By George Besch

The US prides itself on this adherence to economic rationalism and market capitalism, but I have come to wonder why our government hasn't shown us its cost-benefit analyses on alternative policies for keeping its citizenry materially secure and safe from “terrorism”. The previous administration describes September 11th, 2001 as a “wake up call”, and views the war in Afghanistan and subsequent invasion of Iraq as a response to that. But would these events even have occurred if we’d applied our supposed economic rationalism before they took place?

I’ve spent time on five continents while carrying out feasibility studies for clients ranging from national governments to small farmers. I got to meet many of the people who would be affected by those studies: heads-of-state and other elected officials, bureaucrats, CEOs, employees, union workers, and the tillers of the land who had no ownership or rights under their system of governance.

While varied, their opinions about the United States of America often made distinction between “the people” and “the US government”.  It was not uncommon to hear, “we like Americans, but not your government”. Traveled readers have undoubtedly experienced the same. “The US government” to those in other countries often means military and/or economic hegemony, applied directly or via aid to their own corrupt and too often brutal governments and corporations. Read more »