Letter from Andy Ford, Unite rep
On just one day last week, Thursday August 28, the New York Times had five stories showing Donald Trump’s gross overreach and apparent belief that he, and the American state, rule the world:
- Pressuring other countries to drop their moves to renewables and burn more US coal, oil and gas
- Tariffs, visa restrictions and extra port charges to be applied to countries that sign a global treaty to reduce emissions from shipping
- Trade deals that compel other countries to buy huge amounts of oil and gas from US companies
- Working with Saudi Arabia to block the proposed Global Plastic Treaty which aims to cap excessive plastic production
- Applying 50% tariffs to India, in revenge for the country deciding to trade with Russia, forcing the Indian government into a $28 bn subsidy scheme to preserve the industry.
- Requiring European countries to spend the main portion of higher defence spending on US weapons systems
- Running covert influence organisations to sway the population in Greenland
- Holding a meeting with his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to settle the future of Gaza
- Meanwhile, US company 4-Chan, an online message board “Inundated with pornography, pirated files and …anonymous shitposting” – according to the New Yorker – is refusing to pay a fine issued for breaches of UK regulations levied by OFGEM, citing the US First Amendment to try and override UK law covering its UK content.
That is the definition of Empire. The metropolis makes the laws, and the vassals have to follow, even though they have no say in what those laws are.
Donald Trump and his regime is making it increasingly clear that they want the whole world to be run in the interests of the USA – “America First” is their brazen slogan.
But which America? A recent report shows that the bottom 60% of Americans do not achieve even a basic quality of life, and another survey by Bankrate found that 59% could not lay their hands on $1,000 in an emergency.
By “America”, Trump and his acolytes mean the 1,000 or so (902 in 2025, according to Forbes) billionaires who own most companies in the United States. It is their companies who get the benefit of Trump’s empire-building and bullying, backed up by $2 tn ($2,000,000,000,000) a year spent on the US military. This equates to around $7 bn a day, or $292 mn every hour, day and night spent on weapons and the military.
But the billionaires try their best not to share the wealth extracted on their behalf, preferring to hide it unproductively in real estate or in tax havens. The whole world is being looted just so 902 individuals can put a few more noughts on their bank balances.
Unsustainable doesn’t even begin to describe it.
[Feature picture from Wikimedia Commons, here]
