By James Thompson
Now that the U.S. Congress has voted to end the government shut down and raise the debt ceiling temporarily, the US people are beginning to ask “How did we get to this sorry state of affairs?” Congress voted to end the shut down and raise the debt limit until January 15, 2014. This temporary reprieve will give working people a chance to reflect on what has been done to them and where all this came from. Of course, a pall is cast over the holidays so that once again workers will be forced to tighten their belts in preparation for what might come. One can only imagine what this may do to holiday sales.
There are a lot of questions to be answered. One important question is “What are the causative factors which led up to the current financial crisis?” The quick answer is capitalism itself. This must be followed up by asking “What did the capitalist system do that led to the current crisis?”
Although many factors led up to the crisis, one factor would be the US invasion of Iraq. The capitalist government of the United States spent an extraordinary amount of the people’s money on this catastrophe for working people. Estimates range from $4-$6 trillion and this is likely to be an underestimate. Clearly, the results have been ruinous for working people in Iraq as well as the United States. Untold numbers of innocent civilians in Iraq were slaughtered or permanently disabled. As yet uncounted numbers of people from the United States were slaughtered or permanently disabled.
Many people may ask “Why would a ‘democratic’ government conduct such a slaughter?” Many Americans delude themselves by thinking that the US is a democracy for working people. Marxists have long maintained that the democracy in the United States was formed of, by, and for the wealthy classes. One must remember that the “founding fathers” were mostly slaveholders. If working people had had a real voice in the conduct of the Iraq war, it would never have been started in the first place. Certainly working people in Iraq would never have voted for the war and it is highly unlikely that very many working people in the United States would have voted for the war.
So, the question stands “Why did the US government prosecute the war in Iraq?” Marxists also consistently point out that the motive of capitalists that propels them to start and carry out imperialist wars is the compelling drive of capitalists to increase their profits.
The next question becomes “How did the capitalists increase their profits by engaging in the Iraq war?” Interestingly, an article on 12/6/2010 by Cordula Meyer in Spiegel online points out that there is little oil flowing to the United States from Iraq. Instead, contracts to develop Iraq’s oil reserves went to corporations in France, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Angola, Norway, Britain and Russia in December, 2009.
It also has been documented that around $138 billion went to US contractors with the bulk of it going to Halliburton. Of course, this amount is part of the $4-6 trillion spent by the US taxpayers to conduct the war.
Marxists have also argued that capitalists will spend the people’s money on wars to ensure that capitalist industries will be able to safely conduct their business in foreign countries and reap extraordinary profits even if the war expenditure far exceeds the profits received. In other words, capitalists are happy to sacrifice soldiers and the people’s money as long as they are able to increase profits. From the capitalist’s point of view, it is not necessary for their increased profits to exceed the expenditure of the people’s money as well as the lives of the military personnel.
Another study reported by Amy Jaffe of the James A. Baker, III Public Policy Institute of Rice University concludes that as of about 2007 US corporations were reaping profits of about $150 billion a year from oil production in Iraq. A quick, basic calculation shows us that if this rate of profit remains constant, it would take around 26 to 30 years for the profits gained by the capitalists to equal the $4-$6 trillion extracted from US taxpayers. Of course, the cost as a result of the destruction of the environment due to the war cannot be calculated.
“Who benefits from the war in Iraq?” becomes the next question. It should be clear to all that the obvious beneficiary of this war is not working people. It should be equally clear that the beneficiary is the wealthy classes. The astounding profits have bloated the wealthy to an obscene state. It should be noted that simultaneous tax breaks for the wealthy have also bloated their collective bottom line. The combined income for the top 400 wealthiest individuals in the US for 2012 published by Forbes magazine is about $2.6 trillion. The combined income for the top 500 wealthiest individuals in the US for 2013 exceeds the entire wealth of Russia.
We must never forget that by increasing their profits, the capitalists wage a continual war on the working classes. War profits are particularly beneficial to the capitalists in the class struggle. When the people’s money is spent on war for increased profits, this means that less of the people’s money can be spent on programs to benefit them. In other words, each dollar that is spent on some foreign slaughter can never be spent on education, health care, culture, infrastructure, and countless other programs that benefit working people. This is how the capitalists are winning the class struggle.
There is only one answer to this one-sided struggle. Working people must unite and fight for their interests. Workers must use every means of struggle available to them. Clearly, the senseless slaughter for profits carried out by the capitalists proves undeniably that the fate of humanity depends on the unity of the workers.
