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America Is Deindustrializing Europe
(compactmag.com)
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this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Damn bro did you even read the article? Do you think the fact that European manufacturing is evaporating at an unprecedented rate is simply "market forces" or some nonsense like that? This has been a concerted effort over many years that's accelerating far faster now than it's ever been under direct pressure from the US government.
I mean, that IS the reason. Governments which represent interests of actors in a market economy (i.e. The bourgeois) know how to exploit and steer these to their own benefits.
Market mechanisms are also for example the reasoning given for sanctions etc. Like when a ship can't enter a US harbor for 6 months after trading with Cuba, why does the shipping company obey? Why, because they don't want to lose a more profitable route, or risk seeing their own income under direct attack for disobeying.
There is no invisible hand of the free market. The hands on the levers have names and addresses. That's my point. It's not just magic that comes out of thin air at the whims of some perfect X shaped supply and demand curve.
Fuck no, this shit's behind an unpassable paywall. Feel free to give me the Cliffsnotes
I basically already did. The US has been pushing European governments to deindustrialise their economies so that Europeans will be forced to purchase American products. A great example of this has been the recent constructed energy crisis as the US blew up the Nordstream pipeline and pushed European nations to purchase LNG from American sources.
Unfortunately, this is fucking stupid, because as it turns out, the US doesn't have the manufacturing capacity to meet its own demand, let alone adding all of Europe into that, so it's ultimately a ploy on behalf of finance capital to swoop in and turn Europe into yet more speculative investments. That's been going so well here in Canada, I'm sure Europe will have a great time with it too!
You edited your comment after I commented, so I was only responding to your first sentence.
But again, your conclusion that "the US is "deindustrializing Europe" due to Russian oil/natural gas being cut off to Europe just doesn't hold water. Europe took significant steps almost immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine to wind down their reliance on Russia for energy, because they recognized Russia could use that reliance as a weapon against Europe, which they proceeded to do. Russia had purposefully ceased output through the Nordstrom pipeline well prior to the pipeline attack.It was delivering 170 million m³/day prior to all this, then Russia cut the flow to 40m m³ by June '22, 20m m³ by July, and zero m³ by August. The attack that September was on a pipeline that was not even delivering gas. Russia was the one that cut this supply to Europe, not the US.
At the same time, European countries immediately stepped up to diversify their energy portfolios. Yes, they did increase their imports of US and Middle Eastern LNG. They also increased their use of lignite and coal, which are mined in Europe, and increased the pace of development of wind and solar projects.
Also that natural gas supply shock is over. Look here at a chart of natural gas prices over time
In conclusion, 1. Russia cut Russian natural gas supplies to Europe, not the US. Ukraine just saw to it they couldn't restart. 2. Europe is not relying on only the US to fill that energy gap, but increased imports from across the world and increased domestic production. 3. Natural gas prices have stabilized