The IMPERIAL SUICIDE of America

By Bill Bonner

Now, what we see is the whole kit-and- kaboodle of life in the US giving way to desperation, delusion and an irresistible impulse to commit imperial suicide. The economy turns sour. The military becomes malignant. Households are corrupt, bankrupt and dependent. Even the churches sing their hallelujahs to Caesar now.

What's "imperial suicide?" It's what empires do. If no other empire arises to kill them...they kill themselves. China will probably eventually crush the US militarily. But that is far in the future. The US can't wait. It lets the zombies run wild.

At home, Congress debates a "debt ceiling" measure, as if it made any difference. They've raised the ceiling 93 times since they first imposed a debt ceiling 94 years ago. What are the odds that they will hold the line this time?

Zilch. Instead, they'll continue borrowing and spending until the nation goes broke. Count on it.

The US economy was a free-market success story for a hundred years...from the end of the US War Between the States to the end of the Vietnam War. It was the richest, fastest-growing, most innovative, most competitive, and most admired economy in the world. But then, in 1971, Richard Nixon replaced a more-or-less solid dollar, vaguely backed by gold, with a pure paper dollar, backed by nothing but the good intentions of government employees.

As the money went, so went the nation. Our friend and colleague Byron King opines:
The problem with the US over the last 40 or 50 years is that there's too much free money...

We raise three generations of population who are untied from the basics of monetary education - millions of minds poisoned by Economics 101 in universities across the land. "Elastic currency," courtesy of the Fed.

Media & political classes are no smarter than the dummies who walk the land, so they make policy based on "free" money from the Fed... Deficits don't matter.

Currency circulates and inflates the general price levels... People learn to live with it. Even make a virtue of it, doing things like "buy as much house as you can afford; the market will rise and you'll make money." That kind of idiocy.

There's all this excess currency sloshing around the economy, leading to people doing stupid things like drugs, too much alcohol, divorce (Cherchez les femmes), food (obesity), theft, etc...

"Wars cost much silver," wrote Sun Tzu. [Lack of money] kept a lot of nations out of a lot of trouble over the years. Not any more. Who needs silver when you can just print up bricks of paper cash and fly it over to Iraq and such.

Kind of gives a whole new meaning to the term American Exceptionalism... yep, we're exceptional. That's for sure. More prisoners in jail than anywhere else. We fight longer wars than anyone else...and don't win. We give more welfare to more idle people than anywhere else on earth...and we're proud of it.

There's so much money that we don't know how to say no. No limits. Just raise the debt ceiling...spend until you can't spend any more. Then spend some more.

Well, there are no limits until there are limits. Per Ayn Rand... "You can avoid reality. But you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."

In the space of 40 years the US lost its winning ways. Real, hourly wages stopped growing in 1973. Stock prices, in real terms, peaked out in '99...about the same time that real, per capita private sector growth came to a halt. The number of full time jobs topped out about two years later...and housing hit its peak in 2007.

Abroad, US armed forces continue to squander the most magnificent advantage that a military has ever had. The Pentagon spends 7 times as much as the next biggest spender. And it doesn't even have a worthy opponent. Where does it get the money? It borrows from the Chinese!

And what does it do with all that money? It engages in pointless, blood sucking zombie wars. Its three current engagements alone are expected to cost $4 trillion, according to the latest independent estimates - about as much as its trade deficit over the last 10 years.

Ask your neighbors. What strategic advantage does the US gain from fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya? They will have no good answer. Probably some claptrap about 'fighting terrorism' is the best they will be able to do; that's what they were told on TV.

A 94-year-old retired Army colonel came over to our house for the 4th of July festivities. A Silver Star winner in WWII, veteran of the Korean War too...we asked what he thought of the Pentagon's strategy in North Africa and the Middle East.

"I am disgusted," he replied. "Those guys just don't know what they're doing. We have no business getting involved in these things...especially in Libya. They're just traps. I have arguments about it when I go into the VA hospital. The young guys - you know, they're in their '80s - are in favor of these wars. Wave the flag. Rah rah...let's go in and do the job. Teach them a lesson... That sort of thing.

"But real war is not a football game. And nobody learns anything...except not to do it again."

Who - with the exception of a 94-year-old veteran - objects to squandering the national treasure, blood and honor on these wars? Almost no one. Why not? Because they've all drunk deeply from the intoxicating cup of imperial power. An ordinary nation fights wars to protect itself. An empire fights wars because that is what an empire does. And it continues fighting until it finally beats itself.

Why didn't Rome pull back its troops from the Rhine or Anatolia or North Africa...in order to protect its homeland from the barbarians? Why didn't Alexander retire to Macedonia, while he still had breath? Why didn't the Germans retreat to the banks of the Oder when they still had the means to resist the Soviet onslaught?

Why doesn't the US bring home its troops, cut its spending, balance its budget and protect its future? Ha...ha...you know the answer. Because the system has been taken over by zombies...people who want to see the spending continue, no matter what the cost. Zombie wars. Zombie social spending. And zombie finance.

And every time we look at it, we see more evidence. California, the West Coast Greece, is going broke. Any guess why?

Russian "Scholar" Predicts Another US Civil War in 2010

I will be the first to point out legitimate indications of the decline of America, but this is plain hogwash. Perhaps this is Russian wishful thinking.

