Husayn b. Mahmud and Akram Hijazi, two influential voices in the jihadosphere, have opined on the U.S. economic crisis.
Husayn, a pundit on Hesbah, argues that the U.S. financial crisis is happening because the U.S. spent too much money fighting wars in the Middle East and too little on domestic projects that would have created jobs and driven demand for materials. The U.S. is fighting these wars to safeguard oil and oil pipelines but it did not count on the fierce “Jihadi resistance.” Now it and its allies will pay the price.
Akram Hijazi, a Jordanian professor and blogger, takes a different tack. Rather than argue that U.S. military intervention in the Middle East is the root cause of the crisis, Hijazi asserts that the real cause is America’s unbridled capitalism based on usurious loans that benefit the few at the expense of the many. The government’s recent intervention will permanently destroy an important pillar of capitalism–that the state should not intervene in markets.
Arab governments who have pegged their currencies to that of the U.S. will suffer. They are silent about it now but they will not escape the maelstrom.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, we heard no criticism of capitalism. Now the world is talking about the need for a new global economic system. The question to ask is not how the U.S. economy will collapse, but when.
Document (Arabic): 10-5-08-faloja-husayn-b-mahmud-on-us-economic-crisis
Document (Arabic): 10-4-08-faloja-akram-hijazi-on-global-economic-crisis