In my first posting on the American Empire which is taking a somewhat more definite shape, I noted the relationship between liquid wealth and the growth of central powers. Those central powers, in the case of the United States an unholy alliance of politicians and corporate capitalists, will see liquid wealth as so much booty to control. Morally, they are cowardly versions of Genghis Khan, gaining control by destroying true economies and stripping future generations of their productive capabilities.
There are two reasons for doing this. If wealth can be made liquid, that is, transformed into cash and stocks, then the looters — investors and politicians alike — can claim to have increased wealth and then can take their cut. In fact, it is not likely wealth has been increased past some very early stage of increasing cash liquidity, though a certain (and unknowable) amount of liquidity can help local economies that need to trade with each other to meet true human needs.
The frenzies on Wall Street and in the corporate suites to cash in as soon as possible make an interesting counterpoint to our country’s inability to create enough jobs to cover even the growth in the native population let alone all these immigrants coming to the country for nonexistent jobs. It is interesting how well men will pay themselves for selling this country’s productive capacity, its economic future, to countries run and inhabited by men with more energy and intelligence and foresight than Americans have.
This dismantling of an economy by speculators is perhaps inevitable as soon as the citizens of a country agree to a cash-based, speculative economy. And we should always remember how politicians feed the frenzy of the markets for those in positions of public trust are also stealing from the future generations of this country to build up a cash economy. How else will they get the taxes to increase their own power and to create classes of dependents? How else will they build up welfare systems and systems of public works? How else will they build great armies and navies to project their wills throughout the world?
And it might well be the case that the great armies and navies of the United States will survive as the general population begins to feel the effect of having been dumbed down and de-skilled, of having the productive capacity of this country sold to companies in Shanghai and Tokyo and Seoul. Those armies and navies, and the politicians who control them, will have to learn the skills of any imperial military and government that wishes to survive: having grown by dissipating the economic strength of their core region, they will have to learn how to steal what they need to maintain their power and their personal life-styles.