What does an empire expect to live on after losing its industrial advantage?

In this discussion with Richard Wolff and Nima Alkhorshid, I examine the economic rent at stake in the struggle over oil. Paying for extraction while claiming the resource surplus leaves the producing country working through its natural wealth for someone else’s benefit.

Richard traces the colonial inheritance behind America’s global position – a key learning. We discuss whether Washington can maintain that position through military force as countries resist the terms it seeks to impose.

Long live American rentier imperialism?