Is the Left Neglecting the Big Story? Euro versus the Dollar!

By The Anonymous Intellectual
May 2003

I felt it was absolutely IMPERATIVE that I alert folks to something which I feel has generally been neglected almost wholesale by the Left (at least in Amerika) within its current discourse about the War in Iraq and the ambitions/goals of Amerikan imperialism: the issue of the dollar's stability in the world economic system, its relationship to oil, OPEC, and inter-capitalist rivalry (esp. with the EU, Russia and China), and its dire ramifications for Amerikan capital as a whole.

Much of the dialogue amongst the majority of established Left news and information sources (both progressive and radical) and even amongst most of the more politically radical Left organizations are fixated on certain things that IMHO fail to take into account the basic and fundamental economic and financial mechanisms that govern the dynamics of present-day capitalism.

Basically, most progressives have indeed started to take on generally the analysis about "Amerika as Empire" that the more traditional radical Left (including anarchists) has been maintaining for ages. The now very-publicized 1992 "Project for a New American Century" document from the neo-conservatives (Cheney, et al) has made the issue almost unavoidable even in the most moderate circles. This is a good step.

BUT much of the radical Left seems, from my observations, to be sleepin' with regards to basic economics. It correctly talks about the U.S. empire's thirst for oil, land and resources, about its militarism and moral hypocrisy in foreign policy. They are also right to bring up the issue of inter-capitalist rivalry between the US and the EU, Russia and China, making the important case against progressive/liberal tendencies to valorize fellow imperialists like the French, Germans and Russians for "standing up" to Amerika. There is much talk, as there should be, of how Iraq is second after Saudi Arabia in proven oil reserves, and how the U.S. absolutely must take control of this to maintain its imperial ambitions; some go as far as to suggest that the Empire is in crisis. But it pretty much stops there. If only we would scratch the surface just a LITTLE further, just delve into the economics just a TINY bit deeper, we would see precisely WHY the Empire is in crisis...

As a whole, I have observed that the anti-capitalist Left has been reluctant to embrace a thorough understanding of economics, even if it is acknowledged that such "understanding" of the mechanisms and institutions that propel today's capitalist system is through the eyes and perspective of our enemies. What this boils down to is this: we don't get the economy right. We don't know just how capitalism works beyond the surface level of imperialism and exploitation. The inner workings of trade, speculation, currency, investment, and the institutions and mechanisms behind it all seem like this otherworldly realm to many of us. We are turned off by, I assume, the capitalist aura and ethos that emanates from such vocabulary. I believe this is a mistake, especially as it has left us ill-equipped to fully understand the most innate instinct of all empires: self-preservation.