What do the words “hegemony” and “unipolarity” mean? And why is the growing “multipolarity” and “de-dollarization” of the non-Western world such a threat to the United States? All this and more can be found in a fascinating discussion between economists Michael Hudson, Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, and Radhika Desai, Professor of Economics at the University of Manitoba. It’s significant that both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have lately spoken explicitly about being part of a growing multipolar world.

Here’s a brief excerpt from Hudson and Desai’s discussion (see video below for the full first episode of their planned ongoing series):

Desai: “The dollar system has operated with a carrot and a stick. The carrot has of course been the vast financialization bubbles that the United States has blown up regularly in order to invite the rest of the world to buy dollar-denominated assets, and thereby increase demand for dollars.

“And that also has of course been running into increasing contradictions, to such an extent that today, Michael mentioned earlier the Federal Reserve’s expanded balance sheet.

“It went from about $1 trillion in the early years of this century to about $2 trillion, then $4 trillion after the 2008 Financial Crisis, and now it is over $9 trillion dollars.

“The bulk of this money is there because essentially foreigners are not crowding into American asset markets to buy dollar-denominated assets. So those asset markets have to be supported by the Federal Reserve.

“Of course, eventually it can become a sort of self-contained system, in which the Federal Reserve continues to inflate the wealth of some Americans, but the rest of the world is decreasingly interested in it.

“The other – the stick – has of course been control over commodities. Michael mentioned control over oil.

“Of course today many other commodities are becoming important – food of course is becoming important.

“Various resources connected with the production of various ‘green’ technologies, like lithium is becoming important, so there will be a big attempt to control this.

“But American attempts to try to keep control over oil has also been slipping over the last many decades. Oil prices take a turn of their own.

“And of course as commodity prices go up, the value of the dollar falls. And so this is another – essentially the reason why commodity prices are going up is because the rest of the world is demanding more, because the rest of the world is also developing.

“And so the development of the rest of the world itself is going to have a negative effect on American attempts to retain purchase.

“So the sooner the United States realizes the folly of trying to dominate the world, and focuses on being a productive national economy, the better it will be for Americans themselves.

“Because Americans have also paid a big price. The world has paid a big price, but so in a lesser way Americans have paid a price for the U.S.’s vain attempts to retain dominance over the world, even if it is only by keeping the dollar as the world’s money.”