AMERICAN CAPITALISM BEGAN TO FAIL IN ABOUT 1973----Episode 5

THE TELEVISED WATERGATE HEARINGS DID NOT TOUCH ON GOVERNMENT WRONGDOING MORE SYSTEMIC THAN JUST THE BREAK-IN 

   One of the items not mentioned in the impeachment charges and never televised in the Senate hearings was the way the government cooperated with the milk industry.  In early 1971the Secretary of Agriculture announced the government would not increase its price supports for milk ---the regular subsidy to the big milk producers. The the Associated Milk Producers began giving money to the Nixon campaign, met in the White House with Nixon and the Secretary of Agriculture, gave more money, and the secretary announced that "new analysis" made it necessary to raise milk price supports from $4.66 to $4.93 a hundredweight. More contributions were made, until the total exceeded $400,000. The price increases added $500 million to the profits of dairy farmers [mostly big corporations] at the expense of consumers. 

Whether Nixon or Ford or any Republican or Democrat was President, the system would work pretty much the same way. A Senate subcommittee investigating multinational corporations revealed a document [given passing mention in a few newspapers] in which oil company economists discussed holding back production ofoil to keep prices up. ARAMCO ---the Arabian -American Oil Corporation, 75 percent of whose stock was held by American oil companies and 25 percent by Saudi Arabia---had made $1 profit on a barrel of oil in 1973. In 1974 it was making $4.50. None of this would be affected by who was President. 



Even in the most diligent of investigations in the Watergate affair, that of Archibald Cox, a special prosecutor later fired by Nixon, the corporations got off easy. American Airlines, which admitted making illegal contributions to the Nixon campaign, was fined $5,000 ; Goodyear was fined$5,000 ; 3M Corporation was fined $3,000. A Goodyear official was fined $1,000 ; a 3M official was fined $500. The New York Times [October 20, 1973] reported : 

     Mr. Cox charged them only with the misdemeanor of making illegal contributions. The misdemeanor, under the law, involved "nonwillful" contributions. The felony count, involving willful contributions, is punishable by a fine of $10,000 and/or a two-year jail term ; the misdemeanor by a $1,000 fine and/or a one-year jail term. 
     Asked at the courthouse here how the two executives---who had admitted making the payments ---could be charged with making non-willing contributions. Mr. McBride [ Cox's staff] replied: "That's a legal question which frankly baffles me as well." 

With Gerald Ford in office, the long continuity in American policy was maintained. He continued Nixon's policy of aid to the Saigon regime, apparently still hoping that the Thieu government would remain stable. The head of a congressional committee, John Calkins, visiting South Vietnam just around the time of Nixon's fall from office, reported : 

     The South Vietnamese Army shows every sign of being an effective and spirited security force . . . 
     Oil exploration will begin very soon. Tourism can be encouraged by continued security of scenic and historic areas and by the erection of a new Hyatt Hotel. . . 
     South Vietnam needs foreign investment to finance these and other developments . . . SHE HAS A LARGE LABOR POOL OF TALENTED, INDUSTRIOUS PEOPLE WHOSE COST OF LABOR IS FAR LESS THAN HONG KONG, SINGAPORE, OR EVEN KOREA OR TAIWAN. . . 
     I also feel there is much profit to be made there. The combination of serving both God and Mammon had proved attractive to Americans and others in the past . . . Vietnam can be the next "take off" capitalistic showplace in Asia. 

   In the spring of 1975, everything that radical critics of American policy in Vietnam had been saying ---that without American troops, the Saigon government's lack of popular support would be revealed --- came true. An offensive by North Vietnamese troops, left in the South by terms of the 1973 truce, swept through town after town. 

Ford continued to be optimistic. he was the last of a long line of government officials and journalists who promised victory. [ Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, February 15, 1963 : "Victory is in sight." General William Westmoreland, November 15, 1967 : "I have never been more encouraged in my four years in Vietnam." Columnist Joseph Alsop, November 1, 1972 : "Hanoi has accepted near-total defeat." ]  On April 16, 1975, Ford said : "I am absolutely convinced if Congress made available $722 million in by the time I asked --- or sometime shortly thereafter ---the South Vietnamese could stabilize the military situation in Vietnam today." 

Two weeks later, April 29, 1975, the North Vietnamese moved into Saigon, and the war was over.  Tiny Vietnam defeated giant America.