[Marxism] [Pen-l] Michael Hudson: The game is over

[S. Artesian]

Steve,

I think you misunderstand the thrust of Brad's arguments.  Let's leave P&G 
aside for the time being.  I am not a supporter of their arguments.

IMO, the decline of dollar is a classic example of the US playing beggar thy 
neighbor, with certain sectors enjoying an export surge based on this 
decline.

I don't think Brad is arguing, and I know I am not arguing that US 
capitalism has somehow overcome the contradictions at its core, defeated the 
cyclical and/or structural problems that beset it.  I do think that those 
problems are reproduced throughout the global network of capitalism, and the 
US economic predicament does not mean an European Union capitalism, or a 
Pan-Asian capitalism is going to emerge as the new version of the old "gold 
at $35/ounce Bretton Woods" US capitalism. It, the contraction of US 
capitalism, will and does have tremendous repercussions for entire network 
of capital.

I don't see anything "resurgent" about US capitalism, at least not yet, but 
I also don't see any combination of Europe, Asia, and/or BRICs pushing it 
aside.  Periodically, we get these speculations-- Europe will "replace" the 
US; then Japan [and of course, the US bourgeoisie is only to happy to "help" 
that along by selling the Japanese real estate at 10X previous value, and 
then buying it back at half the sale price]; then the "Asian Tigers";  then 
Brazil, China, India, Russia.  And like most speculations, the market 
devalues them sooner or later.

Certainly the SIV contraction has tremendous negative impact, but that 
crisis is not attributable to the decline in the exchange rate for the 
dollar.  And European  banks are in no way better off than the US banks in 
this crunch as their exposure to losses is significant.

I think you are right in that the US bourgeoisie awards its workers much 
fewer, and much less, of the social benefits available to EU workers, and I 
think the European bourgeoisie is "envious."    What's Sarkozy all about if 
not about bringing the American plan to France and the French workers?

But European workers have more than a traditions of economic militance; they 
certainly have political militance; they have the experience of plant 
occupations, nationwides strikes etc. The European bourgeoisie is far more 
wary of the working class than is the US bourgeoisie.

What you say about migrant workers is absolutely correct.  That battle, the 
battle to oppose the attacks on and the criminalization of migrant labor and 
laborers is the most important struggle against capitalism in the US..