Neoliberalism on the Same Old Road to Failure

Elio Delgado Legon

HAVANA TIMES — So much information, so many examples come to mind when one begins to reflect on neoliberalism’s failure that one doesn’t know where to begin. It seems unbelievable that, with so much evidence before it, with so many failures behind it, the capitalist system should continue to insist on going down the same, destructive path.

The United States, the world’s most developed and powerful nation, has not ceased to insist that all other countries in the hemisphere enter into free trade agreements which are ultimately harmful to less developed countries. Mexico and Colombia, whose peasant populations have practically been ruined, are two cases in point.

If the United States were to pursue a more intelligent foreign policy, one which sought to maintain good political and commercial relations with Latin American countries, instead of regarding the region as its “back yard”, as John Kerry recently declared, it would not have lost, as it is doing now, the possibility of doing business with a developing region that could well become, in a few short years, one of the world’s most powerful economic blocs.

Why can’t the United States develop closer ties with Latin America as China, Russia and other countries are doing without seeking to dominate the region? The policy of imposing sanctions and embargos on countries in the region, like the one applied to Cuba, not only causes great harm to the blockaded countries; it also causes great harm to the United States, both politically and economically.

To get a sense of the political panorama, suffice is to follow the UN General Assembly, where members almost unanimously vote each year for the elimination of the blockade imposed on Cuba.

As for the economy, last year, the United States had a trade deficit of 727,900 million dollars, while China had a surplus of 231,100 million. How long can the economy of a country go on like that?  To date, what the United States has done is print more bills and rob the countries it subjugates of its natural resources. There’s a limit to how long you can keep doing these things, however, and that limit is drawing near.

On the other hand, since 2009, China has become the world’s largest exporter, while the United States has become the biggest importer. In addition, China holds the largest reserves of foreign currency and is the United States’ largest creditor.

If we recall that China is also becoming the most important trade partner of several European countries and that it has a greater volume of trade relations than the United States, we must arrive at the conclusion that this Asian giant will soon become the world’s most powerful economy, rising well above the United States, as it has already done in the case of Japan.

The United States has to learn, once and for all, that good relations, be them political or commercial, cannot be established by force, and that excessive military spending prevents the country from investing in human development, something that would improve the lives of its citizens. Instead it projects the image of an empire that only seeks to dominate the rest of the world.

If we add that India will also rise above the United States economically in a few years and that other developing nations are following in its footsteps, we can conclude that it is only through a change of attitude towards the rest of the world, by adopting a friendlier policy towards other countries and developing trade relations on the basis of equality among nations, no matter what their political system, that the United States will be able to improve its image and economy.

If it does not, if it maintains its levels of military spending and persists in its desire to govern the world by force, it will move closer to bankruptcy, discredit and economic collapse every day. It still has time, but not much. To insist on maintaining a failed system is foolish, and there are many intelligent people in the United States – but they must urgently get to work.