If you remember, this is when talk of possible deflation in the United States reached its peak, and the US authorities gave the impression that they needed lower interest rates and a lower US dollar to help them through. In Europe, economic activity was weakening, and Asia received a temporary knock-back from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak.
But they have not been caused by capitalism,” but by subordinating businesses under government control – which in turn might have been influenced by a “military-industrial complex,” one might add. He concludes – and this is where it gets very topical: “[…] the policy of aggression and conquest is self-defeating.