[PEN-L:11211] Re: Re: imperialist competition?

[James Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bill Burgess writes: >>US hegemony partially functioned during the long
post WW2 boom;
those days are over. The military fact of the USSR blunted open rivalry
between imperialist powers for awhile, but its (partial) demise opens more
room for fighting over profit potentials. We're leaving off the economy
from political economy if we don't connect this to the wars happening,
including Iraq and intervention in Yugoslavia.<<

Sure, the end of the cold war brought some competition among the big powers
to the fore, over foreign policy and economics ("competitiveness"). But is
there anything going on which is remotely similar to the UK/German
battleship-building arms race before WW I? is there a scramble for colonies
and coaling stations? These are the kinds of thing Lenin wrote about.

These days, instead of building battleships to compete with each other
militarily, the capitalist powers are competing to sell fighter planes
(modern battleships) to developing countries. Instead of scrambling for
colonies, the powers are uniting behind the war against Iraq, the World
Bank's structural adjustment programs in developing countries, and (after
initial diplomatic discord, with Germany backing Slovenia's independence)
uniting to pacify the former Yugoslavia.

On other subjects: Today's L.A. TIMES reports that "experts say" that the
point of NAFTA was not "jobs" but instead ensuring that Mexico went all the
way with "free market economics."

The TIMES also reports that the "health" industry is currently denying
insurance coverage to babies who need reconstructive surgery at birth
(e.g., supplying a missing external ear) because it is wholely cosmetic.
How does one pronounce "HMO" (health maintenance organization)? If the M is
silent, pronounce it "ho." But perhaps the H should be silent, since
there's no health there.

that's it for today.



in pen-l solidarity,

Jim Devine   jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
jim_devine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ.
7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way
and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.