Node Of Evil - Fair And Balanced Reporting

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

 
Here's a quote from this morning's White House press conference that gave me pause:


'. . . we’ve made our views very clear that [oil] prices should be determined by market forces, and that we are always in close contact with producers around the world on these issues to make sure that actions aren’t taken that harm our consumers or harm our economy.' (Scott McClellan, White House Spokesman, via Talking Points Memo)


Read that over a couple of times, and hopefully you'll get the gist of what he's actually saying. Namely, that the U.S. is all in favor of market forces as long as they a.) don't harm the U.S. economy, and b.) don't harm U.S. consumers. So, as long as the U.S. maintains its hegemonic position in the international economy, free markets are fine. However, once the U.S. feels the heat from capitalism, then it's protectionism. Preservation of U.S. hegemony is one of the main goals of the Bush administration. It's also one of the motivating factors behind terrorism, because protecting U.S. hegemony often means invasions, civil wars, trade embargoes, damaging tariffs, and other measures which increase resentment of the U.S. around the world. The question for today is how does the U.S. pursue its national interest while also projecting a friendly image around the world?

Andrew 11:11 AM : |

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