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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Somewhat sobering
  • Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 06:04:47 -0700


In addition, a national economy that cannot itself produce the things it needs and invests instead in military "security" will eventually find itself in a position in which it has to use its military constantly to take, or threaten to take, from others what it cannot provide for itself, which in turn leads to what Yale historian Paul Kennedy has described as "imperial overstretch":

"[T]hat is to say, decision-makers in Washington must face the awkward and enduring fact that the sum total of the United States' global interests and obligations is nowadays far larger than the country's power to defend them all simultaneously."

I think that is a false premise if it refers to the U.S.A. Whether oil, coffee or bananas, producers sell to whoever can pay the highest price. Using oil as the prime test, a country like Saudi Arabia would need a huge military, if the non-productive premise were true. As for our military, I think that while we spend much more than other countries, it is less than five percent of GNP.






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