The United States 'Neo-Imperialist' Dollar Scheme Explained by Economist Yanis Varoufakis

The United States 'Neo-Imperialist' Dollar Scheme Explained by Economist Yanis VaroufakisShow more

THE GREAT CURRENCY WAR

Feb. 3, 2023

Geopolitical Economy Report - Ben Norton

Greece's former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis explains the US system of "Neo-Imperialism" based on the dollar, an "IOU issued by the hegemon."

Which finances a huge trade deficit by letting foreign capitalists "extract colossal surplus value from their workers and then stash it away in America's rentier economy."

When President Richard Nixon ended the convertibility of the dollar into gold in 1971, it became merely an "IOU issued by the hegemon", Varoufakis explained.

This dollar "IOU" financed the United States' huge trade deficit by letting foreign capitalists "extract colossal surplus value from their workers and then stash it away in America's rentier economy."

The US trade deficit became a "huge vacuum cleaner" that "was sucking into America the net exports of Germany, Japan, and China, Varoufakis continued.

But deficit countries in the Global South "had to borrow from Wall Street to import medicines, energy, and the raw materials necessary to produce their own exports for earning the dollars with which to repay Wall Street."

When Global South countries could no longer pay their debts to the bondholders on Wall Street, "the West sent in the bailiffs, the International Monetary Fund", which imposed mass privatizations and neoliberal economic policies, Varoufakis pointed out.

Economist Michael Hudson first exposed this system back in 1972, in his book "Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire". (Hudson published an updated, third edition in 2021.)

Varoufakis provided his analysis of the US dollar hegemony scheme in a speech he delivered in Cuba in January 2023, at the "International Conference for the Balance of the World," a meeting organized to advocate for the New International Economic Order.

In his remarks, Varoufakis also condemned the new cold war, and called for a new non-aligned movement.

At the same conference, a German member of parliament from Die Linke (the Left Party), Sevim Dagdelen, denounced the NATO proxy war in Ukraine and warned that European Union members states have become "servile vassals" that are "pursuing the interests of US corporations and following foreign policy instructions from Washington."

Original: https://youtu.be/yohXMsuxzDA

Sources and more information here:

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/02/03/us-imperialism-dollar-hegemony-yanis-varoufakis/

German lawmaker condemns `US-led proxy war against Russia' and EU's 'servile vassals':

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/28/german-lawmaker-us-proxy-war-russia-ukraine-eu/

Varoufakis' full speech: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6MfuGSlDRsc

Super Imperialism - The Economic Strategy of American Empire, by Michael Hudson

https://michael-hudson.com/books/super-imperialism-the-economic-strategy-of-american-empire/

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/10/19/super-imperialism-economist-michael-hudson/

https://www.amazon.com/Imperialism-Economic-Strategy-American-Empire/dp/3981826086

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