In 2022, the American Empire has evolved into the embodiment of Clint Eastwood’s 1966 film, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Domestically or internationally, it does not matter. The deterioration in both realms has become quite evident and noticeable.
Yes, I know, most Americans look away from this reality — like the way they avoid looking at a terrible car accident, or a school shooting. You know death has visited this scene — but you prefer to ignore it.
Nevertheless, the horror of such a deadly event has occurred — even if you want it to disappear because it makes you consciously uncomfortable.
International Failure and Turbulence
Internationally, the appearance (yes, the reality) of America’s diminishing power is on full display. Where does one begin to analyze or dissect the geopolitical events over the past few months.
First, and most recently, let’s take a long and hard look at the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. From an historic standpoint, the event itself is understandable. The U.S. has either been a public ally, or an unspoken ally, of Taiwan since Chiang Kai-shek’s desperate relocation after being chased off the China mainland, in 1949, by Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communists.
To the credit of the Taiwanese, they soon morphed into a functioning democracy after the death of Chiang Kai-shek in 1975. However, this democracy has always had a short shelf-live from its very beginning. Hence, everyone in Asia, and beyond, recognizes that Taiwan is, in fact, a part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
This fact is irrefutable.
So - what gives with the Pelosi visit?
Well, despite the disingenuous and weak support provided by The New York Times, and its loyal echo chamber sidekick, The Washington Post, Speaker Pelosi’s visit comes at a moment when the tectonic plates of regional power are shifting beneath the western Pacific Ocean. China is clearly in the ascendance. And America is desperately trying to maintain a foothold in a region that is slowly but steadily slipping away.
To be blunt about the situation, the United States has become somewhat scared of China’s military capabilities and prowess. No one has said it publicly, but you can sense their fear. The Pentagon and other military hawks who work at local universities and think-tanks within the ‘beltway’ of Washington, DC, were uncharacteristically quiet concerning Speaker Pelosi’s planned visit to Taiwan.
You bet. China is not Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria or Libya. It possesses a real army. A very large military equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry.
The American military establishment’s fear of China is well deserved. Professor Alfred McCoy, author of To Govern The Globe, the Harrington Chair in History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, stated in several interviews that the Pentagon had carried out numerous simulated war games against China in recent years. Professor McCoy declared that China had won every conceived military war game situation.
Today, right now, it is not an understatement to say that the US military is clearly unnerved by China’s burgeoning and significantly upgraded military forces.
Translation: China can hurt the United States in an all-out military engagement.
In 1982, Great Britain and China began serious negotiations concerning the ‘handover’ of Hong Kong — back to the PRC. Two years later, in 1984, the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed. On 1 July 1997, Hong Kong was return to the People’s Republic of China. Hong Kong’s governing and economic systems were to be respected for the next 50 years. Never happened. By 2021, Hong Kong was done. It became just another Chinese city.
What did the U.S. and Great Britain do about China violating the terms of the 1984 agreement? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Remember that.
So, why is any of this important in July 2022. Because the visit by Speaker Nancy Pelosi may come to represent, in future years, as the unofficial ‘handover’ of Taiwan to the PRC. The U.S., alone, can’t protect Taiwan without suffering, potentially, huge losses. Everyone in the western Pacific region knows this.
Henceforth, if the U.S. were to lose the war to China, that would end the American hegemonic era in East Asia. And remember, the U.S. military record in East Asia is muddled at best — beat Japan, armistice with North Korea, and lost to Vietnam.
After Speaker Pelosi’s departure from Taiwan, the China’s military began an aggressive live-fire exercises in (7) patches of water surrounding the Taiwanese island. The US military’s response has been noticeably silent. U.S. President Joe Biden, who did not want Pelosi to visit Taiwan, now looks weak and ineffectual in the face of Chinese assertiveness toward Taiwan.
Hong Kong is gone.
So many regional observers now ask, ‘How long will Taiwan hold out?’
No one in Washington is asking this question. And, for now, no one wants an answer.
Let’s now take a look at the Middle East situation.
President Biden’s visit to the Middle East, particularly his visit to Saudi Arabia, three weeks ago, was not one of his better moments as president. Several Middle Eastern leaders snubbed him - before he visited the Saudi Kingdom. Biden was humiliated. And, then he had to travel to Saudi Arabia, to ask (beg?) Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to produce more oil because the gasoline prices in America were topping out over $5 per gallon.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Prince Salman is the same piece of garbage who ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Of course, there were no consequences for the murderous sociopathic Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. I am also confident that President Biden did not have the nerve to even mention Khashoggi’s name during his meeting with the Crown Prince. America needs oil. Who the hell is Jamal Khashoggi?
Get the picture?
Let’s move on.
Domestic Bliss and Prosperity - Just a Delusion
Do you want evidence? How about these facts and figures.
Two nights ago, NBC News presented a segment that told its viewers that credit card debt is at an all-time high. In fact, right now, credit card debt is literally soaring in America. The American people have now entered a new phase of living — it’s called the survival-of-the-fittest America.
Evidence? Well, according to NBC News, well over 200 million new credit cards were approved and sent to customers. Why the new credit cards? Because the old ones are maxed out. Welcome to the survival-of-the-fittest America.
Folks, this is America — who gives a shit about second place!
Back to reality. Inflation is killing the purchasing power of American workers. People are experiencing tremendous stress and trauma in trying to pay their bills. Keep their homes or apartments. Keep their families from falling apart.
