Empire Salon | Jeff Sachs

Columbia Professor Jeff Sachs will address the Ukraine war, the Israel-Palestinian war, the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, the nation’s burgeoning debt and the role the US military in the pandemic. Sachs recently testified with Ray McGovern before the United Nations on the Ukraine War. He sees Russia’s fear of NATO expansion as rational and the principal factor in the outbreak of the war. What are the consequences of the US continuing to be NATO’s principal financier? Should the United States withdraw from NATO? Sachs will explain the role of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. How does our exorbitant privilege allow the United States to finance our militarized foreign policy to the tune of $1.5 trillion annually? Would the American people accept the tax increases needed to finance our imperial spending on a pay-as-you-go basis? In 2023, we are seeing a massive long-term increase in government borrowing -- estimated at $2–3 trillion a year by