AMERICAN EMPIRE IS COLLAPSING IN REAL TIME

WORLD AFFAIRS

(Objective, Nonpartisan and Insightful)

AMERICAN EMPIRE IS COLLAPSING IN REAL TIME


The United States of America is suffering from a myriad of systemic problems that have been ignored for decades. Some of these endemic crises are now hard to sweep under the rug; and other explosive and intractable issues are just around the corner. The shocking fact is that the disease has metastasized into many areas of the society — politics, economy, infrastructure, healthcare, foreign policy, and even at individual level. The only glue that’s holding this deeply fractured monument is the status of US dollar as the preferred global currency, but that’s facing a bleak future as well due to the rise of a multipolar world.

Shockingly, nobody in the U.S. has any ideas or even intention to acknowledge this free fall or let alone discuss solutions. Instead, people engage in blame game — “It’s the Democrats”… “It’s the Republicans”…”It’s that city or state”… “It’s the government”… “It’s the corporations”… “It’s the individual”…”It’s whites, blacks, Mexicans, China”… and so on. Result? The cancers keep spreading and the U.S. looks like the imploding Roman Empire in its final stage.


Infrastructure

Here’s a shocking video clip that recently went viral on social media. It shows a freight train struggling to move on a crooked, “bendy” railway track linking Ohio and Indiana.

Source: YouTube video. And the same track four years later, in 2021: YouTube video.


Of course, the recent train accident and the devastating toxic chemical leak and fire in Ohio should be a good reminder for why such infrastructure issues are serious. The spilled chemical was vinyl chloride, a highly dangerous and carcinogenic substance. Allegedly, government officials and the owner of the railway company, Norfolk Southern, decided to just set it on fire, rather than deal with the clean up. And, by the way, Norfolk Southern spent whopping $10 billion on stock buybacks last year! So, add corruption and corporate greed to crumbling infrastructure as America’s problems.

Overall, about 1500 train accidents happen in the U.S. every year, including 1000+ derailments. There are all kinds of excuses such as “freight railways are privately owned,” but nobody can fix the problems.

It’s not just trains. Bridges, roads, dams, levees are all falling apart in the USA, the allegedly richest country on earth! America’s infrastructure were mostly built after WW2, when US politicians were relatively smarter and US elites were less parasitic.

The U.S. has 45,000 structurally deficient bridges! Disaster waiting to unfold. Below is a photo of a train going over a crumbling bridge:

Every day some disastrous accident happens in the USA — toxic chemical spills, warehouses or factories on fire, massive explosions and so on. America is an aging, crumbling empire that’s run by corrupt elites far removed from the ordinary people.

But it’s not just infrastructure. Entire cities and small towns are collapsing all over America. Numerous cities like Detroit (photo below) have lost 60% or more of their population in the last few decades, turning into “ghost cities.” And thousands of small towns across the US look like just they did back in the 1950s, when America was “great.” Then there are dismal inner cities all over the US, full of crime, drugs, violence, poverty and decay.

Except for the coastal cities, much of interior USA presents a bleak portrait. Small towns are left with no real economy or jobs, thanks to de-industrialization of America. No hope, no change.

Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Death of Despair

Thanks to de-industrialization of America and the predatory financial capitalism, the bottom half of the country are stuck with low-wage jobs, working poverty, and have no savings. Thus, it’s not surprising that homelessness and drug addiction have been on the rise. Every year, whopping 100,000+ Americans are dying from drug overdose! And that number has grown 5x over the last two decades ago. Or, it’s twice the number of deaths during entire Vietnam War. Some sociologists call this unique American phenomenon the “deaths of despair.”

Here are some stats for illegal drug use in the US: 1 million – Heroin; 2 million – Meth; 10 million – Prescription (!) opioids; 40 million – Cocaine.

Here are some photos of homeless and drug addicts from all over the USA — San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Boston, Portland, Philadelphia, New Orleans etc. It’s a sad and disgusting scenario.

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America is a failed society in numerous ways. It’s a sign of economic decay, poor wages and exploitation. It’s also a sign of broken families, thanks to the endless social engineering that started with hedonism, drug culture, and extreme feminism that started in the 1960s. It’s a symptom of either a dysfunctional law enforcement that is incompetent to get rid of illegal drugs or, worse, American elites are deliberately pumping drugs into the society to weed out the weak, and perhaps profit from drug trafficking like the CIA did for decades.


Unemployment, Literacy, Health, Crime

While the US government publishes fake statistics about employment, consider this shocking statistics: For every prime-age American man who’s unemployed and looking for a job, there are FOUR prime-age American men who are unemployed but NOT looking for a job! These are the worst stats since the Great Depression.

Here’s the kicker: When people are not looking for a job, they are not included in the unemployment statistics! Thus, ignoring four-fifths (80%) of the unemployed men makes the USA look great on paper. Just to show how ridiculous this methodology is, consider what happens if nobody works and nobody looks for a job. Biden can still say, “We have 0% unemployment!”

