Noam Chomsky - Turning the Tide U.S. intervention in

The Race to Destruction
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
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based on cultural factors and historical contingencies and in part on a
kind of international division of labor in the state capitalist economies,
with the US taking the lead in the costly enterprise of innovation and
development, leaving the Japanese more free to occupy themselves with
the profitable task of application and commercial sale. Some years ago,
this was satisfactory. At a time of US dominance over the global
economy, military Keynesianism could be adopted as a program of state
industrial management without undue concern for our rivals in the world
economy, but that is no longer true. By now, this is leading to internal
conflict in the global state capitalist system, a matter of serious import
that I cannot pursue here.
Though the difference between the US Pentagon system of industrial
policy and the Japanese system is significant, still it should not be
exaggerated. The Pentagon and Japan’s Ministry of International Trade
and Industry (MITI) “are putting their money into very similar kinds of
R&D,” the London Economist observes, citing an OECD study. These
constitute the leading edge of current technology, with the US effort
falling largely under Reagan’s SDI. The Eureka project, designed as a
European alternative to Star Wars, is focusing on the same areas, which
are expected to be “the “the 21st century’s high-tech sectors.” 90
A further reason for the attractiveness of military Keynesianism is that
the ordinary citizen has to be willing to pay the costs of subsidizing
advanced sectors of industry, a fact also appreciated by business
leaders. An LTV Aerospace Corporation executive made the point clearly
while explaining why the post-Vietnam world “must be bolstered with
military orders”: 91
It’s basic. Its selling appeal is defense of the home. This is one of
the greatest appeals the politicians have to adjusting the system. If
you’re the President and you need a control factor in the economy,