This is a weekly thread in which we read through books on and related to imperialism and geopolitics. Last week's thread is here.
Welcome to the ninth week of Michael Hudson's Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of US World Dominance! I'm reading the Third Edition.
We are reading one chapter per week, meaning we will finish in June. Obviously, you are totally free to read faster than this pace and look at my/our commentary once we've caught up to you.
Every week, I will write a summary of the chapter(s) read, for those who have already read the book and don't wish to reread, can't follow along for various reasons, or for those joining later who want to dive right in to the next book without needing to pick this one up too. I will post all my chapter summaries in this final thread, for access in one convenient location. Please comment or message me directly if you wish to be pinged for this group.
This week, we will be reading Chapter 8: American Strategy Within the World Bank, which is approximately 39 pages.
I must admit I haven't been on this discussion since the beginning, and as of right now I'm only on page 132, but damn is it relevant lol. Trump and FDR's attitudes toward Europe really only differ in the sense that FDR actually had a plan of action at home, meanwhile Trump has none and is relying solely on tariffs to do his bidding for him.
And US still had a manufacturing industry, so the tariffs were giving American products an advantage over foreign ones. Today the tariffs aren't protecting any homegrown industry because there isn't any
Exactly, which makes it even more ridiculous.