ABSTRACT
As the US entered the 21st century the future of American hegemony was not looking so rosy. Having reached its post-1970s peak in 1997, the rate of profit in the US went into rapid decline manifested in a sharp reduction in investment. 1 The latest of the financialization asset-bubbles – the much-hyped https://dot.com" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">dot.com New Economy – burst in March 2000 after investors finally realised that internet companies’ share prices had little or no connection to profits generated, but more a result of financial manipulation, creative accounting, conflicts of interest, dubious compensation packages, and purposely ‘slack’ regulatory system. 2
