Re: Recent discussions

[Nicholas Siemensma <nsiemensma@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 --- Domhnall wrote that a: > 
> completely uncontrolled development in Dublin has
> led to a huge housing 
> inflationary bubble (which is about to burst) 

Sounds familiar.  This week the Australian Bureau of
Statistics released quarterly figures which show the
net foreign debt rising to $360 billion (about 50% of
GDP), and $49 billion in the year to March, mostly
involving the financial sector.  "Our" relatively high
growth is built on the back of foreign borrowing.  The
Treasury-inspired media line is of a particularly
inept, shallow variety, blaming everything (insofar as
they acknowledge a problem at all) on the drought and
problems elsewhere.  The reality of course is of
structural disequilibria - including structural
dependence on heavy overseas borrowing - that will
likely result in grinding social crises over the
coming decades.

This particular domestic capital formation is an
anchor wedding Australia to US imperialism.  I'm
preparing to post something on the possibilities of
capital and state re-orientation for this
sub-imperialist power which is geopolitically
important to the US hegemon, but which has its own
imperial ambitions and longing for "spheres of
influence", and which surely stages competing
programmes for overcoming accumulation problems.  One
option is moving out from under the thumb of the US in
favour of some rival hegemon or imperial subset (ie
China/East Asia).  How likely is this for a regional,
subaltern imperialism in thrall to the US and with a
significant cultural substrate (ie racist fear of
yellow and brown hordes) from centuries of "special
relationships" with domiant Anglo-American powers?

Obviously this depends ultimately on struggles at the
level of the world system within the labour-process
and between rival national bourgeoisies, and I need
some time to do justice to this question.  But perhaps
Gary, Tom, even Phil or someone else, would like to
pre-empt me.

Nick 


http://mobile.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Mobile
- Check & compose your email via SMS on your Telstra or Vodafone mobile.