard-working Americans lost their jobs as their own capitalist 10 per cent moved to cheaper non-unionised new centres of capitalism. America lost its steel factories, auto factories, aluminum production and the basic industry of the country; all these went with high-paying jobs. The middle-class jobs disappeared.

The capitalist was only interested in the bottom line, the ability to compete globally and bring in more profits. Inequality grew as the 10 per cent who owned factories grew richer outside the country and the rest of the American working class got poorer. Those American and Western European capitalists who chose to stay and support their countries’ workers had to compete globally with those in China and India, and we all know that was an impossible battle to win, because of low wages abroad and a lower standard of environmental protections. The second dynamic was that the new centres of capitalism soon took ownership of their own means of production. Once the locals acquired the technology, and their own resources, new capitalists outside America and Western Europe were soon competing with the old capitalists using their technology, local knowledge and expertise to gain an upper hand.

American self-destruction

History tells us that empires are not destroyed by outside forces but self-destruct from within. The Roman Empire’s coffers were drained by both the colonies outside and at home. Finally, in a bid to keep from losing their power, Roman leaders entered into highly expensive wars. This was the final economic crippler and the empire self-destructed. The United States (US) has about 750 overseas military bases in more than 80 countries, and Washington elites are pushing the country ever closer to conflict with China over Taiwan. March 19-20, 2023 marked 20 years since US forces invaded Iraq to oust ‘dictator’ Saddam Hussein, under the false claim that his regime was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. The war that ensued, in which US ground presence peaked in 2007 with over 170 000 soldiers, caused massive deaths, destruction and political instability in Iraq and the whole Middle East.

The US$2 trillion price tag of the US war in Iraq was only a fraction of the total spending for those counter-terrorism efforts. The entire post-9/11 wars cost the US about US$8 trillion, according to Brown University’s estimates. Since invading Afghanistan in 2001, the US has spent US$2.313 trillion on the war, which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan before just walking away. The US has committed nearly US$80 billion in aid to Ukraine; that’s according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. In the American domestic front, there is an upsurge of militant labour movements. This is no surprise as they are reacting to the hard time the working middle class is facing; the high inflation and disappearing jobs. Whole towns closed as the climate change rhetoric got the upper hand. We have to understand that a huge global working class is emerging in Asia and the global south, while it is shrinking dramatically in western countries, particularly in America.

Pending US isolation

The American empire peaked and started to decline. The signs are everywhere. However, it would be a mistake to believe that its demise will be sudden given the fact that America is still the biggest economy in the world. European countries are facing similar difficulties as French and German workers have joined strikes to protest against inflation, which is attacking them from all directions. Europe is caught up between the new capitalists from the east and its old friend America. They are asking themselves if they should remain with America and continue to do their dirty work as in Ukraine and Libya (where the NATO invasion only triggered an influx of refugees and destroyed thriving countries next door ) or if the future is with the new global east China and its allies. The expansion of NATO was not a priority to the European Union (EU) but it seemed important to the US. The pain of losing Russian natural gas and food supplies is still fresh in their minds.

An American-based human rights watch reacted with anger to French President Emmanuel Macron saying that he seems to have succumbed to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s charm offensive during a three-day visit to China recently.  The headline read; ‘France’s Macron ignores human rights violations during China visit’. Will we continue next week with the isolation and decline of the America empire. We will look closely at the BRICS organisation and its de-dollarisation drive. We will look at the number of countries that have applied to join BRICS and the effect of Chinese-brokered peace between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the petrodollar. Comment septembereswatini@gmail.com

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