Re: [A-List] Linking anti-war and anti-globalization movements

["annewilliamson" <annewilliamson@xxxxxxx>]

The central bankers thank you, Hans.  You offer them a most palatable
alternative, i.e., swap-the-collapsing nation-based fiat system for a
unitary
global paper money that they will continue to print!  This would compound
the injustice of the dollar system, oh, I'd say, about 10,000 times, and
give full funding to the jackboot-in-mankind's-face crowd.

There is an international money, always has been, always will be.
A "dollar" a "frank," a "mark," a "gilder", a British "pound" were
all terms designating a certain amount of gold.  Under the closest
the world has come to the classical gold standard (from the late
18th through the early 20th century), prices remained nearly constant
for a over a hundred years during a period of tremendous wealth
creation. Technology advanced, the infrastructure of industrial
society was built. There were "panics" and "bank runs" and
even collapses, but they were sharp and short in duration, unlike
today in which we have a slowly-unfolding, tortuous global
deflation that will cost many millions their prosperity and savings.
Millions more will be robbed of any hope of prosperity before
this one is over.

There were many unattractive - despicable even - features to
the gold standard era which embraced both slavery and colonialism.
The adventurers led the colonists and exploiters, and consequently
institutionalized looting supplanted naked pillage.  But none of
that was the fault of gold in and of itself, the metal functioned
positively as a monetary governor and thereby denied funding
to many a lunatic scheme, including war.

The system, as is, is despicable and I couldn't support you more
in demanding a change.  But a hyper-bureaucratic money issued
by a global agency such as the corrupt IMF is not a solution.  And,
it is in fact, exactly what the exploiters have up their sleeve -- you
should rethink your support.  A study of the mechanics of money
and banking would demonstrate to you why a global SDR would be
the ultimate in bondage.

Anne




----- Original Message -----
From: "Hans G. Ehrbar" <ehrbar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 12:59 PM
Subject: [A-List] Linking anti-war and anti-globalization movements


>
>
> The war on Iraq will neither be the first nor the last war.
> Indeed, the capitalist world system is associated with a
> continuous string of local and global wars.  At any given
> point in time in recent history there have been open
> hostilites at several locations on the earth.  This is not
> surprising, because capitalism is based on exploitation and
> is therefore inherently violent.
>
>
> The anti-war movement can only be truly successful if it
> addresses the root cause of wars, i.e., capitalism.  For
> this it is important to make the concrete connection between
> capitalism and whatever war is presently on the agenda.  We
> must be able to explain concretely why the war on Iraq is a
> necessity for the capitalist system.
>
>
> The answer which I am proposing here has to do with the
> connection between oil and the dollar.  Since 1945, the
> national currency of the USA has been accepted world wide as
> international money.  Originally, there was a dollar
> shortage.  The USA was the only industrialized economy
> emerging from World War II intact, and everyone needed
> American goods.  This economic predominance has faded.  It
> still holds in certain areas; in biotechnology and arms
> technology, the USA is still the undisputed leader.  But in
> other areas (alternative energies) the USA is a dinosaur.
>
>
> The continued acceptance of the dollar has two reasons: (1)
> the USA is the overwhelming military leader, and (2) the oil
> exporting countries have agreed to sell their oil for
> dollars, which are then invested back into the US economy.
> This link between oil and the dollar is at stake.  It is
> maintained by the collusion between the USA and one of the
> most reactionary governments on earth, that of Saudi Arabia.
> 9/11, carried out by Saudi Arab citizens with Saudi Arab
> money, demonstrated how tenuous this link has become.
> Iraq's switch to the Euro in 2000, and the recent events in
> Venezuela are other symptoms indicating that the USA's
> control over the oil supply is slipping.
>
>
> The capitalist system as a whole would survive, it would
> even be better off, if the link between oil and the dollar
> were broken and the dollar ceased to be world currency.
> Instead of a system in which the richest country on earth is
> allowed to steal even more wealth by printing paper money, a
> truly international overdraft money is needed.  In a growing
> world economy under a market system, new purchasing power
> must be created somewhere in order to pay for the new goods.
> This privilege of "printing money" should be granted to the
> less developed countries so that they can build up their
> infrastructure and catch up with the developed nations.
> In embryo, such a money already exists, it is the SDR,
> but until now the USA has succeeded to consign the SDR
> to irrelevance.
>
>
> The US ruling class cannot tolerate the loss of the dollar
> as world reserve currency.  The US economy is too addicted
> to the privileges associated with it.  Therefore the logical
> thing for the US would be to invade Saudi Arabia and take
> over their oil wells directly.  They cannot invade their
> staunchest ally because they would lose all other allies in
> the process.  Fortunately there is Iraq.  It is right next
> to Saudi Arabia, and it has the world's second largest oil
> reserves.  And the USA can pretend they are liberating Iraq
> from Sadam Hussein.
>
>
> What about the Euro?  Economically, the Euro is a challenge
> to the dollar, but:
>
> (a) A nation which unilaterally prints world money creates
> an economically unstable situation.  Eventually it has to
> back this paper with its military presence.  The European
> Union does not have this capability.
>
> (b) Having the Euro as world reserve currency is just as bad
> as having the dollar as world reserve currency.  We need a
> world money which is not at the same time a national
> currency.
>
>
> If we can substantiate this link between the flaws in the
> present international monetary system and the war on Iraq,
> then the Anti-War movement can put forward the demand that a
> truly international credit money is needed.  Every
> reasonable economist in the Third World knows this, but
> until now people simply haven't seen how this could be
> achieved politically.  The seeming irrationality of the war
> on Iraq has brought these hidden connections into focus.  If
> the anti-war movement could adopt this demand, a solid
> connection with the anti-globalization movement would be
> established.
>
>
> Hans G. Ehrbar
>
>