let us consider in more detail what it costs to maintain "our" military-industrial global empire [note: SAGE MIIM: Military Industrial Intelligence Matrix] - if you are an unemployed worker whose plant has just moved to South Korea or Brazil or Indonesia in pursuit of higher profits, the first thing that might come to mind is the number of jobs "our" empire has cost us - as early as 1916, Lenin pointed out that at an advanced stage capitalism would export not only its goods but its very capital, not only its products but its entire production process - today, most giant American firms do just that, exporting their capital, their technology, factories, and sales networks - it is well known that General Motors has been closing down factories in the USA; less well known is that GM has been spending billions of dollars abroad on new auto plants in countries where wages are far less than what American autoworkers are paid - this means bigger profits for GM but more unemployment for Detroit.
over the last twenty years, American firms have tripled their total outlay in other countries, with the fastest growth rate being in the Third World - nor is the trend likely to reverse itself - American capitalism is now producing abroad eight times more than it exports - many firms have shifted all their manufacturing activities to foreign lands: all the tape recorders, radios, bicycles, VCRs, typewriters, television sets, and computers - one out of every three workers employed by US multinational companies are now in foreign countries - US companies continue to export US jobs to other countries at an alarming rate: 900,000 between 1980 and 1985, 250,000 of these in 1985 alone - thus do the working people of the United States pay the hidden costs of empire.
The Cost of Empire - Sword and Dollar: excerpt 1
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