Robert Stark, “The Stark Truth: Interview with Paul Craig Roberts” (Voice of Reason, 25 May 2012)
Being familiar with some of Paul Craig Roberts’s articles on various websites, I was keen to hear the man himself speak about his experience as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during Ronald Reagan’s first Presidency (1981 – 1985) and his views on what happened in New York City and Washington DC on 11 September 2001, the rise of neo-conservatism in US politics, US foreign policy in the Middle East and China, and his beliefs about future US politics and how much the US electorate can influence it. The interview runs some 56 minutes and can be accessed at this link.
PCR begins with his time in the Reagan government and his role in developing the economic policies now known as Reaganomics. This is the driest part of the interview and because he was speaking to Stark from another location through videophone or equivalent, his voice is softened and not always clear to hear. The conversation perks up when he starts discussing the outsourcing of jobs which in his view was enabled by the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and China and India’s decision to adopt free market principles and structures, freeing up a large quantity of labour which was exploited by Wall Street, combined with the arrival of the Internet which encouraged networking across national borders and barriers of physical geography. Job offshoring has had the effect of shrinking manufacturing and white collar work in the United States and impoverishing Americans, in turn leading to the impoverishment of society and culture across the country.
The Republican Party and George W Bush come in for criticism; PCR notes that a number of people prominent in Bush II’s administration had been sacked by Reagan in the 1980s for their neoconservative values and attitudes which included extreme belligerence towards to the USSR. PCR also comments on the Bush II government’s use of the 9/11 events to carry out wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and turn the US into a police state, and notes that current President Barack Obama is continuing the policies of Bush II. Political conservatism as a movement in the US has been destroyed and hijacked into supporting Israel and its ideology and imperial interests at the expense of the US as a viable political and economic entity.
After a break halfway through, PCR discusses the “military-industry complex” as originally conceived by outgoing US President Dwight D Eisenhower in 1961 in his last speech and its effect on the US. This talk flows into the topic of the demonisation of Muslims as a way of softening up the American people to accept ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in the Middle East and northern Africa. The issue of suicides in the US military also crops up as a symptom of demoralisation among soldiers. Another significant issue is the need for the US to have a major enemy to justify continued military expenditure and so China as well as the Muslim world has been drafted into the role of Global Villain.
The last part of the interview becomes a muddle as PCR ranges widely over several topics whose only connection is that they have never been mentioned in mainstream news and current affairs media. The power of Wall Street is now such that Congress is unable to re-enact in whole or in part the Glass-Steagall act, repealed in 1999, which separated investment banks from commercial banks. No significant regulation of the financial industry has taken place since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. PCR waxes at some length about aspects of the 9/11 events such as what caused World Trade Center building 7 to fall and his belief that WTC 1 and 2 had been wired with explosives before being hit by the passenger jets. PCR opines that whether Obama is re-elected or is replaced by Mitt Romney will make no difference to Iran’s future peace prospects: regardless of whoever is in power, the Middle Eastern country is sure to be attacked by US forces.
PCR’s voice has a homely quality and he spoke at a fairly slow to medium pace so he is easy to follow. The interview is highly informative and reveals a man with many unorthodox views at odds with the official narrative adopted by mainstream news media about what happened on 9/11 and why Americans should support ongoing war in the Middle East and other parts of the world.