But how can Americans have good jobs when there is so much idiocy? Sorry to be mean, but how can a country boast about being the “greatest country” when more than half of its adults have reading/writing comprehension at or below 6th grade level? Yes, 130 million American adults are “functionally illiterate.”

When it comes to health, America is a very sick nation — both physically and mentally. 75% of the population have serious weight problems — obese (43%) or overweight (32%).

Of course, America was very different 40 years ago. Obesity rates have skyrocketed; and doctors had to invent a new term called “morbid obesity.”

The United States of America is also a mentally sick nation, with the highest use of antidepressants & psychotropic drugs — legal and abused. Tens of millions of people — including teens, preteens and toddlers — are on brain-altering Big Pharma drugs.

USA #1


Why? Here’s the truth: It’s not because of “freedom.” It’s because of a combination of fake science peddled by Big Pharma and the social engineering that the elites have unleashed on Americans.

But Americans are not smart enough to figure out what happened. American elites are killing their own people, while hyping fake threats about “global warming” or “Russian invasion” or “China threats” like TikTok and weather balloons.

Americans are ripped off by their predatory system. The food companies sell toxic food that cause obesity, diabetes, cancer and numerous chronic diseases; then Big Pharma sells expensive drugs that never cure the disease but turn patients into lifelong consumers; and the health insurance companies wish that sick people would die soon.

What Americans don’t realize that Big Food, Big Pharma and Big Insurance are all owned by the same financial overlords like Blackrock, Fidelity and Vanguard.

The U.S. has also become a violent society. From mass shootings to everyday violence, people have lost the sense of humanity. There are countless videos on social media of Americans viciously beating up one another, often times in settings that are supposed to be safe — like schools, colleges, malls, restaurants and even airports. Thug nation. And thanks to decades of feminism and “equality,” now girls and women also act like deranged animals.

Then there are numerous occasions where people just walk into stores, casually pick up things from the shelves, and walk away! And it’s not just in poor neighborhoods — the Apple Store in (wealthy) Palo Alto was robbed during daytime when the store was crowded! And the thieves didn’t even have to use guns or knives. Just walk in, shout, pick up iPhones and iPads, and run away. It’s like a crazy society!


Mountain of Debt, End of “Dollar Hegemony“

In spite of all these problems, America somehow puts on a show and spouts idiotic slogans like “greatest country on earth” or “exceptional nation.” This bravado is possible only because of the unique and unfair status of the US dollar as the world’s preferred currency for trade and reserves. Since other countries — especially the developing ones — can buy commodities, goods and services only in US dollar (or Euros, sometimes), they are at the mercy of the USA. They have to work hard or sell their natural resources at a discount to earn USD. Then there are vassal countries like those in the Middle East, which are literally occupied by the US, and are forced to “recycle” the US dollars from oil exports. Recycling means investing their profits back into the US market through purchases of US treasuries (debt), US weapons etc.

And when countries disobey the US, they face US sanctions, which also mean essentially a global sanction. In other words, the US tells the world, “You cannot trade with Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela etc. And if you do, you won’t have access to US dollars anymore!” Another way to punish foreign countries is to steal their foreign exchange reserves (since the dollar reserves are kept in an American bank). For example, the US stole about $300 billion of Russian reserves last year after the Ukraine invasion.

However, this Mafia-like scheme is coming to an end. Nothing lasts forever. Just ask the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and British about the great times they had when their currencies enjoyed the global status.

History of world reserve currencies 1400-now


The dollar hegemony is facing a death by thousand cuts. Many countries are finding ways to decouple from the dollar. This is a global revolution, so it’s not easy for the US to quash it. When Saddam Hussein started selling oil for Euros, he was quickly eliminated; and when Gaddafi announced plans for an African currency backed by gold, Libya was thoroughly destroyed.

However, the new de-dollarization effort is a global phenomenon led by Russia, China, BRICS and others. Thanks to e-commerce, technology and the rise of China, trade and finance are getting democratized.

• Internationalization of Yuan is progressing more rapidly than many people realize.
• Last year, more than $1 trillion worth of cross-border payments were settled in RMB. Whopping 15% of China’s trade are now Yuan-based and dollar-free! Even Australian and Brazilian iron ore companies are accepting Yuan as payments.
• 85% of central bank managers say they they already hold or are interested in owning the yuan.
• Couple of days ago, Iraq announced that private companies can import Chinese goods and pay for them in Yuan!
• Russia’s trade is now almost free of US dollar — and consider that Russia’s exports have remained virtually constant! The might US and EU could not turn Russia into an international pariah.
• Iran and Venezuela, the other two oil giants, also sell oil for Yuan.
• 70+ countries have ¥2 trillion in their FOREX portfolio
• BRICS alliance is ready to expand to include Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran. Including Russia, BRICS will be an oil giant, paving the way for petroyuan. Goodbye, petrodollar. There are also talks about creating a commodity-backed currency.
• Even US ally India is buying oil from Russia and the UAE using non-dollar payments.