Deaths by suicide are up. Deaths by drug overdose are up. Mass shootings, though no longer shown on the nightly news, continue to occur at a record pace, and has metastasized like a vicious cancer across the face of America.
Today, the US government proclaimed that over 500,000 jobs were produced by the American economy. No one believes this bullshit data. We are told that unemployment is only 3.6%. Again, only a fraction of America’s unemployed are counted. Most of the unemployed do not receive any financial assistance. Thus, they are not counted. Talk about smoke and mirrors government.
One must ask, does the average American count anymore?
Many economists believe the actual unemployment figure is closer to 12%.
The majority of these “new” jobs over the past six months are low-paying service-oriented jobs. Many are part-time. The inescapable fact is that there are not enough decent paying jobs available. The American economy is a mixture of Alice in Wonderland and a game of musical chairs. When the music stops, reality can take on a very different look.
As a consequence, college/university enrollments have decreased across America. In recent years, young people have shown uncommon wisdom. They have displayed an aversion to going $30,000 to $60,000 in debt — just to obtain a BA or BS undergraduate degree.
CNBC published an article, in 2013, that showed that 15% U.S. taxi drivers have an undergraduate degree. In 1970, it was only 1%. How many college graduates are working in hotels changing beds and cleaning toilets? How many are working at Wal-Mart, Target, Macy’s, JC Penney’s or K-Mart as customer service clerks? How many are working in grocery stores like Kroger’s, Wal-Mart or Meijers as cashiers or as stockers? How many are simply working in what the late Professor David Graeber referred to as “shit jobs”? A hell of a lot more than most Americans realize.
An article, a few weeks ago, in The Chronicle of Higher Education was about why many current professors are leaving the profession. Some are retiring, some are just getting out. The tens of thousands of campus workers, professors and administrators who were either fired, laid-off, or asked to retire during the Pandemic shutdown — have not returned. Why?
Well, for one major reason. The post-Pandemic colleges and universities do not need them anymore. The numbers are simply not there.
According to higher education statistics, over one million young people did not enroll in higher education for the Fall Semester in 2021. A tremendous drop-off that was not anticipated.
Plus, many Professors felt that they were returning to a hellish nightmare.
Again, Covid-related issues, angry students who felt their rights were being violated at many of these schools, faculties that are simply worn out by the endless battles with students and administrators.
I think you get the picture.
In short, the days of seeing colleges and universities as being ivy covered with large leafy trees on campus, where interesting in-class learning took place, and the school itself represented a brief interlude for students — before the onset of adulthood took place. These days appear to be over. For now.
Today, I would strongly recommend that every professor and administrator have a quality lawyer on speed dial. For far too many of those working in higher education, it has become a jungle of multiple dangers. These “dangers” are represented within academic departments, within the administration, and inside the classroom. It is this new reality that many Professors can no longer tolerate.
Not to be outdone, America’s K-12 systems are also in a crisis situation. Literally, thousands and thousands of teachers throughout America are heading for the exits.
Why?
Yes, again, Covid issues. But unrelenting parents who believe their ‘special’ child is Harvard material, and gutless and manipulative administrators who would, in a nanosecond, turn their own mothers onto the streets without a second thought to save their damn jobs!
George Orwell’s book, 1984, has become the bible at far too many K-12 schools.
For many, teaching is no longer fun. They can’t teach their subjects anymore. Their courses are now pre-packaged by corporate education facilitators. Like T.V. dinners of yesteryear. Teachers now just hand out these soulless pieces of ‘education’ garbage to students. Is it any wonder that most teachers (and students) find K-12 education at many schools to be boring and a total waste of time?
Substitute teachers are now anyone who is breathing and willing to work for $5 dollars per hour (after taxes, gas and food are subtracted). Put simply, hundreds of school districts do not have any substitutes for their schools. The money is not there for most public schools — especially for inner-city school systems. Thus, far too many schools are at each other’s throats for the last dollar on the table.
The Fabric of America’s Society is Ripping Apart
Roe v. Wade was overturned. Violence is growing almost exponentially in all parts of America. The degree of anger in American society is growing to a frightening level.
If that is not enough to make the hair on your neck bristle, a very difficult recession is coming our way — soon. U.S. GDP has dropped for two quarters in a row.
Approximately 3,000 zombie companies exist in America. And another 3,000 zombie companies exist in Europe.
A few weeks ago, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., stated that an economic “hurricane” was coming our way.
Nouriel Roubini, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, often called “Dr. Doom” for his brilliant but dark analysis, has stated that those who believe the oncoming recession will be mild or soft are completely “delusional”.
Longtime U.S. market historian Jeremy Grantham believes that a great deal of financial pain is on the way. Too much debt — domestically and internationally.
Hence, what is a zombie company? It is a company that does not make any profit. It only stays afloat due to ‘cheap money’ it borrows from banks. But the cheap money is drying up. A day of reckoning is fast approaching for many of them.
The Federal Reserve is currently raising its interest rates every month. Why? To stop inflation in its tracks. But when the cheap money is gone, so are the zombie companies. And there are thousands of them!
Like Clint Eastwood, who starred in the 1966 movie, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, it is time for ALL Americans to squint and look at our present situation square in the eye.
This is where the bullshit stops, and the rubber meets the road.
Is America ready? Truthfully, we don’t have a choice.
We created this damn mess. Now we have to clean it up.
Or, in the end, do we let the American Empire die a quiet death. A dignified death.
Perhaps, it is too late to save it.
Who is going to tell the American people?