February 5, 2008

Two ways to conquer the world:

One way is to build an economy that revolves around weapons.
Employ workers to research and build better weapons. Use
the weapons to impose national will. Have a well equipped
army and a global network of military bases. Build up a
nuclear arsenal while insisting that others can't.
Militarize space with surveillance satellites. Invade
countries frequently. Prepare citizens for war through
heightened fear of invasion from enemies. Invent enemies
when necessary. Use war as a metaphor for problem solving.
For example, social problems can solved by a war on drugs;
medical problems by a war on cancer; international problems
by a war on terrorism.

The U.S. is a good example of this way. When Russia
disappeared as a perceived threat, terrorists (Arabs) were
substituted. Americans live constant in fear of invasion
from the North, South; from air, water and space. Science
and technology are devoted to futuristic (often improbable)
star wars weapons.

The U.S. has troops in 135 of the192 countries worldwide.
The total military personnel is 1,800,000 and 20 per cent of
those personnel occupy foreign countries.

Military domination is effective but expensive. The U.S.
spends $1.5 billion dollars a day on their military which
contributes to a massive national debt.

Another way to conquer the world is to structure your
economy around the manufacture of consumer goods. Ensure
that your prices are the cheapest in the world by paying
your workers low wages. Undercut foreign manufacturers and
drive them out of business. Accumulate foreign currency.
Use that accumulation of wealth to buy the world.

China is a good example of this way. Massive social
remodeling is moving millions of rural Chinese to jobs in
the cities. Cheap Chinese goods have flooded world markets
and caused the collapse of global manufacturing.

China has accumulated an unfathomable $1.4 trillion ($1,400
billion) and they are going shipping. Billions have been
spent U.S. private equity funds and treasury bonds.
According financial analyst Bill Bonner, "They have enough
U.S. Treasury Bonds to destroy the American economy on a
whim."

China could destroy the U.S. economy but they won't. The
U.S. cash cow is worth keeping alive because it keeps money
flowing into China. In a bizarre global embrace, China
needs the U.S. as much as American needs China.

The embrace is not without hazards. When China sneezes, the
U.S. gets a cold. North American markets were thrown in
turmoil last November when the vice-president of China's
parliament made an off-handed remark that China should move
money out of "weak" currencies like the U.S. dollar. That
comment sent the U.S. dollar plummeting and hastened the
looming recession.

While the U.S. caught a cold, Canada caught a spending fever
as our loonie took flight and Canadians went shopping.

Canada is in an awkward squeeze between the two powers.
Because of our open-door policy, we are ready for takeover
by foreign states.

That policy is revealed in the comments of Canada's Finance
Minister Jim Prentice. Referring the sell-out of our
industrial and resource base to foreign states, he says: "I
want to make it clear that the vast majority of state-owned
enterprises do not raise concerns." Translation: Canada is
for sale.

"[But] there may be rare occasions when foreign investments
by state-owned enterprises with non-commercial objectives
and unclear corporate governance and reporting may not
benefit Canadians." Translation: sell-out to Communist
China makes us nervous.

East meets West in the global marketplace. China and the
U.S. are the yin and yang of ideology. Capitalism is the
interface between the paradoxical opposites.

The U.S. needs China as a perceived threat - - its
military-industrial complex depends on threats and the
fictitious whim of the Arab enemy is growing less popular.
The U.S. needs backup enemies.

China needs the U.S. as a steady customer and source of
cash. China help the U.S. economy by being a good enemy - -
one that threatens but never acts.

Each method of world dominance has advantages and
disadvantages. The American way is spectacular, with lots
of pyrotechnics, but it's messy. The body count of troops
is demoralizing. The Chinese way wrecks the environment
with deadly smog-choking industry.

Both ways come at great costs to citizens. The loss of
liberty is a burden on both societies - - the Chinese are
enslaved to making cheap goods and the U.S. consumer is
enslaved to buying them.
 

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

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