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Super ImperialismThe Economic Strategy of American EmpireMichael Hudson2
nd
edition 2003(1
st
edition 1972)
PLUTO PRESS RELEASE 25 11 2002.....................................................................................................3
 
HOW AMERICA WILL GET EUROPE TO FINANCE ITS 2002-03 OIL WAR WITH IRAQ.......3
 
W
HAT MAKES TODAY
’
S
S
UPER
I
MPERIALISM DIFFERENT FROM PAST
“
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE
”
 IMPERIALISM
.............................................................................................................................................3
 
H
OW THE
U
NITED
S
TATES MAKES OTHER COUNTRIES PAY FOR ITS WARS
...............................................4
 
A
MERICA
’
S FREE LUNCH AS
E
UROPE
’
S AND
A
SIA
’
S EXPENSE
..................................................................5
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION (2002)....................................................................................7
 
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................15
 
T
HE DILEMMA OF
A
MERICAN ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY IN THE INTERWAR YEARS
..................................16
 
A
MERICAN PLANS FOR A POSTWAR
“
FREE
-
TRADE IMPERIALISM
”..........................................................19
 
A
MERICA EMBARKS ON A
C
OLD
W
AR THAT PUSHES ITS BALANCE OF PAYMENTS INTO DEFICIT
...........23
 
T
HE NEW CHARACTERISTICS OF
A
MERICAN FINANCIAL IMPERIALISM
...................................................25
 
H
OW
A
MERICA
’
S PAYMENTS DEFICIT BECAME A SOURCE OF STRENGTH
,
NOT WEAKNESS
....................30
 
I
MPLICATIONS FOR THE THEORY OF IMPERIALISM
..................................................................................31
 
T
ODAY
’
S SOURCE OF FINANCIAL INSTABILITY AS COMPARED TO THAT OF THE
1920
S
..........................33
 
T
HE WORLD
’
S NEED FOR FINANCIAL AUTONOMY FROM DOLLARIZATION
..............................................37
 
CHAPTER 1: ORIGINS OF INTER-GOVERNMENTAL DEBT, 1917-1921..................................41
 
CHAPTER 2: BREAKDOWN OF WORLD BALANCE, 1921-33......................................................56
 
CHAPTER 3: AMERICA SPURNS WORLD LEADERSHIP............................................................75
 
R
OOSEVELT MEETS WITH
H
OOVER TO DISCUSS THE DEBT PROBLEM
.....................................................78
 
F
RANCE DEFAULTS AND
B
RITAIN PAYS ONLY A TOKEN AMOUNT
..........................................................81
 
M
AC
D
ONALD AND
H
ERRIOT VISIT
W
ASHINGTON
..................................................................................86
 
P
REPARING FOR
L
ONDON
........................................................................................................................89
 
R
OOSEVELT
’
S
“B
OMBSHELL
”
BREAKS UP THE
L
ONDON
E
CONOMIC
C
ONFERENCE
...............................91
 
CHAPTER 4: LEND-LEASE AND FRACTURING OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 1941-45.........108
 
CHAPTER 5: BRETTON WOODS: THE TRIUMPH OF U.S. GOVERNMENT FINANCECAPITAL................................................................................................................................................119
 
CHAPTER 6: ISOLATING THE COMMUNIST BLOC...................................................................141
 
CHAPTER 7: AMERICAN STRATEGY WITHIN THE WORLD BANK.....................................155
 
T
HE
B
ANK
’
S TRANSITION FROM RECONSTRUCTION TO DEVELOPMENT LENDING
................................160
 
H
OW
W
ORLD
B
ANK OPERATIONS ARE BIASED TO AID THE
U
NITED
S
TATES
........................................169
 
CHAPTER 8: THE IMPERIALISM OF U.S. FOREIGN AID..........................................................187
 
T
HE MILITARIZATION OF
U.S.
FOREIGN AID
..........................................................................................190
 
T
HE ROLE OF AID RECIPIENTS IN
A
MERICA
’
S BALANCE OF TRADE AND PAYMENTS
.............................193
 
 
2
H
OW
A
MERICA
’
S MILITARY SPENDING DERANGED ITS INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS AND AID PROGRAMS
..............................................................................................................................................................194
 
H
OW FOOD AID PROMOTES AGRICULTURAL DEPENDENCY
...................................................................196
 
H
OW FOOD AID HAS HELPED THE
U.S.
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS
...........................................................199
 
F
OREIGN AID AND
C
OLD
W
AR GEOPOLITICS
........................................................................................202
 
T
HE
T
HIRD
W
ORLD
’
S DOLLAR
-
DEBT PROBLEMS
..................................................................................206
 
CHAPTER 9: GATT AND THE DOUBLE STANDARD..................................................................213
 
CHAPTER 10: DOLLAR DOMINATION THROUGH THE IMF, 1945-1946...............................227
 
H
OW
B
RITAIN WAS RUINED
..................................................................................................................229
 
