War Spending
Ironically, dollar superiority depends on our strong military, and our
strong military depends on the dollar. As long as foreign recipients take
our dollars for real goods and are willing to finance our extravagant
consumption and militarism, the status quo will continue regardless of
how huge our foreign debt and current account deficit become. But real
threats come from our political adversaries who are incapable of confronting
us militarily, yet are not bashful about confronting us economically.
That’s why we see the new challenge from Iran being taken so seriously.
The urgent arguments about Iran posing a military threat to the security
of the United States are no more plausible than the false charges levied
against Iraq. Yet there is no effort to resist this march to confrontation
by those who grandstand for political reasons against the Iraq war.
Ron Paul, “The End of Dollar Hegemony,” U.S. House of Representatives,
Feb. 12, 2006.