ABSTRACT
Stock-piling of scarce resources is used to maintain political and economic orthodoxy in the poor nations, as they are too close to the verge of complete economic collapse to withstand the dislocation of suddenly losing American markets. In considering the impact of scarce resources on American foreign policy two questions arise. How far can technology deliver us from the Law of Diminishing Returns, and how many of US policy makers are Cornucopians abroad as well as at home? Some modern Marxists argue that America’s overseas investments are indeed negligible to the survival of the American economy, but that the domestic economic effects of imperial wars are crucial. Imperialism belongs to America’s economic past; however, the ideology and bureaucracy that supported the outdated interests have a blind momentum of their own that has made them endure beyond their moment in history.
