The End of Empire?

This is an interesting discussion. I think that it will not be this next crisis, but the one after this next one. So it is ten years away at least. Since this will be a worldwide event, it might not be the tipping point for the US empire. 

Trump Apologist?

I know a large number of people think I am a Trump apologist. Except for Immigration and Tariffs I am in profound disagreement with him. Even on this two issues his application of policies on these two issues has been borderline moronic. While only 15% of it was caused by ill designed tax cuts, we have trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see. While most of the proposed defense increases are really smoke and mirrors, Trump is wasting hundreds of billions on defense that we don’t need. 

If I can regain my composure, I may blog about the latest US vote in the UN. The US voted against a resolution condemning fascism. Also voting against were Palau, population 21,000, and Ukraine, where an important part of the current government is fascist. There were a number of abstentions because it was known how the US would vote. It is embarrassing.

Yet, if I decide to vote in 2020, it is likely I will vote for Trump. I am a stranger in a strange land. Things are now accepted as commonplace would have been regarded as clinical insanity just a few years ago. Here is an example of “entertainment” that we are offered as normal. From the show Madame Secretary: 

Nationalism is not racism. 

Manufactured Consent

It is important to revisit how the “powers that be” use media to give us the illusion that we actually decide government policy. No there is no conspiracy, it is group think:  

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.

We accept these ideas by the media we consume. 

While two hours is a big commitment, it is worth it. The next time I post I will embed an entertainment video that continues the theme that nationalism is racism. This is what we are supposed to think. 

Of Course He Did Not Know!

Interesting that Saudi Arabia is indicting and asking for the death penalty for those involved in Khashoggi‘s murder. The Crown Prince is, of course, not involved. This might even be true, but it raises an interesting point, how would these very low level people know that? The Watergate burglars were ultimately acquitted because they thought they were doing government work. These men obviously thought the same thing. Everyone will believe that, of course, the Prince was not involved. Plausible Deniability. 

This does not actually matter one way or the other. Only recently did the US military stop fueling Saudi Arabia’s planes and their war crimes, er bombing in the war in Yemen. The US is still selling weapons to the Saudis. At least 100,000 have died, and millions will starve if the war is not stopped. Only Rand Paul seems interested in the issue. 

America is Running Like A Maniac

Things seem to be going well, at least that is what Trump is telling us. Before his election, (one has to wonder if he actually expected to be elected), he said the obvious truth that the numbers are fixed in order to hide that fact that things are not going well. Since he is now "in charge," he is singing a different tune. 

There has not been as much economic expansion as the numbers indicate. Inflation is not 2 or 3 percent, it is higher. The books are being cooked. I do not think that the very high estimates you read in the alternative economic press of inflation at 7 or 8 percent are right either, they seem too high. Trump understands this, as a real estate guy he lives by the numbers. But now that it is in his own interest not to point it out he won't. He is a recent politician, but he is still a politician. 

It is like the average person is stuck in a scene  from Alice In Wonderland. So says the Red Queen: 

“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"