Civilisations die from suicide," Toynbee warned us, "not by murder." The United States, along with Australia and several others have pursued fatally flawed economic and financial policies for almost four decades, beginning with ill-judged interest-rate hikes and stagflation in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They then punctuated the years afterwards with policy departures which, almost without exception, made things worse. In effect, they embarked on serial attempts at economic, social, political and strategic suicide through often obsessive devotion to such concepts as "free" markets, deregulation, privatisation and globalisation. They neglected mounting dangers from debt, deficits and derivatives, from rampant speculation, chronic unemployment, low wages and mounting inequality at home and abroad. Long years of unmitigated error have reduced a once magnificent American economy to one that increasingly resembles a hollowed-out shell. Though there continue to be great potential strengths in the American economy and society, these strengths have already been gravely diminished and the unremitting ebb of intrinsic power persists while other economies grow stronger, ironically by grasping the opportunities that feckless American policies continue to surrender to them. Perversely, predatory finance capitalism has nourished and become a victim of the prey that, with exquisite cleverness, it sought to capture and exploit. This erosion of economic and financial strength has grave social, political and strategic consequences. Not so long ago, the United States was, despite some inevitable imperfections, one of the world's most admired, progressive and transparent democracies. That democracy has been increasingly corrupted over the years and America's capacity to carry out its role as a superpower - certainly as the world's single superpower - has been put gravely at risk. These are some of the major issues addressed in "America's Suicidal Statecraft". Basically, they are down-to-earth economic and financial issues but they have have had and continue to have the most far-reaching social, political and strategic impacts - for the United States, for closely allied countries such as Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and, indeed, for the whole world community. There are still ways in which the decline and prospective fall of the United States can be reversed; but that will call for an enormous exercise of political will and, above all, a comprehensive change of vision. At the moment, given the many complexities and uncertainties in the world economic, social, political and strategic situation, the most likely outcome is that American policies will be reversed and a new vision adopted only as irresistible imperatives when a devastating collapse has already occurred or is transparently under way. A crucial question is how many months or years we have left before we reach the point of collapse and just what we can do that will be effective in the meantime. "America's Suicidal Statecraft" suggests some approaches.
James Cumes is a former Australian Ambassador and a Doctor of
Philosophy of the University of London. He has written a wide
range of fiction and non-fiction, from romance and history to
economic and financial policy.
As an economist, he seeks to define policies amenable to
peaceful change and prosperity for all. He launched "The
Democratic Initiative for Victory Over Want (VOW)" in 2002 and
perceptively warned of the current Global Financial Crisis in his
book "America's Suicidal Statecraft" published in 2006.
Born in the small bush town of Rosewood in south-eastern
Queensland, Australia, he has had a colourful career, rich in
experience of war and peace, love and hate, the violence, greed
and evil that often move men and women, their lusts, and the
saintly vision that sometimes leads them to greatness.
He has written a dozen books on economics, history,
government and administration, and human behaviour.
Because it recalls his Second World War experience,
Haverleigh tends to be his favourite novel. The Hedonists draws on
his experience of diplomacy, its shallow self-interest and sexual
indulgence as well as its potential for more worthy enterprise.
Operation Equalizer warns of the ultimate terror when nuclear
weapons fall into the wrong hands. His collection of sexy short
stories, Dirty Weekend has a special link to his book on human
conduct: The Human Mirror: The Narcissistic Imperative in Human
Behaviour. His latest novel, The Young Bug tells of a miraculous
organism that reverses the ageing process and blesses us with
everlasting youth.
He has written scores of short stories and articles on a wide
variety of subjects. One of his plays The Lovers The Outcasts recently
had its World Premiere in Vienna.
He is married to Heide Schulte von Bäuminghaus who is
herself a successful author, especially of the popular and highly
entertaining Diplomatic Carousel. With their daughter, Kim,
they spend much of their time in Vienna as well as in Australia,
Monaco and the South of France.
