how the u.s. economy was lost...

the american economy has gone away. it is not coming back until free trade myths are buried six feet under. america’s 20th century economic success was based on two things. free trade was not one of them. america’s economic success was based on protectionism, which was ensured by the union victory in the civil war, and on british indebtedness, which destroyed the british pound as world reserve currency. following world war II, the US dollar took the role as reserve currency, a privilege that allows the US to pay its international bills in its own currency... the bald fact is that the combination of ignorance, negligence, and ideology that permitted the crisis to happen is still present and is blocking any remedy. either the people in power in washington and the financial community are total dimwits or they are manipulating an opportunity to redistribute wealth from taxpayers, equity owners and pension funds to the financial sector... // paul craig roberts, 02.24.09, ICH