Hegemony Lost: The American Economy is Destroying Itself

[NVMojo]

August 25, 2005

The historian who chronicles America's decline will lay the blame on free market ideology.

I say this as a believer in the market. My books and scholarly articles demonstrate the superiority of market systems over government allocative schemes. The problem arises when market economics ceases to be thoughtful and becomes ideological or a dogma.

A good example of the latter is a recent Heritage Foundation study that argues that global outsourcing is the best way to equip the US military with the best technology at least expense. The study brushes away concerns with the erosion of the American manufacturing, science, and engineering knowledge base by asserting that such concerns imply protectionism and that protectionism means the death of innovation.

Protectionism can be problematical for innovation, and the study is correct to point this out. Where the study fails is in ignoring that innovation does not take place in a vacuum. Innovation requires a material base and depends on a strong manufacturing, science and engineering foundation backed by R&D programs.

snip...

This belief is simply untrue. As this belief is the basis for the study, the study has done nothing but confirm a preordained belief.

The US has no God-given comparative advantage in innovation and new technology. We were leaders in these fields, because we were leaders in manufacturing.

more...

http://counterpunch.org/roberts08252005.html

[KT2000]

1. Cannabalism

favorite example is of the chemical company that makes pesticides that have a possible link to breast cancer. Said chemical company sponsors breast cancer walks for breast cancer survivors, the ones that go on for days and have medic tents along the way because so many pass out.

They blanket the world with pink ribbons etc. They continue to make the offending pesticides and likely fight attempts to reduce sales and consumption of that product.

They have also branched out by purchasing drug companies that specialize in cancer chemo drugs.

Free markets at work.

[The Traveler]

2. We will be known

as the generation that ate its young.

[GCP]

3. Lenin said it first

"The capitalists will sell us the rope we'll hang them with"

Edited for name and succinctness.