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Super Imperialism

The Origin and Fundamentals

of U.S. World Dominance

Second Edition

Michael Hudson

Press

LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA

Pluto

First published 1972 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Second edition published 2003 by Pluto Press

345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA

and 22883 Quicksilver Drive,

Sterling, VA 20166–2012, USA

www.plutobooks.com

The right of Michael Hudson to be identified as the author of this work has been

asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7453 1990 4 hardback

ISBN 0 7453 1989 0 paperback

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Hudson, Michael, 1939–

Super imperialism : the origin and fundamentals of U.S. world

dominance / Michael Hudson.–– 2nd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

ISBN 0–7453–1990–4 (hard : alk. paper)

1. United States––Foreign economic relations. 2. Imperialism. 3.

International finance. 4. United States––Foreign relations. I. Title:

Origin and fundamentals of U.S. world dominance. II. Title.

HF1455 H782 2002

337.73––dc21

2002006489

1098765432

Designed and produced for Pluto Press by

Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, Sidmouth EX10 9QG, England

Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Towcester

Printed and bound in Canada by

Transcontinental Printing

Contents

Preface to the second edition, 2002

Introduction

I. BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN WORLD ORDER: 1914–46

1. Origins of Intergovernmental Debt, 1917–21

2. Breakdown of World Balance, 1921–33

3. America Spurns World Leadership

4. Lend-Lease and Fracturing of the British Empire,

1941–45

119

5. Bretton Woods: The Triumph of U.S. Government

Finance Capital, 1944–45

137

6. Isolating the Communist Bloc, 1945–46

162

II. THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

7. American Strategy within the World Bank

179

8. The Imperialism of U.S. Foreign Aid

217

9. GATT and the Double Standard

248

10. Dollar Domination through the International Monetary

Fund, 1945–46

265

III. MONETARY IMPERIALISM AND THE U.S. TREASURY BILL

STANDARD

11. Financing America’s Wars with Other Nations’ Resources,

1964–68

291

12. Power through Bankruptcy, 1968–70

309

13. Perfecting Empire through Monetary Crisis, 1970–72

328

14. The Monetary Offensive of Spring 1973

348

15. Monetary Imperialism: The Twenty-first Century

377

Notes

394

Index

413

“ . . . with fraternity on your lips, you declare war against mankind .”

Jeremy Bentham, addressing France’s National Convention

in 1793, urging it to “Emancipate Your Colonies:

Showing the Uselessness and Mischievousness

of distant Dependencies to an European State.”

Preface to the Second Edition

As of summer 2002 the U.S. Treasury is pursuing the same strategy of

“benign neglect” for its balance-of-payments deficit that it did thirty years

ago. The deficit that caused a global crisis in 1971 when its $10 billion rate

led to a 10 per cent dollar devaluation has now risen to hundreds of

billions of dollars annually, and is still rising. Treasury Secretary O’Neill

says he is not worried and that the situation does not call for any action,

at least not on the part of the United States.

This confronts Europe and Asia with a dilemma. If they let the U.S.

payments deficit drag the dollar down, this will give U.S. exporters a price

advantage. To protect their own producers, central banks must support the

dollar’s exchange rate by recycling their surplus dollars back to the United

States. This option obliges them to buy U.S. Government securities, as U.S.

diplomats have made it clear that to buy control of U.S. companies or even

to return to gold would be viewed as an unfriendly act.

As global investors move out of the sinking dollar, central banks hardly

would want to buy American stocks in any event. Norway suffered such

severe losses from recycling its North Sea oil earnings into the U.S. market

that by October 2001 the government felt obliged to inform local munici-

palities that they would have to contribute extra sums to their pension

funds. To make up for the U.S. market plunge, public support for Norwegian

museums, orchestras and other cultural organizations was cut back.

Unfortunately for the world’s central banks, buying U.S. Treasury IOUs

also is a losing proposition. The falling dollar erodes their international

value, causing Europe and Asia to lose over 10 per cent of the value of their

U.S. dollar reserves in 2002. Japan and China each have lost over $35

billion on their dollar holdings. These losses are the equivalent of a

negative interest rate.

The greatest loss, however, comes from the sterilized dollar balances

themselves. What can central banks do with their dollar inflows except lend

them back to the U.S. Treasury to help fund America’s own domestic budget

deficit? In fact, the larger the U.S. balance of payments grows, the more

dollars mount up in the hands of foreign to be recycled to finance the U.S.

budget deficit. These dollar holdings – in the form of Treasury bonds – have

become a seignorage tax levied by America on the world’s central banks.

Michael Hudson - Super Imperialism, New Edition, The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance (2003).pdf

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