When Xi Jinping went to Saudi Arabia two months ago (Dec, 2022), 20 Arab leaders flew in to meet with him. Why? China is not only their largest customer but also the future. There, Xi told them that they could sell oil for Yuan starting in 2025.

This is the birth of Petroyuan!

Birth of Petroyuan


The world is moving to end dollar’s monopoly and hegemony. Interestingly, the US is accelerating its own demise by weaponizing the dollar.

Many countries are also starting to trade in local currencies using currency swap agreements. There are also barter systems — oil for food, natural gas for pharmaceuticals and so on. Some Arab and African countries are selling oil to China in exchange of construction of infrastructure!

Western financial experts scream that China’s Yuan can never displace the dollar because the former is not free-floating currency. What these fools are missing is that the Chinese yuan can be a global trade currency and still not be a reserve currency! How? China will pay for its imports in a mix of yuan and dollar; and the exporting country will use the yuan to buy Chinese goods! In this scenario, the yuan gets recycled back to China, and the other country doesn’t have to hold on to excess yuan! Look at the diagram below for illustration:

In the example above, the use of dollar in the trade has fallen two-thirds! This will have a huge impact on the value of US dollar and America’s geopolitical influence.

What happens when the US dollar loses its hegemony? Here’s the bad news for Americans:

• The value of US dollar will go down
• Inflation and prices of imports will go up
• Interest rates and mortgage rates will go up
• The US government cannot borrow trillions of dollars like before, and will impose austerity measures

There’s another factor that will amplify the fall of the dollar: Debt. Already, it’s whopping $32 trillion — 120% of US GDP or 10x India’s GDP. And guess what, the debt has interest payments. In 2023, the annual interest payments on US debt will be more than $800 billion!

If the government doesn’t have the money to make debt payments, it needs to either print dollars or raise taxes and cut spending. The first will lead to devaluation and inflation; the second two choices will lead to massive civil/political unrest. It’s a spiraling crisis with a feedback loop.


End of the American Empire

With a weakening and increasingly irrelevant dollar, America’s clout will shrink globally. For one, the US will be forced to close down many of its overseas military bases and/or slash military spending. Without the threat of US sanctions, America’s former enemies like Iran, Russia, North Korea and Venezuela will prosper. And they will seek revenge as well. Perhaps US military abroad will come under attack; and maybe there will be sanctions on US corporations. Imagine that. Half of the S&P 500 companies’ profits come from overseas.

At home, there will be severe austerity programs, leading to cutting down on government spending. Social security, welfare programs like food stamps, medicaid, infrastructure spending etc. will face draconian cuts. If you think crime and violence are bad now in the US, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

There is no way that the USA can fix its problems. The only hope for the American Empire is to bring down others, especially Europe, Russia and China — the three other major powerhouses of the world. This is why the US desperately started the Ukraine war. However, it’s not going well. The US thought that if the “international community” — US and Europe — placed sanctions on Russia like they did on North Korea, the Russian economy would collapse. To their utter dismay, they found out that the Global South — where more than 80% of the people live — don’t give a hoot about America’s diktats anymore.

America couldn’t defeat the Taliban, and it sure won’t defeat Russia. This needless war in Ukraine only shows America’s impotence. The US is too much of a chicken to start a 1-1 war with Russia or even supply Ukraine with powerful missiles. More foreboding is the fact that America’s manufacturing capabilities are too hollowed out to supply the basic ammunition that Ukraine needs.

As for the other geopolitical competitor, China, the US only has the “Tanya Harding strategy” — trying to kneecap China. The American messaging vis-a-vis China is also dysfunctional. On Monday, the US shouts in joy that China is going to collapse — with people like Peter Zeihan spreading Copium; on Tuesday, the US cries that China is the biggest threat to American primacy and the world. On Wednesday, the US claims that the Chinese can only make cheap, low-tech, low-quality products; on Thursday, America places sanctions on 532 Chinese tech companies. Pure insanity and schizophrenia.

America has no solutions. The society is like from the movie Idiocracy, but also deeply polarized and violent; the politicians are corrupt and stupid, not surprisingly; the predatory and rigged financial capitalism survives by sucking the blood out of the masses; and the hidden ruling class is stuck in a bubble of group think, still fantasizing about global domination.

However, the reality is that we are entering a multipolar world, where cooperation, connectivity and healthy competition will be the keys to growth and prosperity.

While the American Empire will collapse, I don’t think America as a nation will collapse any time soon. But there will be a lot of misery and chaos in the zombie nation in the coming decade.

— Chris Kanthan