The United States of Denial

States can’t easily accept unpleasant realities like their power is waning. America is no different. In geopolitics, China is an ascending power and challenging U.S. hegemony. Unlike in the past, China can’t be easily pushed around. Its top diplomat says Washington “is in no position to make demands of China.” Economically, China’s GDP is projected to pass the U.S. in the next decade. The U.S., riven by internal contradictions, ever-growing inequality and factionalism, is losing ground to China. But in one area it remains dominant: the military. It is building new bases in the Philippines completing an arc of U.S. forces around China. How would Washington respond if China surrounded the U.S. with bases? “Denial is never a good idea,” says economist Richard Wolff. “We have to face what’s going on. Otherwise, we are going to get ourselves into one mess after another.”

Speaker: Richard Wolff

Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and currently a visiting professor at the New School in New York. The New York Times calls him “America’s most prominent Marxist economist.” He is the author of numerous books including Democracy at Work, Capitalism’s Crisis Deepens and Occupy the Economy with David Barsamian.


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