US Foreign Policy and the Financial Crisis

[Zealot]

I'm seeking material, articles, opinions etc. related to the financial crisis and US foreign policy. Specifically, I want to know to what extent their foreign policy contributed to the crisis and how the crisis has since affected foreign policy. It's for an essay I'm writing. Cheers!

[barbelo]

But... There is nothing wrong with their foreign policy.
They are the biggest oil and gas consumer in the world; so they need Israel, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan (muh central asia) as allies.
USA was always an interventionist country, from mexican wars, Monroe doctrine to Kosovo. And this is fairly appropriate to their geography, that is, a country with access to two seas. I doubt if it wasn't for Texas war Usa would even be the hegemon of North America.

Now, you could say about structural problems and this is exactly the market dependence on these fuels for industrial production.

[jookyle]

There wasn't whole lot about this latest economic crash that had to do with US foreign policy. It had to do with the way the financial system itself was working. The best I think you could really say is that because of globalization, major economies have become interconnect so when the US market went down, it took the rest of the world with it. Not to mention foreign investment in American financial institutions.

If you want to look at other ways foreign policy and economic connections has effected the world look at Globalization and it's Discontent by Joseph E. Stiglitz.




But... There is nothing wrong with their foreign policy.
They are the biggest oil and gas consumer in the world; so they need Israel, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan (muh central asia) as allies.
USA was always an interventionist country, from mexican wars, Monroe doctrine to Kosovo. And this is fairly appropriate to their geography, that is, a country with access to two seas. I doubt if it wasn't for Texas war Usa would even be the hegemon of North America.

Now, you could say about structural problems and this is exactly the market dependence on these fuels for industrial production.

Although this is true about US foreign policy, it isn't directly relatable to the cause of the economic crisis.

[Marxaveli]

jookyle pretty much nailed it. US foreign policy isn't the cause of the so-called Great Recession, it was just Capitalism itself, once again, breaking down and failing, as it has many times. US foreign policy is a by-product of Capitalism and a necessitation of it, but not so much a cause - although one could make the argument that the excessive military industrial spending and "war on terror" of the last decade has contributed to all the recent austerity in education, healthcare and other important social programs. But this austerity merely exasperates crisis in Capitalism, rather than causing it. Overall, I would say the crisis and US foreign policy are fairly mutually exclusive.

[Positivist]

The best I think you could really say is that because of globalization, major economies have become interconnect so when the US market went down, it took the rest of the world with it.

Gotta be careful here because some people will take this as a meaning that the recession has hit the US the hardest (which isn't even remotely true.)

[jookyle]

Gotta be careful here because some people will take this as a meaning that the recession has hit the US the hardest (which isn't even remotely true.)

It wasn't hit the hardest but it was the center of which it started. When Lehman Brothers went under, it started a domino effect which lead to the crisis around the world.

To Red Godfather, there's a very well put together called "Inside Job". It's on netflix, and very easy to find on a torrent site.

[Positivist]

It wasn't hit the hardest but it was the center of which it started. When Lehman Brothers went under, it started a domino effect which lead to the crisis around the world.

To Red Godfather, there's a very well put together called "Inside Job". It's on netflix, and very easy to find on a torrent site.

Absolutely, I wasn't rebuking your point just elucidating the fact that most of the world has experienced the recession more severely than the United States, which is commonly believed by people in the US and is logically supported (at a superficial level) by the US being central to the start of the recession.