S
TABILIZING CURRENCIES TO PROTECT AGAINST COMPETITIVE DEVALUATIONS
................................233
 
H
OW FIXED CURRENCY PARITIES LED TO STERLING
’
S OVERVALUATION
.............................................237
 
H
OW THE
U
NITED
S
TATES SET THE QUOTAS
.........................................................................................238
 
T
HE MARGINAL CHARACTER OF EARLY
IMF
LOAN OPERATIONS
.........................................................241
 
A
DD
-
ON FOR
C
HAPTER
10.....................................................................................................................244
 
CHAPTER 11: FINANCING AMERICA’S WARS WITH OTHER NATIONS’ RESOURCES,1964-1968.................................................................................................................................................248
 
CHAPTER 12: POWER THROUGH BANKRUPTCY, 1968-1970..................................................263
 
CHAPTER 13: PERFECTING EMPIRE THROUGH MONETARY CRISIS, 1970-1972.............279
 
A
MERICA
’
S ILLEGAL TEXTILE QUOTAS SPUR FOREIGN RETALIATION
..................................................279
 
E
UROPE
’
S THREATS OF FINANCIAL AND TRADE RETALIATION
.............................................................281
 
T
HE SUMMER
1971
DOLLAR CRISIS FORCES UP
E
UROPE
’
S EXCHANGE RATES
......................................283
 
A
UGUST
15
AND ITS AFTERMATH
..........................................................................................................289
 
E
UROPE
’
S AUTUMN
1971
COLLAPSE
.....................................................................................................292
 
CHAPTER 14: THE MONETARY OFFENSIVE OF SPRING 1973...............................................297
 
U.S.-S
OVIET CONDOMINIUM
?...............................................................................................................317
 
CHAPTER 15: MONETARY IMPERIALISM...................................................................................324
 
U.S.
 
“
FOOD IMPERIALISM
”
VS
.
A
N
EW
I
NTERNATIONAL
E
CONOMIC
O
RDER
........................................326
 
T
HE MONETARY IMPERIALISM IMPLICIT IN THE
U.S.
 
T
REASURY
-
BILL STANDARD
..............................328
 
EPILOGUE.............................................................................................................................................333
 
 
3
Pluto Press Release 25 11 2002How America will get Europe to finance its 2002-03 Oil War with IraqMichael HudsonLast time around, in the 1991 Gulf War, America got its allies to bear most of thecosts voluntarily. After all, U.S. diplomats claimed, wasn’t the war fought to protectKuwait and the next petro-domino, Saudi Arabia, from Iraqi attack – and in the processto protect Europe’s oil and gas supplies from an aggressive grabber? Wasn’t it thereforefair to ask the Saudis and Kuwaitis, along with the Germans, British and other countriesto bear the lion’s share of the cost of the oil war fought for their own benefit?Europe and the Near East agreed to pay, and their central banks turned oversome of the excess U.S. Treasury bonds they had accumulated by running year afteryear of trade and payments surpluses with America. And almost immediately, thesecentral banks’ dollar holdings filled up again with dollars that were unspendable and hadlittle value, except to give back to the United States or let accumulate for no realpurpose.This Treasury-bond standard of international finance has enabled the UnitedStates to obtain the largest free lunch ever achieved in history. America has turned theinternational financial system upside down. Whereas formerly it rested on gold, centralbank reserves are now held in the form of U.S. Government IOUs that can be run upwithout limit. In effect, America has been buying up Europe, Asia and other regions withpaper credit – U.S. Treasury IOUs that it has informed the world it has little intention ofever paying off.And there is little Europe or Asia can do about it, except to abandon the dollarand create their own financial system.Michael Hudson’s
Super Imperialism: The Origins and Fundamentals of U.S.World Dominance 
explains how the dollar’s being forced off gold in 1971 led to a newinternational financial system in which the world’s central banks are obliged to financethe U.S. balance of payments deficit by using their surplus dollars in the only way thatcentral banks are allowed to use them: to buy U.S. Treasury bonds. In the process, theyfinance the U.S. Government’s domestic budget deficit as well.The larger America’s balance-of-payments deficit becomes, the more dollars endup in the hands of European, Asian and Near Eastern central banks, and the moremoney they must recycle back to the United States by buying U.S. Treasury bonds.Over the past decade American savers have been net sellers of government bonds,putting their own money into the stock market, corporate bonds and real estate. Foreigngovernments have been obliged to hold U.S. bonds whose interest rates have fallensteadily, while their volume now exceeds America’s ability or willingness to pay.
What makes today’s Super Imperialism different from past “private enterprise”imperialism
Past studies of imperialism have focused on how corporations invest in othercountries, extracting profits and interest. This phenomenon occurs largely via private-sector investors and exporters. But today’s novel form of international financial
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