There are problems in the US, yes.  But this Russian claim that Americans will wholesale turn their guns on the government and each other is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Russia needs to be worried about Ingushstia, Dagastan, and other breakaway regions causing a civil war there. This takes the concept of projecting to a new international low.

Arab, Muslim Officer Shoots Innocent Soldiers

The shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, is of Arab Jordanian descent.

When are we going to learn that just because someone is a US citizen does not mean he is "American" per se? This individual killed young soldiers because his core was Islamic extremism incompatible with his "American" charade.

When are we going to wake up? This is but the first of many instances like this I fear.

My heart goes out to the families and communities of the victims, and may the naivete of the United States finally subside to permit us to open our eyes.

How Will History View George W. Bush?

George W. Bush is highly unfashionable at the moment. Barack Obama stands to be inaugurated as the first President of African descent in just a few short days. Bush is therefore a lame duck, whipping boy as all the anxiety and uncertainty of the country and of the world is conveniently attributed to him.

However, his out of favor status stands to rise significantly if a terrorist attack occurs during Obama's presidential watch. Bush, if nothing else, is seen as uncompromisingly tough on terrorism and his redeeming value is largely that he prevented another attack after 9/11.

Another attack in the US is a question of when and not if. Whether it occurs sooner rather than later, the Bush II hard line against terror will be the national mood as soon as it does. This will ultimately be the vindication of the Bush II presidency.

Bush was not a particularly good President due largely to his over reliance on hawks Cheyney and Rumsfeld. But the American people is a forgetful one historically-speaking, and presidencies are remembered for their defining moments rather than their policy flaws.

I bid farewell to President Bush with respect because I believe he attempted to make the right decisions. He is a decent man at his core, and those concerned about his legacy need only wait for the tide of opinion to turn.

The Unacknowledged War Against Islamic-Fascism

While the United States continues to spearhead the global fight against Islamic extremism in Iraq, it is becoming increasingly apparent that we have a poor understanding of our adversary. The popular misnomer of “the war against terrorism” is most indicative of this. Fighting terrorism fails to encompass much beyond thwarting suicide bombers, terrorist cells, and other operational elements. The shortcoming of this approach is that its focus is upon eradicating symptoms of the conflict and not its root causes. We are actually fighting more than terrorism. We are fighting for the continued prominence of western culture and its way of life. Accordingly, this is a war against Islamic-fascism.

Distinction should first be made between Islamic-fascism and Islam, a faith with motifs not necessarily incompatible with western ideals. But it is the fascist component of Islam that seeks to kill innocent people, bankrupt our institutions, and decimate our economies. Seething resentment of western affluence, cultural influence, and perceived nihilism have boiled over in the underdeveloped Middle East, and Islam has been the successful means through which violence against the west gained moral legitimacy.

So why have we failed to acknowledge our enemy as Islamic-fascism? Central to the reason is that Americans are traditionally loath to criticize concepts that cloak themselves under the fabric of religion. Freedom from religious persecution was one of the tenets upon which America was founded, and we take great pride in exhibiting religious tolerance even in the most difficult of circumstances. Most Americans would recoil at the thought of being accused of religious bigotry. Islamic-fascism exploits this sensibility to our detriment.

Despite all of our battle weariness, there is some cause for optimism. Several leadership figures of Al-Qaeda have been apprehended, a burgeoning democracy has taken shape in Iraq, and several major terrorist acts against the west have been thwarted. No less significant was Libya’s new spirit of cooperation. But in recent months, we seem to have come to a plateau of successes, due in part to the painstaking democratization processes taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan. While these two new democracies have shown signs of promise, their governments must prove to be quick studies or face futures of lingering instability.

A more prudent strategy might be for us to allow the natural power of exposure to western markets and freedoms to take hold. History tells us that democracy is not necessarily a “one size fits all” proposition as Africa and Latin America can attest, but its best chance for success is where it is permitted to develop in tandem with cultural westernization. It was not too long ago in the Soviet Union, China and elsewhere that anti-western vitriol was undermined by concepts like Coca-Cola, Levi’s, and MTV. While the Middle East faces perhaps the steepest of paths to westernization, the same formula should be given the opportunity to succeed there.

Some have maintained that our failure to win wholesale European support for the intervention in Iraq bodes ill for a successful resolution to this war. That pessimism is unfounded. While our European partners, some active and some inactive, are indeed integral to the prospects for this war’s success, this effort will be long enough in duration that there will be future opportunities for broader-based European involvement. Most of Europe is already engaged in containing the fomenting enclaves of Islamic-fascists within their own borders. The Madrid and London bombings were preludes a chess game of terrorist attacks. As time progresses, the threats posed by domestic threats will likely compel our inactive European partners to active partnership by contributing troops, intelligence, and nation-building support. Simply appealing to historical relationships in Europe is insufficient given the abstract nature of this enemy, but the more we can convince “Old Europe” how active participation is in their collective interest, the better.

This war against Islamic-fascism is likely to be our burden for some time, but if we are to succeed without, we need to muster the courage to clearly define our enemy, westernize their former sanctuaries, and better illustrate to recalcitrant allies the benefits of their tangible support. War invariably brings forth ebbs and flows of developments, but through a steadfast resolve akin to that which won us the cold war, we can succeed. We have no acceptable alternative.