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Vol. 1 No 4………………………………………………February 9, 1998

Wolf at the Door!

By John Burl Smith

Any economist worth his salt will tell you, war is an economic instrument. Throughout history, warring nations deployed this weapon while advancing some other justification for committing the worst atrocities against humans and the environment. The United States is poised on the brink of armed conflict against Iraq. Unsupported by a global consensus, the U.S. appears committed to act unilaterally. Since the Gulf War, the international community has maintained Saddam Hussein, Iraq's leader, in an economic and political box; his cage remains intact. A relevant question is: Why the hot poker now? Obviously for the U.S. to risk global conflict, there is more at stake than Iraqi potential to produce weapons of mass destruction. A more plausible reason resides in current global economic conditions and the staggering U.S. debt.

Political commentary on the anticipated balanced budget and possible surplus saturate the media. Practically eliminated from public discourse, the U. S. federal debt is a ticking time bomb not only for the U.S. economy, but the international community. For years, even before Reaganomics and President Clinton, the U.S. used budget deficits to finance its prosperity, increasing the federal debt. Despite recent cuts at the margins, a reduction in payments to individuals made under the guise of welfare reform and downsizing, the debt grows unabated. By leaving the fat inherent in big business subsidies to tobacco, oil, peanuts, dairy, insurance, etc. coupled with exorbitant defense spending, the era of big U.S. government is still an economic reality. Today, the debt from years of deficit financing is approximately $5.5 trillion. Massive reductions in government subsidies to businesses and sizeable military spending cuts will be necessary to generate any surplus large enough to impact this mountain of debt. Given the country's current political climate, this scenario is unlikely to be played out, so the debt grows at around $600 million per day. (U.S. Department of Treasury, Bureau of Public Debt Websites)

The world's largest debtor nation, the U.S. finances its debt (interest on $5.5 trillion) to the tune of about a $1 billion per day. Because it is impossible to finance this massive public debt and maintain private investment simultaneously, given the low U.S. savings rate, the U.S. borrows from other nations. Prior to Japan's financial crisis and the Asian meltdown, the U.S. borrowed this amount from Japan. Now that Japan's economy is hamstrung by risky investments, where does the U.S. go to finance its mounting debt? An examination of economies around the world reveals there is no where to turn for such massive sums in a global meltdown.

War effectively focuses attention elsewhere. It is much like Monica Lewinsky and the Clinton sex scandal overshadowing the national dialogue on race. Like sex, warfare and killing grabs the headlines and diverts the public's fickle attention. Certainly, the Iraqi people will pay a heavy toll should the U.S. go forward as threatened. Because the economic elite historically do not die in wars it instigates, Americans residing at the bottom of the nation's chasm of inequality will yield their lives in patriotic fashion. More important, beyond American and Iraqi lives on the line, these are volatile times and this is an unstable region, a dangerous combination. Chances are good other nations will become embroiled in any prospective conflict, a cogent argument against war.

This is not meant as a defense of Saddam Hussein, but a plea for humanity. In the insane "Wag The Dog" world of politics as usual in America, bombing a nation into submission and killing thousands are acceptable actions for Christians. Americans need to remove the blinders of prosperity, and gaze retrospectively at the period some sixty years ago when the world teetered on the brink of WWII, and Europe's lack of courage turned the world into an inferno. During Hitler's raise to power, the international community debated the threat of Nazism and Fascism. The" wolf at the door" syndrome dominated considerations. There were two (2) diametrically opposed camps which split Europe at a time when unity was the only course to avoid war. Winston Churchill personified those who believed such tyranny must be stopped in the yard, if possible, but at the door by all means. The other side believed it was possible to satisfy a greedy bully's appetite, therefore you can invite him in to dinner. Quivering in his boots, Neville Chamberlain exemplified Europe's belief that their living terror was not too exorbitant a price for survival. Their position is known as the "Policy of Appeasement."

A successful strategist, Hitler tested Europe's resolve by selecting targets considered expendable from the world's perspective. His moves into Austria and Poland proved the truth of "the wolf at the door" assessment of appeasement as a strategy for survival. Europe is being asked once again to take sides in an international grab for dominance, or face some form of retaliation. This time America is the greedy bully at the door demanding tribute in the form of acquiescence in bombing the Iraqi people in some personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein. With the issues laid squarely on the table, Americans can not be in wholehearted support of squeezing a caged animal like Saddam. The threat of global conflict trumps any economic advantage a wealthy few in a single military-industrial complex may gain from going to war. Average Americans must beware of the wolf at the door syndrome and come to understand the danger the world faces in a war to "hit" Saddam.

Consumer Fraud Alert Boycotted Places & Things: TAP, Carey Paul Ford, General Motors, Denny's, Winn-Dixie, Rich's, Eddie Bauer, Texaco, Nike, Wachovia, IRS, AVIS Rent-a-car, Wal-Mart, Pharmaceutical companies, White Psychologists, Psychiatrists and other legal drug pushers like the Defense Department, ARC, Atlanta City Government, the Georgia State Flag, New York City, Wannabees and Jigaboos, hair salons, fast food restaurants, Santa Claus, Meat like Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas hams and hot dogs, fake Christmas trees, Contract with America, privatization, Fast-track, NAFTA, neo-slave masters like Norrell Temporary Services and other such agencies, automobile insurance companies, unscrupulous automobile mechanics, Precision Tune, churches with fences, government subsidies for big business, Greenspan's addresses on how well the economy is going when African Americans are being discriminated out of the economic equation, paid Newties like the Speaker of the House, Mississippi Lotts, and other weapons of mass destruction.....