The plans to put the US economy and supply chain on a war footing comes against the backdrop of growing demands within the US political establishment for a wartime “mobilization.”

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken claimed that the Chinese military was planning to seize Taiwan on a “much faster timeline,” amid the deepening Sino-American standoff over the Taiwan Strait.

Elbridge Colby, one of the principal authors of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, called for a national “mobilization” against China. “Why are we not on a national mobilization footing?” Colby asked. “If we get in a war we will have to be, but by then it may be too late.”

The calls for aggressively expanding the United States’ industrial base for wartime procurement comes against the backdrop of provocative war games launched by the United States throughout Europe.

On Monday, the Pentagon confirmed that the United States has placed the George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier battle group under NATO control as part of a major military exercise in the Mediterranean Sea. news.usni.org/2022/10/14/geo…

Asked by a reporter Monday “what kind of message the US was trying to send to Russia by doing this,” a Pentagon spokesperson replied, “It just shows the power of the Alliance,” adding “we will defend every square inch of NATO territory.”

The maritime operation, known as Neptune Strike, takes place simultaneously with a US nuclear war training exercise known as Steadfast Noon, in which B-52 bombers and F-16 fighters simulate dropping atomic bombs over Europe.

The escalation of the US war drive is in keeping with the Biden administration’s National Security Strategy, which pledged to expand the US military, “integrate” economic life with war-making, and “win the competition for the 21st century” in what it called the “decisive decade.”

In his letter announcing the strategy, Biden declared that “Our National Defense Strategy relies on integrated deterrence: the seamless combination of military… and non-military… domains.”

The White House’s fact sheet on the document declares that “The Biden-Harris Administration has broken down the dividing line between domestic and foreign policy.”

As the US escalates its plans for full-scale war with Russia and China, it is clear that these war plans will entail a massive attack on the social rights of workers, who will be told they must accept poverty wages in the name of the war effort.