> From: "stephan Van den Zegel" <stephan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> USA industry not only was unarmed by both WW, but the others were
> destroyed... allowing the American technology to claim the lead...
I have a different theory. I've actually done some formal research in
this area, and may publish something someday.
US became dominant because of cheap fossil energy. Period. You can
plot industrial output with energy consumption over time, on any time
scale, and predict the dominant nation throughout history.
If energy is roughly equal, other factors can contribute, but in the
mid-20th century, the US was awash in cheap energy. Germany's push
into Romania and Japan's expansion toward SE Asia show that their
leaders were aware of this.
Industry is simply the most visible manifestation of energy use.
Industry can be quickly re-built, given enough energy. Look at what
the Marshall Plan did to Germany -- financed by Texas Oil Money.
Since 1970, US oil production has been in steady decline. The movers
and shakers understand this, and have supplanted *producing* fossil
energy with *controlling* it -- it is almost all sold in US dollars,
propping up a seriously over-extended currency and correspondingly
over-extended empire. You think former ally Saddam Hussein was any
kind of a military threat to the US? Get real! He was, however, a
real threat to the house of cards propping up the US dollar, with his
threat to trade Iraqi oil in Euros.
And this is the reason Iran is in trouble -- not because their gas
centrifuges can turn out a few milligrams of U-235 every month, but
because the Iranian Oil Bourse is traded in Euros.
:::: You can't have your SUV and eat it, too!
:::: (It takes TEN calories of fossil-fuel energy to produce EACH
calorie of food.)
:::: Jan Steinman http://www.VeggieVanGogh.com
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