• Optimus_Subprime [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    This part stuck out to me:

    This is the great innovation of American Empire. Figuring out that there’s more money in losing wars than winning them. Only America attacks other places to loot their own treasury. They spent an absolutely soulless $2.3 trillion destroying Afghanistan and didn’t ‘get’ anything much in return. So what do you do when you’re running a Ponzi and one scheme goes belly up? You have to get the sucker into a new con, quickly.

    To cover up the loss of Afghanistan America invaded Iraq. When that went screwy they invaded Libya, then Syria. That wasn’t enough so they went even bigger, provoking Russia by corrupting Ukraine. The Ponzi Empire leaves a trail of destruction wherever they go, but the jig is only up if they stop. So they never stop. This is a big reason America keeps starting war after war after war. They’ve got to keep the scam going. As Marohn says, “like any Ponzi scheme, as soon as the rate of growth slows, it all goes bad very quickly.” Which is the point we’re getting to now. America is pushing up against countries like China, Russia, and Iran that it cannot actually intimidate like the innocent civilians and weddings it’s used to bombing from afar. We have finally reached the end of this fatal Ponzi. The scams are getting closer and closer together and running into each other. People are beginning to see, and soon they’ll start withdrawing their money.

    So according to this, The US is about to start WW3 just to get paid and keep their investors money. Is that correct?

    • heartheartbreak [fae/faer]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      Theres an incentive for certain aspects of empire to endorse wars but in the last instance the only reason the military industrial complex exists is in order to support the war efforts of empire not the other way around. The US got a lot out of destroying iraq and libya and syria and Afghanistan in its efforts to gain control over SWANA and control the choke point between asia africa and europe as well as the constant capital in the soil.

      The tendency for capitalism is to expand but just like the collapse of the roman empire, infinite expansion is not sustainable on a planet w a finite limit of resources.

      Theres probably something else to be said as well about the second characteristic of imperialism which is that war destroys capital which creates room for more growth.

      Read through it and think the ideas are fine but pointing to it as a ponzi scheme and not an inherent contradiction of capitalism makes it seem like theres some “long term thinking capitalism” solution that doesnt exist

      • AcidLeaves [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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        2 months ago

        yea this analysis reads like the typical liberal marvel brained analysis except they correctly recognize that “america bad” instead of “eastern hordes/terrorists bad”

      • PolandIsAStateOfMind
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        2 months ago

        Yeah reading the article i noticed a distinct lack of materialist thinking, and last three paragraphs really nailed it in.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
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      2 months ago

      This scheme only works when US isn’t directly involved in the wars. So, I don’t think starting WW3 is what they’d want. The idea is to have long running limited scale conflicts or a cold war where constant military spending can be justified.

  • D61 [any]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    No one today would accuse Americans of being alert and knowledgeable. It’s a nation of debt slaves, thinking they’re philosopher kings because they get to give a Facebook thumbs up …

    Hah… that’s so right! … Wait… oh shit… they’re talking about me. ooooooooooooooh

    My time as a silly fucking child in the Army 20+ years ago reminds me that I was very shocked at the lack of maintenance or even care to diligently maintain most vehicles/equipment beyond “its good enough to not get in trouble because nobody with rank knows enough to be able to tell how broken the thing really is.”

  • DragonBallZinn [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    porky-happy: “Heh, what if we turned 99% of people into literal human cattle?”

    porky-scared-flipped: “Wait, you mean the cattle we fed poison to are in no condition to be our attack dogs? You mean some of them caught on and don’t WANT to be our attack dogs?”