For Latin America watchers, a great Noam Chomsky interview

[Judi Lynn]

Latin American Integration
Noam Chomsky interviewed by
Bernie Dwyer
March 07, 2006

Bernie Dwyer: I am reminded of a great Irish song called "The West's Awake" written by Thomas Davis in remembrance of the Fenian Uprising of 1798. It is about the west of Ireland asleep under British rule for hundreds of years and how it awoke from its slumbers and rose up against the oppressor. Could we begin to hope now that the South is awake?

Noam Chomsky: What's happening is something completely new in the history of the hemisphere. Since the Spanish conquest the countries of Latin America have been pretty much separated from one another and oriented toward the imperial power. There are also very sharp splits between the tiny wealthy elite and the huge suffering population. The elites sent their capital; took their trips; had their second homes; sent their children to study in whatever European country their country was closely connected with. I mean, even their transportation systems were oriented toward the outside for export of resources and so on.
(snip)

Furthermore, they are beginning to throw out the IMF. In the past, the US could prevent unwelcome developments such as independence in Latin America, by violence; supporting military coups, subversion, invasion and so on. That doesn't work so well any more. The last time they tried in 2002 in Venezuela, the US had to back down because of enormous protests from Latin America, and of course the coup was overthrown from within. That's very new.

If the United States loses the economic weapons of control, it is very much weakened. Argentina is just essentially ridding itself of the IMF, as they say. They are paying off the debts to the IMF. The IMF rules that they followed had totally disastrous effects. They are being helped in that by Venezuela, which is buying up part of the Argentine debt.

Bolivia will probably do the same. Bolivia's had 25 years of rigorous adherence to IMF rules. Per capita income now is less than it was 25 years ago. They want to get rid of it. The other countries are doing the same. The IMF is essentially the US Treasury Department. It is the economic weapon that's alongside the military weapon for maintaining control. That's being dismantled.
(snip/...)

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=20&ItemID=9862

Thanks to 0007, who shared this article in an LBN thread.

[Selatius]

1. One day, America will be made to pay the price of greed.

Our nation, on a macroscopic scale, exploits others for its personal gain, its incredibly consumerist, materialistic way of life. It meddles in the lives of others. It tell others what to do, what not to do, and how to do things. We're in their homes, in their lives, and we haven't the right, and in the end, we will pay the ultimate price, and that price could mean the disintegration of the US within the next 150 years like the old provinces of Rome slipping away one by one into the Dark Ages.

[0007]

2. I would hope everyone concerned with our country would read

this Noam Chomsky interview.

In just a few short years Canada, Mexico and the Latin American counties have grown wise to our greedy politics.

[eridani]

3. I think they've always been wise

Before, they just couldn't do jackshit about it. Now, the imperialists have attempted conquiest or control of most of the Middle East, which they really can't afford to do. The upshot is that they don't have the resources to put into keeping Central and South America ground down anymore.

[Clara T]

4. Much of the world

is shedding the weight of the 800 pound dollar hegemony gorilla, as they should do.

The US financial system is propped up by the charade of thin air and voodoo incantations from the Fed.

DaanSpeak: Is the money that the Plunge Protection Team uses for this virtual money, do they simply let the printing presses roll?
Willem Middelkoop: 'In a certain sense all of the money has already become virtual. Money can be created out of nothing because our money is no longer backed by gold. Central banks can actually create money from nothing, just like commercial banks: If you for example take out a mortgage with a bank, money is created on the spot where there previously was none. That's not the same kind of money as your neighbor has in his savings account. This is money that is rarely given to you in the form of banknotes. If you buy a house, that money is simply remitted to the previous owner of that house. So that's a transaction that is purely digital, a form of virtual money. In this way central banks can create money. The Wall Street Banks are a component of and the owner of the American Central Bank, the Federal Reserve. That bank does not belong to the state, it belongs to the big Wall Street banks. And in principle they have unlimited potential, unlimited and deep pockets with which they can purchase what they want to purchase and prop up what they want to prop up. And now that they are going to cease publishing the money supply data starting at the end of March, a very important indicator for the people who follow these things is going away, the proof is being removed.

If you take a look at the past ten or twenty years, you see that there has been an enormous amount of money created out of nothing. You know, we do this in Europe also, the total number of outstanding mortgages in Europe is rising at a rate of 10 percent per year, the total amount of money in circulation is rising at a rate of 8.5 percent per year, but the economy is growing at only 1 percent per year. That should lead to a loss of purchasing power, that should lead to inflation, and that of course also leads to a loss of purchasing power. It's only in the official numbers that it is not totally visible. But you need only take a look at what you are paying for a beer or for some french fries: you are now paying two euros, and a number of years ago it was two guilders. That demonstrates a loss of purchasing power and that also explains why so many people, especially in the middle class, are having a lot of problems, because you are really not compensated for the loss of purchasing power.'

http://www.daanspeak.com/InterviewMiddelkoop01Eng.html