The U.S. today is a very different country than it was in 1946. At the end of World War 2, it was by far the most financially, economically, industrially, and militarily powerful country in the world. It was a culturally, religiously, and ethnically aligned, and a genuine middle-class society. Now none of those things are true.
The U.S. has devolved into a bankrupt multicultural domestic empire. The Government’s $40 trillion—and rapidly growing—debt can never be paid off. The dollar is an irredeemable fiat unit. US welfare benefits are drawing immigrants who are at odds in every way to the existing population. It’s no longer the country which promotes individualism, free minds and free markets. Rather, it’s been captured by a gigantic regulatory bureaucracy which requires permission for most everything, while taking roughly 40% of the GDP directly and indirectly. The military is well-equipped, at gigantic expense, to fight 20th C wars, but totally ill-equipped to fight the kind of wars the US is provoking everywhere.
I’d say the US decline has more-or-less mirrored that of Rome. If you use that analogy, we’re moving into a time similar to Rome’s mid-3rd century—a time of foreign wars, civil wars, wholesale bankruptcy, and societal chaos.
The bright side is that certain areas of technology are still advancing rapidly—at the moment. But we’re at the peak of the biggest financial bubble in history, and it’s tech-driven. When it pops, the consequences will be widespread and serious. AI data centers will remain, but mostly used to monitor the population.
So, yes, the era of US hegemony is coming to an end.
Large-scale formal war has been a feature of human existence for at least 5,000 years, starting with the rise of cities. As humans have become vastly richer, wars have become vastly more deadly. Everybody seems aware of that except for the posturing non-entities who run NATO and the EU.
When Einstein was asked what weapons he thought World War 3 would be fought with, he said he didn’t know. He was only sure that World War 4 would be fought with sticks and stones.
Everyone is justifiably afraid of nuclear weapons. But in today’s world, where computers control everything, a cyber war could be nearly as deadly. And a biological war could be deadlier than either. I’ve discussed those possibilities in the past. Recently it’s occurred to me that mass migration could be as destructive as any of the other three alternatives. Don’t believe me? I urge you to read Jean Raspail’s “The Camp of the Saints.” It’s ultra non PC, funny, scary, well-written, and accurate.
And there are other varieties of war lurking. AI, drones, and robots together mean the world of the Terminator has arrived. As Gilda Radner’s Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say: “It’s just one damn thing after another. It’s always something.”
What should you do about it? We can’t control what today’s MegaStates, or the Deep States behind them, will do. Being politically involved in “our democracy,” hoping to make a change by voting, is someplace between laughably counterproductive and criminally stupid.
Instead, do your best to insulate yourself from these things. I’ve got a lot more general thoughts on my YouTube channel, and specific suggestions at Contrarian Insider and CrisisInvesting.com.
Editor’s Note: The decline of US power has serious implications for the dollar, financial markets, and the wealth of ordinary investors.
A government carrying roughly $40 trillion in debt has fewer good options when the next major crisis arrives. History shows that heavily indebted governments often turn to currency debasement, financial repression, capital controls, and other measures that shift the cost of the crisis onto savers and investors.
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